Music professor remembered for legacy at BU

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This article was published 22/10/2021 (1552 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon University lowered its school flag to half-mast on Thursday to honour the memory of longtime music professor William Gordon, who died last week.

Gordon died peacefully at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg on Oct. 14 at the age of 75, according to an obituary recently published in the Sun.

Gordon leaves behind his partner of 39 years, Kathie, and his two children, Emma and Patrick.

While Thursday’s news release from BU didn’t provide a cause of death, school officials wanted to acknowledge the countless contributions Gordon made to the university and the Manitoba music scene at large.

Gordon officially joined BU in September 1970 and taught at the school in a full-time capacity until the end of 2013. However, he continued to provide local university students with his wisdom and guidance up until 2020.

Throughout his time at BU, Gordon took on almost every course and subject imaginable at the School of Music and was deeply engaged in the design of the university’s curricula from a student-success perspective.

Thursday’s news release from BU describes Gordon as “enormously flexible, intelligent, and committed to student success” in the classroom, making him a faculty member upon whom students relied for advice and guidance.

Gordon’s rapport with students also made him an ideal candidate to lead a variety of band ensembles throughout the years, including the School of Music’s wind band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, orchestra, percussion ensemble and brass ensemble.

Outside of his role as an instructor, Gordon wore many hats as a member of the BU administration, having chaired numerous committees and served as the acting dean of music on three separate occasions.

Because he was such a widespread presence in the BU community, current dean of music Greg Gatien described Gordon as a role model who was always open to exploring new ideas and showing rookie professors the ropes.

“We will miss him a great deal and always be grateful to have had him on our faculty,” Gatien said in Thursday’s news release.

The university’s statement paid special attention to Gordon’s role in the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building, identifying this project as one of his biggest contributions to the university as a whole.

Gordon became the project co-ordinator for the initiative in the early 1980s and continued to lend his insight into the building’s construction and design before it officially opened its doors in 1990.

Reflecting on this project several years later, architect Glen Cockburn wrote that the building highlights Gordon’s “methodical research, attention to detail and commitment to incorporating the practical needs of the music faculty into the building’s design and concept.”

Originally growing up in Dorset, England, Gordon graduated from the Royal College of Music in London and immediately won a chair position to play in Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra.

After moving to Canada in 1967, the young French horn player went on to work with the CBC Orchestra based in Winnipeg but eventually found himself teaching at local high schools like Sisler and Gordon Bell.

Some of Gordon’s students still recall the impact he made on their lives to this day.

Former student Beverley Paley recalls how Gordon completely rehabilitated her high school’s music program once he became their new band director in the late 1960s, in the Condolences and Memories section of the Sun’s online obituary.

“He lifted that band up and gave us confidence again in what we could do,” Paley wrote. “William Gordon showed us that if we believed in ourselves we could do anything.”

Winnipeg-based music teacher Natalie Pegus wrote on Facebook that Gordon was always “warm, good-humoured … and a consummate professional” when she learned under him at BU.

“He made all of his students feel valued and appreciated regardless if they were in one of his classes or attended lessons privately with him,” Pegus wrote on Sunday.

“I didn’t always feel as if I fit in during my time at music school, but he made me feel as if I should be there. He would laugh at my weird sense of humour and cared tremendously about how all of his students did in his class.”

Following the news of Gordon’s death, BU officials mentioned on Thursday they are in the middle of creating a new scholarship that will cement his legacy.

A celebration of Gordon’s life is also being planned for the summer of 2022.

In the meantime, gifts in his memory can be made out to the Brandon University Foundation by mail (270 18th Street, Brandon, MB, R7A 6A9), by phone at 204-727-7374 or by visiting BrandonU.ca/Give.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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