It is with profound sadness that the MayDay Group shares news of the passing of longtime MayDay Group member Dr. Janice Waldron.
Janice was Professor of Music Education at University of Windsor, Canada. She taught future music
educators at the School of Creative Arts, and her students were her guiding light. She cared about them deeply, and always drove them to do better, whether it was in class or over pizza.
Janice’s contributions to MayDay were many. She was the Editor of the MDG journal TOPICS for Music Education Praxis, she was a member of the Editorial Board for MDG journal Action, Criticism, & Theory for Music Education, and a member of the MDG Steering Committee. Most recently, she co-hosted MayDay Group Colloquium 33: Social Media for Good or Evil in Music Learning and Teaching at University of Windsor this past summer.
Janice was an accomplished musician, and one of her greatest joys was playing and teaching people about the tin whistle, Irish flute, and Uilleann pipes. She also loved conducting. She was always learning and growing as a musician in ways different than her training, and inspired her students and colleagues to do the same. Her scholarly passions revolved around informal music learning practices, social media and music learning, and Irish and Scottish traditional musics. She was highly published in numerous journals and books, and most recently co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning.
One of Janice’s greatest gifts to our community was her mentorship to junior scholars and graduate students. I am fortunate to count myself among those she mentored during the ten years we worked together at University of Windsor. Janice’s kindness and generosity, and her great ability to speak directly while simultaneously making you laugh, made hundreds of us better teachers; better scholars; better people.
Janice was a dear friend to many of our members, and the MayDay Group will not be the same without her presence and her laughter.
Janice’s memorial service will be livestreamed today, Wednesday, November 16, at 1pm EST through Families First. The MayDay Group extends their deepest sympathies to Janice’s family and many friends. We are grateful for her exceptional contributions to music education, her caring nature, her sense of humour, her ability to challenge and to push our thinking as a field, and most of all, her friendship.
Sincerely,
Danielle Sirek, PhD
on behalf of the Steering Committee