Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia,聽 is currently completing a SSHRC-funded PhD in Music Theory at 不良研究所. The multifaceted musician also performs and tours extensively with , a quartet specializing in avant-garde, crossover, and electroacoustic chamber music.
Under the supervision of Nicole Biamonte, Duinker鈥檚 doctoral research investigates the role of rhythm and meter in the construction, performance, and perception of the rapped vocals of hip-hop music. His other research interests include tonality in popular music, empirical musicology, analysis and performance, and phenomenological issues in music theory. His work聽is published in Empirical Musicology Review, Music Theory Online, and Xenakis Matters, a collection of analytical essays on the music of Iannis Xenakis. He has presented his work at conferences hosted by the Society for American Music (SAM), Music Theory Society of New York State (MTSNYS), The European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC), Music Theory Midwest (MTMW), the Society for Music Theory (SMT), and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME).
Duinker has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the United States, and Europe, and has won prizes at competitions including the OSM Standard Life Competition, PASIC Solo Percussion Competition, the Universal Marimba Competition, and the Prix D鈥橢urope. His concerto performances have been described as displaying 鈥渂reath-holding physical grace鈥� (the Halifax Chronicle Herald) and as 鈥渞evealing exceptional dexterity and precision鈥� (La Presse, Montreal). Duinker has worked with groups such as Architek Percussion, Sixtrum, Ensemble Contempoarain de Montreal, Collectif9, SMCQ, Bradyworks, Symphony Nova Scotia, and (insert TITLE) Marimba Duo, which he co-founded with Greg Samek. Duinker appears on recordings released by Ambiences Magnetiques, ATMA Classique, Centrediscs, Constellation Records, Redshift Records, and Mode Records, and has frequently performed on live CBC broadcasts.
Here is a video of Ben performing with his quartet,聽Architek Percussion:
As a choral tenor, Duinker performed with the National Youth Choir of Canada for three tours (2002, 2004, and 2006), spent seven years in the professional core of the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul (2007-2014), and performed with Viva Voce during its last years (2011-2016) as a Montreal-based chamber choir specializing in early music. In 2013 he began collaborating with Peter Schubert on Renaissance vocal improvisation, which led to performances hosted by the Fondazione Cini (Venice, 2013), 不良研究所鈥檚 Research Alive Series, and the Music Encoding Initiative (Montreal, 2016).
How many years have you been at 不良研究所?
Nine, but not consecutively! I completed two master鈥檚 degrees (in percussion performance and music theory), and I鈥檓 now nearing the end of my PhD in music theory.
What made you choose 不良研究所 for your studies?
I initially chose 不良研究所 for performance; at the time it was (and still is) one of the top places in Canada to study percussion. I didn鈥檛 know much about the theory faculty back then, but I鈥檝e since learned that it is top notch as well!
How has being a 不良研究所 student influenced you and your research?
Being surrounded by such interesting and diverse academic personalities (both in the faculty and my fellow students) has constantly reminded me that high quality research is happening in just about every domain of music. Knowing this, I remain encouraged and focused.
Explain your research in three sentences or less:
I study flow (the rapped vocals) in hip-hop music. I鈥檓 fascinated by how rappers use various rhythmic and metric techniques to cultivate personal flow styles. I鈥檓 also interested in discerning large-scale trends in flow practice across hip-hop music鈥檚 40+ year history.
What led you to this particular topic?
I鈥檝e liked hip-hop music for a long time, and I鈥檝e always been interested in rhythm and metre in music, especially how these parameters are constructed/perceived by listeners. Since hip-hop music is a recorded genre, and analysis of it thus begins through listening, I thought this pairing of repertoire and topic went hand in hand.
How does your research add to what was already known?
I鈥檓 studying this repertoire from a stylistic standpoint (broad overview of many songs) and a critical standpoint (closer readings of individual songs). Not much analytical work in music theory has been done in either domain, so I hope my contributions encourage more to be done.
Were there any findings that you found particularly surprising?
I鈥檓 constantly surprised by how stylistically diverse hip-hop music has become, even in the few focused musical contexts in which I鈥檓 analyzing this question.
Why is it important, and who is going to benefit most from your research?
Music theory research into the musical parameters of hip-hop flow is a young field. There is still a need to identify general practices, in order to better understand how they have evolved, where they are now, and ruminate on where they might go in the future. I think research like mine can have a broad appeal to both the academic community and the general public.
Here's a video that explains the triplet flow in rapped聽lyrics:
What are your next steps?聽
I鈥檓 hoping to submit my dissertation and graduate in 2019-2020. In the meantime, I have a paper about triplet flow slated for publication in Popular Music, another under review at a different journal, and one or two more I鈥檇 like to finish and submit for publication before I graduate. I also maintain an occasionally busy performing and touring schedule with my percussion quartet, Architek Percussion.
What advice would you give to new students in your program?
Don鈥檛 assume that you need to sideline your interests and pursuits as a practicing musician鈥攂e it in performance or composition鈥攊n order to study music theory. If you鈥檙e an organized person, it is eminently possible to pursue parallel careers in performance and academics and can be especially rewarding if you find ways to integrate them. Even if your pursuits are relatively unrelated (like mine), using one as a diversion from the other keeps you refreshed and interested in both!
Where is your favourite place to study?
My office at home; I have a huge desk, meaning I have lots of room for books, my computer, snacks, etc.
Where in Montreal can you be found on a day off?聽
I鈥檓 not really known for taking days off, to be honest! But my favourite spare time activities include hanging out with my family, cycling, exploring Montreal鈥檚 architecture, and benefitting from the city鈥檚 immensely diverse food and drink offerings鈥�
What is your earliest musical memory?
When I was young, my family briefly lived in Vienna, where we owned a mid-19th century Streicher grand piano, of the type most likely used by Brahms and his Viennese contemporaries. My earliest musical memory is learning bits of the C major prelude from J.S. Bach鈥檚 Well-Tempered Clavier. At age 4, my music reading skills were still pretty basic, so part of this learning was done by ear, where my mother - a pianist and my de facto first teacher - would sing out a measure from nearby, or one of the chord arpeggiations in this prelude, and I鈥檇 try to figure it out at the keyboard. I鈥檓 sure my progress was glacial, but all that time spent on this prelude surely had an impact on my musical development thereafter.
(Years later, this piano would be donated to 不良研究所, though long before I arrived here, and I鈥檓 told it remains in storage with the view of one day being refurbished. I remember well the day that former professor of piano Tom Plaunt came to our house to see the piano鈥�)
If you hadn鈥檛 ended up in music, what would your alternate career path have been?
Probably transportation engineering or urban planning. I was halfway through a Civil Engineering degree when I switched to music.
What was the last book you read?
From cover to cover? A Peace to End all Peace by David Fromkin. An exhaustively detailed and harrowing account of how the Western powers got it so wrong in the Middle East during and after WWI. I鈥檇 highly recommend it for anyone wishing to know more about that region of the world.
If you were offered a return plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Japan: for the food, culture, architecture, trains, and scenery.
If you could invite any four notable figures from any point in history to a dinner party, who would they be?
I always have a hard time taking this type of question seriously, so here鈥檚 a non-serious answer:
1: Tupac Shakur
2: Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.)
3: Suge Knight
4: Sean Combs (P. Diddy)
And then I could make the four main agents of the聽"East/West hip-hop feud"聽hug and make up.
Banner image: Alex Tran
