Paul Richard Pedersen was born on August 28, 1935, in Camrose, Alberta. In 1956, he married artist Jean Stollery. One year later, he received a Bachelor of Art from the University of Saskatchewan, where he studied composition with Murray Adaskin. In 1961, Pedersen received a master's in music from the University of Toronto, where he studied with John Weinzweig. The following year, he taught at Parkdale Collegiate, while studying electronic music under Myron Schaeffer. From 1962 to 1964, he was the Music Director at Camrose Lutheran University College. During his doctoral studies, his article “The Mel Scale” was published in the Journal of Music Theory in 1965. In 1966, Pedersen joined the Faculty of Music at McGill University. He received his Ph.D. in Musicology at the University of Toronto; his dissertation was titled “The Perception on Musical Pitch Structure.” From 1970 to 1974, he was the Chairman of the Theory Department at McGill, along with the Head of the Electronic Music Studio. In 1973, Pedersen performed An Old Song of the Sun and the Moon and the Fear of Loneliness at the I.S.C.M. Festival in Reykjavík, Iceland. From 1973 to 1974, he went on sabbatical leave in Nice, France, and travelled to Stockholm, Utrecht, London, Rastatt, Freiburg, Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo to examine their efforts at the computerization of electronic music studios. From 1974 to 1976, Pedersen was the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Music at McGill. In 1975, he performed An Old Song of the Sun and the Moon and the Fear of Loneliness at Carnegie Hall New Music Concerts in New York City. Pedersen became the Dean of the Faculty of Music at McGill in 1976 and remained in this position for ten years. Additionally, he was the Director and executive producer of McGill University Records from 1976 to 1990. In 1977, he initiated a series of recordings featuring McGill performers and composers. Pedersen went on sabbatical leave in 1987 in Copenhagen, and he travelled to London and Vienna to investigate contemporary choral music, while working on his own composition. From 1990 to 1995, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. On July 1, 2001, Pedersen was appointed Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto.