Living Traditions: Songs and Singing Games from Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Dr. Rachel Gibson, Professor, Music
An investigation into living musical traditions, Rachel Gibson learned children’s songs and singing games from teachers, families, and children living in Guatemala and Nicaragua for ten months. Her book ¡Canta Conmigo! Songs and Singing Games from Guatemala and Nicaragua was published by Oxford University Press in 2021 and contains 90 songs in Spanish and Kaqchikel, a Mayan language, along with biographies of contributing musicians and the Guatemalan illustrator. To further frame the song collection, chapters are included on the history of Central America, music in Central America, song histories and background, and how to responsibly incorporate the repertoire in to school curriculums with culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies.
“For The People’s Good” – A Pandemic Play.
Eric Parness, Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts
The theatre industry was one of many that ground to a halt during the pandemic, forcing theatre artists who thrive on collaboration into isolation. Professor Parness used his time in lockdown to redefine his role as a storyteller and channeled his creative energy into writing his first full-length play. At the presentation, Professor Parness will discuss his inspiration for the piece, share about the writing process, and perform selections.
Mutation bias reflects natural selection in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Dr. Mao-Lun Weng, Assistant Professor, Biology
“Mutation creates genetic variation, which provides the raw materials for evolution to occur. To fully understand evolution, we must decode mutation. Mutation has long been assumed to be a random process. However, recent studies have challenged this convention. In my presentation, I will share my recent co-authored publication that uncovers the non-randomness of natural mutations in a plant species. In this international collaboration, we showed the mutations did not randomly occur in the genome and essential genes were less likely to accumulate than non-essential geneses. These findings have significant implication in biology and medical research.”
A New Perspective for the use of Dialect in African American Spirituals: History, Context, and Linguistics.
Dr. Felicia Barber, Associate Professor, Music
The interpretation of a piece of music is dependent on several factors, which may include its melody, harmony, and rhythm. However, in choral music it is the text that serves as a defining characteristic. The pronunciation and interpretation of text is key to understanding its meaning, as well as cultural interpretation. One of the persistent problems found in the performance practice of African American Spirituals is its dialect. This presentation will review the history of the languages and dialects that developed out of the African Diaspora; discuss the sociolinguistic impact of the AAE dialect on practice; discover how to apply the chief phonological features found and instruct teachers on how to employ these finding to enhance the performance practice of spirituals.