Patricia Shehan Campbell, professor of Music Education and chair of the UW's Ethnomusicology Program, was honored recently as a finalist for the inaugural Taichi Traditional Music Award, given by the China Conservatory and the Taichi Traditional Music Foundation.
The prize recognizes individuals or social groups who have made outstanding and original contributions toward the performance, inheritance, theoretical studies, or dissemination of traditional music. This year the jury selected 12 finalists, each of whom received a substantial monetary prize, and four winners. Winners included Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master; Hsien-yung Pai, an internationally known author who revitalized Kunqu Opera; Bruno Nettl, professor emeritus of music and anthropology at the University of Illinois; and Lin Zhongshu, a farmer who works to preserve his village's centuries-old traditions.
Finalists honored along with Campbell included American Routes, the radio program of traditional "roots" music; Ali Jihad Racy and the preservation of Arab Musical Heritage; and a number of groups performing and preserving Asian musical traditions.
Campbell is noted for her work in world music pedagogy, and for her work in joining together the efforts of ethnomusicologists, artist-musicians, and educators for the application of cultural diversity in music education to students at all levels. She is co-editor of The Global Music Series (Oxford University Press), author of Teaching Music Globally, Music in Cultural Context, Songs in Their Heads, and co-author and editor of 12 other books.