TEACHING

This page is an archive of the courses I taught at The New School College of Performing Arts and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music from 2016-2021.

My teaching meets at the intersection of activism and music.

Collaboration, group discussion, and creation are at the core of my course work. I encourage my students to participate in a healthy and supportive discourse that challenges racial, gender, cultural, and economic constructs within the arts. As an educator, I am tasked with preparing students for real-world experiences, to adapt to uncertain circumstances, and challenge the status quo. Ultimately, my goal is to excite students about researching topics that are important to them, considering different points of view, developing their own opinions, and presenting their creative projects with thoughtful execution.

I am dedicated to engaging students in a variety of activities that will strengthen their dominant and non-dominant learning styles, whether it be visual, aural, physical, social, or solitary. I enjoy getting to know my students not only as artists but as whole humans who come from all different backgrounds, personal experiences, and cultures. In my classroom, I am just as much a learner as I am a teacher.

Where did I teach?

I served on faculty at The New School College of Performing Arts and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. I was the Director of Purchase New Music and led courses on experimental performance, entrepreneurship, social leadership, and women in music. At these institutions, I created new courses that encourage supportive discourse on racial and gender disparity in music education, refreshed existing courses to focus on social leadership and cultural sovereignty, and served on committees to develop new curriculum. I have been been sought after to speak on activism through music by TEDxMidAtlantic, Houston Public Media Classical Classroom, Second Inversion, and I Care If You Listen. It was and still is a privilege to provide ongoing career counseling to students as they enter the professional world. Many of them have gone on to fulfill Fulbright Scholarships and create grant-winning socially-conscious projects.

What did I teach?

The New School College of Performing Arts

Socially Engaged Artistry
This course explores identity and the Artist. Question for the semester: what was your choice to become a professional Artist? Each class will ask you to take a layer off and reveal your empathy, compassion, humanity, self-expression, and the love of your craft. This course is titled Socially Engaged Artistry, this journey is a discovery of what Socially Engaged Art means to you. We have designed a road map and like any journey with a destination, we can stop at any time and explore that particular terrain.

World of Music
This course examines the function of music within global society. Students will study musical structure, sound, and theory from a sociocultural perspective and discuss the ethics of music-making and cultural sovereignty. Students will also listen to a wide variety of musical examples from ritual to popular styles and engage with the NYC global music community by attending live events.

Art of Engagement
Why is it important for a musician in our day and age to have an artistic point of view? In what ways can point-of-view shape a musician’s artistry, career, and the community at large? How does an artist develop an authentic point-of-view and find the right language and medium with which to communicate it? “The Art of Musical Engagement” is an experiential, project-based course designed to inspire students to discover, express, and interrelate their unique artistic points of view.

Johanna Beyer: Writing Music in America Between the World Wars
Through the complicated life and critical musical lens of fellow Mannes School of Music alumna Johanna Beyer (Composition, ‘28), this course examines the pioneering efforts of composers confronting the difficult Interwar period of American culture in the 1920-30s. Repertoire to include percussion, vocal, chamber, symphonic, and electronic music by Beyer; her teachers Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Charles Seeger; her student Jessie Baetz; and her relationships with Henry Cowell and John Cage. Students who participate in this course will produce and perform an end-of-semester concert in celebration of The New School Centennial.

Aspects of the Female Experience in Music
Focusing on pervasive historical and current social issues of music and gender, this course examines the contributions of women as composers, performers, musicologists, and activists from the Middle Ages to the present, including Clara Schumann, Margaret Bonds, Nina Simone, Hildegard von Bingen, Pamela Z, Ellen Koskoff, and others.

Beyond the Stage: Developing and Producing Your Own Concerts
This graduate course focuses on the art of concert programming and community engagement in the 21st Century. Students will receive a hands-on approach to curating a creative program that reflects both their own talent and character, as well as identifying who their target audience is and how to connect with them. Students will learn skills for self-promotion, group organization, marketing, managing a budget, and creating a thoughtful mission statement. The semester will culminate in a community performance organized entirely by the students through group work and self-delegation. Course co-taught with Jannina Norpoth of PUBLIQuartet.

SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music

Purchase New Music, Director
I direct the artistic programming for the Purchase College new music student ensemble and lead workshops on score study and contemporary performance techniques

Chamber Music
One of the most intimate ways that our Conservatory students learn to express music is through our chamber music program. In small groups, a single coach guides the students through the process of collaboration. Students learn to breathe, blend, phrase, and color together to create one homogeneous voice. The coach helps the group navigate the score and encourages the development of good interpersonal communication.

Making Noise: American Music and Culture from 1920-40s
This course examines the pioneering efforts of composers confronting the difficult Interwar period of American culture in the 1920-40s. Digging into iconoclastic Ultra-Modernism and American folk music, topics will include dissonant counterpoint, theosophy, mysticism, noise music, and protest songs. Repertoire to include percussion, vocal, chamber, symphonic, folk, and electronic music by John Cage, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, Johanna Beyer, Marion Bauer, Woody Guthrie, Florence Price, and Leadbelly. Students who participate in this course will produce an end-of-semester concert.

Establishing a Professional Musical Life
This course examines the current challenges faced in the development of a professional career in music. The portfolio of a contemporary musician casts a wide net. Students will explore a variety of career opportunities and focus on artistic and logistical elements surrounding early career development - ranging from strategic concert programming and self-promotion to personal finances and grant writing.

Trends in Music in Society
This course examines current music professions within a wide arts-and-culture context and financial and political landscapes then posit professional growth opportunities.