Norman Symonds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norman Alec Symonds (23 December 1920[1] – 21 August 1998) was a Canadian composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist who lived and worked in Toronto, Ontario.[2] A leading figure in the third-stream movement in Canada, he composed several jazz works which employed classical forms.[3][4]
Symonds was born in Nelson, British Columbia. He grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, where he began playing the clarinet as a teenager. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II from 1938 to 1945. While stationed in Halifax he played with a dixieland band under the direction of saxophonist Charles "Bucky" Adams.[3]
In 1945 Symonds entered The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied clarinet, piano, theory, and harmony through 1948. He then studied privately for several years with Gordon Delamont in Toronto.
