Dr. Heather Sparling teaches a range of music courses. Her current research projects include traditional Cape Breton dance and disaster songs of Atlantic Canada. She also has expertise in Cape Breton Gaelic song and is the author of Reeling Roosters and Dancing Ducks: Celtic Mouth Music (CBU Press, 2014). She is the editor of MUSICultures, the premier Canadian ethnomusicology and popular music journal. Her research interests include the role of music in language and cultural revitalization; exhibiting music; change in traditional culture; competition; and genre theory. A Gaelic speaker, she is actively involved with both local and international Gaelic organizations. She is also principal flutist with the Cape Breton Orchestra.