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I have dedicated my academic and musical career to community-engaged social change. As an academic, my research focuses on equity and inclusion in and through music. I have a Master of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto, and I earned my PhD from the University of Toronto in Music Education in 2015.
I joined the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2017 as assistant professor, where I now serve as coordinator of the Bachelor of Music: Community Music program. I teach undergraduate courses in singing, facilitation and leadership, music cultures, and foundations in community music. At the graduate level, I teach interdisciplinary arts and arts-informed research methods.
As a performer, my singing career has run the gamut of musicals, classical repertoire, folk music, vocal improv and world music. As a community musician, I have led the Voice and Choral department at Dixon Hall Music School (Toronto) for five years, and I was a frequent guest conductor for Echo Women’s Choir (Toronto). I also worked with Sing for Life (Edmonton) to pilot music classes for mothers in conflict with the law so that they can learn action songs, games, and lullabies to sing with their children.
My research focuses on the intersection of music, community engagement, and social change. My doctoral research focused on the emergence of Canada’s first community music schools in Toronto’s immigrant neighbourhoods in the early 1900s. I was a postdoctoral fellow and visiting researcher at the University of Alberta for the 2016/17 year, where I studied the impacts of colonization in Alberta’s Indigenous communities to inform provincial policy.
My research currently focuses on questions of equity and inclusion in music. I am currently working on an arts-based participatory action research project in partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board. The project centres around the voices of African, Caribbean, and Black identifying students to examine how participatory music affects high school climates from a racial justice lens. This project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
- Awarded the 2019 Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Award for Teaching Excellence
- Awarded 2012 SOCAN Foundation/MusCan Award for Writings on Canadian Music
- First prize in 2010 Dr. Franklin Churchley Graduate Essay Competition
Sound citizens: The musical making of neighbourhood and nation in Toronto’s settlement houses, 1900s to 1940s. Waterloo, ON: WLU Press. [forthcoming]
“From inclusion to inclusivity: A review of community music scholarship.” International Journal of Community Music (12)2. [co-written with J. Krar]
“Engaging contemporary ideas of community music through historical sociology.” In R. Wright, G. Johannsen, P. Kanellopoulos, and P. Schmidt (Eds.) Routledge handbook of sociology in music education. New York, NY: Routledge. [forthcoming]
Bradley, D., Yerichuk, D., Dolloff, L., Galway, K., Robinson, K., Stark, J., & Gould, E. (2017). Examining equity in tenure processes at higher education music programs: An institutional ethnography. In College Music Symposium (Vol. 57).
LaBoucane-Benson, P., Sherren, N., Yerichuk, D. (2017). Trauma, child development, healing and resilience: A review of literature with focus on Indigenous peoples and communities. PolicyWise for Children & Families. Edmonton, Alberta.
“The construction of citizenship through musical performance in Toronto’s settlement houses, 1930-1939.” MusiCultures 43(1), pp. 41-63.
“Making a mess of everything: Excursions through communities, musics, academics, longing, and belonging.” Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 12(1). http://liminalities.net/12-1/mess.pdf [co-authored with K. Galway]
Yerichuk, D., B. Johnson, R. Felix-Mah, and T. Hanson. (2016). Housing and homelessness policy recommendations for Indigenous women affected by domestic violence: A scoping review. Edmonton, AB: The Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research.
Discursive formations of community music and the production of Canadian citizens in Toronto's settlement movement, 1900s-1930s (Order No. 10017837). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1767782365).
“Grappling with inclusion: Ethnocultural diversity and socio-musical experiences in Common Thread Community Chorus of Toronto.” International Journal of Community Music, (8)3, 217–231, doi: 10.1386/ijcm.8.3.217_1.
Yerichuk, D. (2014). ‘Socialized music’: Historical formations of community music through social rationales. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 13(1), 125–53.
Yerichuk, D. (2014). Community singing as troubled learning: Exploring musical, social, and ethical dimensions of safety and risk among adult singers. The Phenomenon of Singing 8, 74-83.
I endeavour to create a learning environment where students keep themselves on their growing edge within their learning process. I aim to balance pursuit of excellence with a culture of care and collaboration. I consider my classroom a success when there is lively and active engagement among all students. I love the sound of a classroom filled with animated discussions and enthusiastic music-making.
I love working in Laurier’s Faculty of Music. Students and faculty alike are passionate and innovative in pursuing musical excellence, while also infusing a strong sense of community in all that they do. There’s no place I’d rather be!
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