Douglas Jamieson

Biography

Sample Works

Douglas Jamieson was born in Cambridge, Ontario in 1949. He began piano lessons at the age of six and, while a high school student, studied guitar. His first ventures into composition were the songs and simple piano solos he wrote during his teens. After completing a B.A. at the University of Waterloo, Jamieson was employed as a filmmaker. In 1973, he undertook a composition project for twelve musicians and a tape for modern dance which was to be included in a film. Although the film was scrapped, the dance was performed at two venues and was well received. Maestro Raffi Armenian of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, heard a recording of the music and encouraged Jamieson to undertake fulltime composition studies.

From 1974 to 1979 he was enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where he studied composition with Dr. Samuel Dolin. In 1981 he completed a Bachelor of Music with Honours Degree from the University of Durham, England.

Most of Jamieson's music is lyrical and tonal in the sense that a fundamental key is recurrently present, though it may be obscured for considerable stretches by chromaticism or modular or non-triadic harmonies. He has a basic affinity for clean melodic contours, distinct rhythms, and firm, almost-classical structures. He has been able to adopt ideas from many diverse sources including pop, late Medieval and folk music. His use of harmony grows out of the character of the melodies, which may be based on pentatonic scales, diatonic scales, quartal relationships or octotonic scales.

Presently, Jamieson is Director of Fundraising and Technology at Dixon Hall, an inner-city agency in Toronto. Prior to this, for ten years, he was Director of Dixon Hall Music School, which provides music instruction to children from economically, disadvantaged families.

Since 1996, Jamieson has focused primarily upon musical theatre projects. He has written incidental music for school productions of two Shakespearean plays, the story, book and music for a musical, Fastlane, and the libretto and score for a nearly-completed opera Jorinda. In addition, he is recording a CD of popular music. His personal website can be found at www.dougjam.ca.

2003

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