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Pianist and professor Frances Gray has literally been a key player in the University of Prince Edward Island music department since its beginning-she joined the staff in time for UPEI's official inception in 1969. This, she jokes, makes her "something of an antique."
Gray's antique pedigree dates back to Quebec, her birthplace. Born into a musical family, Gray "was always picking out melodies on the piano." She took piano lessons as a child, and eventually earned her Bachelor of Music at McGill. Subsequent schooling included a year in London, England, studying music at the Royal Academy under a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship, and Masters and Doctors degrees in music from Indiana University.
Eventually, Gray was offered a teaching job at UPEI (newly formed from the merger of St. Dunstan's and Prince of Wales College). It was just "a job," Gray shrugs, and she didn't think she'd stay long. Thirty years and one marriage later, she now says she wouldn't live anywhere else.
1969 was a transitional year for UPEI, and one observer described the early music program as missionary work. "In those days," Gray recalls, "we were in the basement of Holland College." UPEI itself was a volatile hotbed of youth activism, a far cry from the staid institution of today. "It was an exciting time," Gray says nostalgically. "Of course, I was a mere child."
The modern-day Gray, neither child nor mere, continues to teach at UPEI-and she has also become a staple of the university's concert series. Formerly a player with the PEI Symphony, Gray has been an accompanist for countless UPEI performances. Her favourite outlet is chamber music (pieces for two or more instrumentalists, each with their own tune), though she is rekindling her interest in solo performance and dabbling in jazz. "It's so completely different," she marvels. "You almost have to unlearn things."
Arts faculties such as music face an uncertain future in the face of dwindling university funding, but Gray isn't worried. "I don't think we feel any more nervous than other departments," she says. "We're in very strong shape, and we're proud of our achievements."
As for Gray's personal future, she balks at the thought of retirement. "Your own musical maturity grows from teaching your students," she says. For now, Gray will stick with the music racket-and devote her spare time to her tennis racquet. "[When] you do music for so many years, it's a wonderful break to do something other than playing the piano."