The GMSA Team

The Graduate Music Students’ Association (GMSA) represents and advocates for the collective interests of music graduate students in all matters of departmental policy and action at York University. The GMSA seeks to build community among the graduate students, faculty, and larger university, with consideration for diverse experiences and interests. Above all, the GMSA works to optimize the environment within which graduate students in the music department develop, both professionally and personally. This year, our focus has been on celebrating creativity through our performance-based Grad Cafés, creating opportunities to grow friendships through informal gatherings, and sharing knowledge through Writing and Development Workshops, Friday Forum presentations, and our Colloquium.

Anna Swaray Williams (she/her)

President and FGS Rep.

Anna Swaray Williams is a jazz vocalist and ethnomusicologist whose research interests lie in Black popular musics from Afrobeat to Zydeco. Her Master's thesis was on African American protest music, while her PhD dissertation focuses on Black feminisms through song. A student of Sheila Jordan, Ranee Lee and Jeri Brown, Anna's repertoire includes traditional jazz, free jazz and everything in between. Anna's own unique sound, a blend of musical influences from the three continents on which she has lived, can be heard on national and international radio.

Tristan Zaba (he/him)

CUPE Steward

Tristan Zaba is a Toronto-based composer, production worker, singer, researcher, and interdisciplinary artist breaking down any and all boundaries between his practices in search of a sort of organic creativity. As a composer, Zaba has seen his music travel widely across North America and Europe, while operaramblings has described him as writing “varied music in a distinct voice” that is “contemporary but not in a way that might frighten people off.” He is a strong believer in the value of collaboration and community within art, and his doctoral research at York concerns the creative process in musicking.

Daniel Walsh (he/him)

Secretary

My name is Daniel Walsh, I am a multi-instrumentalist from Markham. I have a degree in music from York University, a post-graduate diploma in marketing from Seneca College and am presently completing my MFA at York University in music. As a musician, I have 16 years of working experience as a bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer and music director for musical acts spanning a wide range of genres and formats. I started the street brass band movement in Toronto with my old band Turbo Street Funk. Since then I've played with a number of well respected Toronto acts such as the Shuffle Demons, SHOUT! The Band, Bangers Brass, Hitmen Drumline and Saul Torres to name a few and hundreds of high profile events such as the 2019 NBA finals where I played as a part of the official Raptors hype band.

Ashiya Singh (she/her)

Graphics & Social Media

Ashiya Singh is a jazz vocalist and musical pedagogue from Toronto, Canada. Having

performed at various academic conferences and non-profit organizations, including the Decolonizing Conferences, Canadian Mental Health Association and FIRST Robotics NPO, Singh has extensive experience as a genre-bending vocalist and bandleader. Singh also specializes as a vocal and multi-instrumental educator. Singh received her Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University, and is currently

completing her Masters of Arts, specializing in Ethnomusicology. She has also trained as a Hindustani classical vocalist. Her research explores concepts of Jazz and Indian classical improvisation, women in music, and how patriarchy has negatively affected musical spaces for women and minorities. Singh currently resides in Toronto, Canada.

Naomi Sehn (she/her)

Graphics & Social Media, YUGSA Rep., Treasurer

Naomi Sehn is a Mexican-Canadian composer in the MA in Music program at York University, and holds a BMus in Composition and Music Theory from UVic. She is a member of the Graduate Music Student Association at York, and is a council representative in the York University Graduate Student Association. Her research and compositions have a feminist focus, and are influenced by her background in classical voice and musical theatre.

Chris Vrijenhoek (they/them)

YUGSA Rep., Website Mod.

Chris is a musician and educator originally from The Netherlands, now based in Toronto. Aside from holding a BA in Musicology from the University of Amsterdam, they spent two semesters at UofT Jazz studying Voice as part of a Global Exchange Program. They are currently pursuing an MA in Music at York U, with research focusing on queerbaiting and queer identities in pop music, as well as teaching voice, piano, and guitar, and volunteering with the Toronto Wildlife Centre.