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UW Music was well-represented by our most excellent Music Education students and faculty at the recent NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in Atlanta. Go Arts Dawgs!
Academic appointments, community projects, and a slew of conference presentations have kept UW students and alumni engaged in communities far and near, from the Yakama Tribal School to a national conference of music educators in Atlanta, and beyond.
Alumnus Ryan Ellis (’17 DMA, Choral Conducting) has been named head of Choral Studies at Seattle Pacific University, where he oversees the direction of SPU’s six different choral ensembles, including a concert choir, chamber singers, women’s choir, Gospel choir, a worship arts ensemble and the Gather Praise Band.
Graduate Choral Conducting student Meg Stohlmann has accepted a position as assistant professor of music at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where she will teach Men's Glee, Class Voice, and supervise music teachers through the school's Music Education program.
Paul Bain (‘09 MM, Wind Conducting) has joined the faculty at Central Washington University as Associate Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education.
Will Coppola, PhD candidate in Music Education and a former member of the University of Washington Wind Ensemble trumpet section, has recently accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of North Texas College of Music.
Bryan Nichols (’13 PhD, Music Education) has accepted a position as assistant professor of music at the Pennsylvania State School of Music, effective in fall of 2018. Nichols is currently on the faculty of the University of Akron, where he instructs undergraduate methods classes and supervises student teachers. Nichols was also among UW students, faculty, and alumni presenting at the annual NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in Atlanta, presenting "Score One for Jazz: Working Memory in Jazz and Classical Musicians" and "Research on Instructional Strategies for Improving Singing Accuracy."
Other Music Ed alumni presenting at NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education Conference in Atlanta included:
Sarah Bartolome ('10 PhD), Northwestern University: "Gender Diversity in Music Education" symposium and "Academy of Music and Art for Special Education: An Ethnographic Case Study of an Individual Music Instruction Program for Children with Disabilities"
Amanda Soto ('12 PhD), Texas State University: “Cultural Diversity and Social Justice ASPA Meeting, Diversity and Inclusion Panel II”
Laura Stambaugh ('09 PhD), Georgia Southern University: "A Preliminary Investigation of Executive and Motor Functions of Beginning Older Adult Instrumentalists;" "Effect of Focus of Attention on Second-Year Wind Students;" and "The Relationship Between Interval Identification and Error Detection by Music Education Majors" (with Dr. Bryan Nichols)
Mark Montemayor, ('06 PhD), University of Northern Colorado: "Estimates of Teacher Behavior in the Presence or Absence of Conductor Expressivity" with (Dr. Brian Silvey)
Jamey Kelley ('15 PhD), University of North Texas, "The Relationship Between Teacher Gender and Male Participation in Secondary Choral Programs"
Alison Farley ('14 PhD), University of Georgia, "Using Single Line and Multiple Line Notation in a Middle School Band Setting: Analysis of Performance Outcomes and Rehearsal Dialogue" with (Myriam Athanas) and "Self Compassion and Music Performance Anxiety" (with Dr. Jamey Kelley)
Cory Meals (PhD Candidate), University of Houston, "Questions of Lag: An Investigation of Sonic Response to Conductor Gesture"
Ann Clements ('02 PhD), and Sarah Watts ('09 PhD), Penn State University, "General Music Education in the University Music Curriculum: Building a Culture of Acceptance and Interest"
Music Ed alumna Alexandra Kertz-Welzel, who spent three years engaged in post-doctoral research at the UW and is now at Ludwig Maxmillian University (Munich Germany), has published a new book, Unity and Diversity: German Perspectives on the Global Music Education Community.
Music Education students traveled to Eastern Washington this winter to work with teacher Dawn Defoe-Ike and her secondary school students from the Yakama Nation Tribal School through the Collective Song-Writing Project with Chris Mena, Skuli Gestsson, Professors Ana Ganeva (Bulgaria), and Hiromi Takasu (Japan).
UW students and alumni were among presenters at the Northwest Region of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) biannual conference in Portland in March. Presenters included current choral conducting students Sarah Riskand (“Liberating Singers with Choral Improvisation”), Meg Stohlmann (“Reinvigorating the Chestnuts”), and Leann Conley-Holcom (“Dialogue and Participation in the Choral Performance of Sacred Harp Music”). Alumni and faculty presenting included Geoffrey Boers, Jeffrey Larkin, and Jeremy Morada, (“(Re)imagining the Changing Voice: Adolescence to Senescence”) and choral alums Jeremiah Selvey and Wendy Moy (“(Re)imagining Relevance through New Music and Social Consciousness”).
Kevin Schattenkirk, who completed his Master's degrees in Ethnomusicology and Music History at the University of Washington in 2008 and 2010, respectively, has earned a Doctorate in Ethnomusicology at the University of Western Australia. His studies were supported by an Australian government scholarship. His dissertation examines commissioned music by gay men's choruses in the United States (specifically, choruses in Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston), addressing homophobia and acts of violence. Some of this music was borne of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, while more recent commissions address an epidemic of suicide among LGBTQ youth. Schattenkirk’s work focuses on the impact of these commissioned pieces in facilitating a greater sense of community within the ensemble, and how this informs their approaches to outreach and social change.
Recent alumni of the orchestral conducting program report recent achievements. Tigran Arakelyan ('16 DMA, Orchestral Conducting) serves as Music Director of Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestras, the Federal Way Youth Symphony Orchestra and is Artistic Director/Conductor of Port Townsend Community Orchestra. Abbie Naze ('17 MM Conducting) serves as Music Director of the Pierce College Concert Orchestra and as faculty at Music Center of the Northwest. Current DMA conductor Mario Torres is Music and Artistic Director of the Poulsbo Community Orchestra and guest conductor of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra.
Current and former students from the voice studio of Kari Ragan report recent performances and presentations. Current students Trevor Ainge and Darrell Jordan are singing the roles of Emperor Altoum and Mandarin, respectively, in Puccini's Turandot for Pacific Northwest Opera. Jordan also presented his research on gender coded diegetic/non-diegetic music this past February at the UW Scholars’ Studio. He presents on the same topic at the upcoming eighth biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses (SCW8). Devoted to American director/screenwriter/producer Joss Whedon’s creative works, SCW8 will be held in June 2018 on the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama. Katrina Deininger ('15 MM, Voice) Sang Gretel in NOISE’S production of Hansel and Gretel this spring.
Current and former students of flute professor Donna Shin continue to shine in competitions, academic appointments and more. Mona Sangesland (’15 BM, Flute) just completed a Graduate Diploma and Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has recently been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship Award to pursue studies in Finland beginning Fall 2018. This summer, she will be a featured performer at Festival Napa Valley in California with fully funded housing and tuition support from the program. Laura Colmenares ('16 BM Flute) is teaching flute in Madrid, Spain at CEIM (Centro Público Integrado de Enseñanzas Musicales) Federico Moreno Torroba. Current student Elise Kim won first prize at the Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Competition in Columbus, Ohio. This summer, she will be a featured performer at Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. Grace Jun won third prize at the Montana Flute Association Young Artist Competition. This summer, she is slated to be a featured performer at ARIA International Summer Academy in Massachusetts, as are Rachel Reyes and Audrey Cullen, who also was a featured flutist at the Consummate Flutist in Pennsylvania. Miao Liu won the 2017 Don Bushell Concerto Competition and performed Jacques Ibert’s Concerto for flute with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra in March. This summer, she will be the fellowship flutist at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee. Doctoral student Gemma Goday was the selected winner and featured performer at the 2017 National Flute Association Baroque Flute Competition and Convention Performer’s Competition, Baroque and modern flute genres, respectively. She continues to stretch and blend the boundaries with Baroque and modern flute performance and genres with the UW chamber competition winning group, Discovery Trio.
Doctoral piano student Hexin Qiao won the 2018 Don Bushell Concerto Competition hosted April 14 by the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. A student of Robin McCabe who also serves as pianist for the UW Modern Music Ensemble, she performs her winning entry, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with the orchestra in spring of 2019.