UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State community and public are invited to "An Evening of Creative Inquiry in Music," featuring undergraduate researchers from the School of Music, at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Recital Hall, on the University Park campus.
A new part of the Undergraduate Exhibition, the evening will feature explorations into music students’ scholarly work. Just as their counterparts in the sciences and humanities need to be able to explain their work to various audiences, presentations will be accessible to those with little or no knowledge of music.
“My hope is this event gives students the confidence to realize the work they’re doing has meaning to a broader audience,” said Ann Marie Stanley, director of the School of Music. “I’m excited to see how they’re able to portray their work as meaningful to a larger group of people interested in music or the arts, or even researchers in other fields.”
Among those presenting is Sarah Esslinger, a music education major, whose vocal performance is part of a larger project establishing a resource in the history, performance and lyric diction of Amy Beach’s French and German art songs. Ailish F. Quiñones River, who is pursuing a bachelor of arts in music, will present on Puerto Rican composer Ismael Rivera’s influence on artists Bad Bunny and Tego Calderón.
Jacob Holster, lecturer in the School of Music, said undergraduate research gives students the opportunity to explore their curiosities and how their work impacts people.
“I think that no matter what their research questions are, addressing them through a systematic process and disseminating findings enables engagement with their interests in larger communities,” he said.
Stanley said people often wonder what research and creative inquiry look like in music and the arts. Stanley said faculty in the School of Music, who are advising undergraduates on their research, have impressive research profiles and can situate their performances within the contexts of music theory and music history.
“Our music faculty are very conscious that they don’t always perform just to perform or be on stage,” Stanley said. “They're performing to bring new pieces to the world, or to get people to think about music differently. Our faculty model creative activity and research in music. In fact, that's something really special that Penn State can do for our undergraduates that a lot of universities can’t do: we have faculty who consistently model what creative inquiry and scholarship look like in music.”
Student presentations will be followed by a faculty panel featuring Linda Thornton, professor of music education; Jennifer Trost, professor of voice; and Baljinder Sekhon II, associate professor of composition.
Also presenting during the "Evening of Creative Inquiry" will be Zachary John McKee, music technology, who measured the bay tide in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, then plotted waveform data from oscillations during the four major moon phases. Sarah Campbell, music education, will present on neoclassicism and hip-hop, with examples of modern musicians calling back to their own “classics.” David Hutchinson, music education, will present his findings from student interviews at Penn State and University of Oxford on the technology used in music coursework.
“This event is a seven-year dream come true,” said Alan Rieck, associate vice provost and associate dean for Undergraduate Education. “We live in a world that desperately needs art in all its many forms. We need to remember human experiences that unite us, and this is done through art, music, theater, dance and the visual arts. They remind us who we are and build connection rather than division.”
Learn more about the Penn State School of Music at arts.psu.edu.
The Undergraduate Exhibition is supported and organized by Penn State Undergraduate Education.