Concentration(s):
- Music | History | Education Studies: History & Policy
Music Award(s):
- Rostropovich Prize ’20
Music Capstone Project:
- Sights and Sounds: Designing a Music Curriculum for the RISD Museum
As part of my two-year Spalter Teaching Fellowship in School and Teacher Programs at the RISD Museum, I developed educational materials to draw connections between music, visual art, history, and personal expression. Just as the museum has existing lesson plans geared towards K-12 field trips for history, literature, visual arts, and other subjects, I wanted to create opportunities for music classes of all levels to visit the museum. For my pilot lesson with the Honors Choir at Cranston High School East, I composed and performed an original piece for violin inspired by a work on display, guided students through several of Pauline Oliveros’ sonic meditations, and developed a multimedia activity involving listening, drawing, and free writing. Based on this experience and the positive feedback I received from the students, I developed activities that are adaptable for different works, age groups, and types of music classes. I also created “crash course” materials to help museum educators without a music background develop a vocabulary and comfort with discussing music in the museum setting. These resources will become a permanent part of the museum’s educational materials, and will allow the museum to connect with local schools to arrange field trips for music classes.
[Nicolas Diaz < previous senior]
[next senior > Asha Franchi]