Don Cowan | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Don Cowan

Donovan Frankland Cowan, educator, composer (born 22 June 1919 in Outlook, Saskatchewan; died 12 January 2013 in Victoria, BC). B MUS (Saskatchewan) 1948, MA (Minnesota) 1962, ED D (Northern Colorado) 1971.

Don Cowan taught music 1948-59 at various British Columbia and Saskatchewan high schools and 1959-61 at the Saskatchewan Teachers' College. In 1961, he joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan at Regina (University of Regina). He was president 1959-61 of the SMEA; and in 1982 received an award from ISME at the London, Ontario conference. He composed Impressions (Boosey & Hawkes 1968), Morceau de Genre (ibid 1968), and Reflections (ibid 1969) for saxophone and piano, Charm Bracelet (ibid 1972) for flute and piano, Shadows (ibid 1975) for solo saxophone, and eight instrumental solos (C.L.Barnhouse.1983). Cowan wrote articles for The Instrumentalist, the Modern Instructor and other periodicals, and is the author of Search for a New Sound (Toronto 1967), The Sounds of Music (Toronto 1970), Classroom Recorder Method (Toronto 1973), Guides to the Recorder (New Westminster 1969), Consort in Concert (Harris 1987), and Mastering Recorder Skills (Ginn Publishing 1990). He edited a collection of recorder trios (Empire 1965) and arranged pieces for recorder by Marpurg, Clementi, and Scarlatti (BMI Canada). Following his retirement from the University of Regina in 1984, he moved to Victoria, BC, where he played flute, clarinet and saxophone as a member of local dance bands.