Lloyd "Chip" Whitesell, loved by any student who's taken one of his courses, is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Music's theory department. With a Ph.D. in music history from SUNY Stony Brook, he teaches film music, 20th-century opera, and the Art of Listening, in addition to graduate seminars on queer musicology and Benjamin Britten. As if his winning the 2002 Philip Brett Award for excellence in gay and lesbian musicology wasn't enough, he recently spoke at McGill's presentation of an honourary doctorate to Joni Mitchell.
I like to go by "Chip" because... I'm the third generation [of my first name], so I'm Lloyd III. I needed a different name to differentiate myself from my grandfather and my father. I don't feel like a Lloyd in some ways, I think. But I didn't choose [Lloyd], my parents did.
The one Joni Mitchell song that is required listening for everyone is... well, there's the ones that everybody knows, like "Both Sides Now," but I would think the whole album Court and Spark, because she's just at her peak. It's just fun and she's just totally on.
Students enjoy my classes because... with the Art of Listening (MUAR 211) and the arts courses, I mix pop and classical music and I just try to make it fun. It's really to make people enthused, so you can let your hair down a bit.
Growing up, I always wanted to be... I don't know; I had my head stuck in a book. Then I played the piano a lot, and so I thought for a while I was going to be a concert pianist, but I'm happy being a scholar. I did have romantic ideas of being a paleontologist.
I think that the new music building is... fabulous! Long-awaited and well deserved. I'm very happy with it.
If there was one thing I would change about the Faculty of Music, it would be... well, the facilities-and that is obviously on the way-but... definitely the facilities. I mean, you get the nice statue of Queen Victoria, but everyone knows that we don't have enough room, and [the Strathcona Music Building] is so old.
The most embarrassing album I own is... Chariots of Fire by Vangelis.
The most humbling experience I've had as a professor is... I don't know. There's many times where you think you know something, but the students know more. I mean, you still have those dreams of being up there and teaching naked.
Music is as necessary in education as math or English because... it's the whole person. It's the other side to your brain or your soul or whatever you want to call it.
The best classical music for people who hate classical music is... well, one of my favourites is Ravel, and he is deceptively gorgeous. Bolero is so famous, but there are all kinds of pieces that are immediately seductive, but when you listen to it there's a lot more going on.
McGill needed a Queer Studies minor because... students have been clamoring for it, and because it brings together a whole bunch of different directions of scholarship and relevance to politics, law and healthcare-you know, it touches all of these types of issues.
The greatest thing about living in Montreal is... I'll just be flippant and say the bike paths.
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