“Dr. Robert Pritchard has filled many roles at the School of Music as a educator, composer and advocate for music technology. We caught up with “Dr. Bob” to collect his thoughts on technology in the music industry, advice for students today, and how it all started with taking Greyhound bus trips from Vernon to UBC for composition lessons with Cortland Hultberg.
What is your origin story as a composer and/or teacher? Who were your mentors?
I remember as a small child before I started school putting notes on paper and asking my mother to play them on piano. During high school I played in a couple of rock bands, but my real composition journey began when I attended Courtenay Youth Music Camp (CYMC) for a few years. I recall hearing the western Canada premiere of Harry Freedman’s Graphic II by the Purcell string quartet, and I was fascinated by that. The next summer I attended Freedman’s composition seminars at the CYMC, and from then on I became quite focused on composing, writing for groups of friends and even for my high school band. I used to take the Greyhound bus from Vernon down to Vancouver every couple of months to get a composition lesson with UBC professor Cortland Hultberg…”
