Authors
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Frank Abrahams
Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ
Author
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Matthew Shaftel
Ohio University
Author
Keywords:
Transforming Space, Anthracite Fields, Julia Wolfe, community engagement, social justice
Abstract
Transforming Space, a collaborative project to present Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, is a multimedia musical composition that describes the plight of 19th century coal miners in the Anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. The music was performed at Roebling Wire Factory located in Trenton, a depressed urban center in central New Jersey. Modifying the space with theatrical lighting, acoustical panels, and microphones to enhance sound transformed the now empty warehouse into a community concert venue. Children from underserved populations attended a matinee performance, and inspired by the performance, transformed a space in their own school buildings into one that would be aesthetically and artistically significant. Framed in a lens of critical pedagogy, assessment data from participants were coded. Themes of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking emerged. The authors concluded that the project fostered a critical consciousness that acknowledged the importance of community engagement and social justice.
Author Biographies
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Frank Abrahams , Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ
Frank Abrahams is Professor of Music Education at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ. He has pioneered the development of a critical pedagogy for music education and has presented research papers and taught classes throughout the world. He is the Senior Editor of Visions of Research in Music Education. He is coauthor of Case Studies in Music Education (GIA Publications), Teaching Music through Performance in Middle School Choir (GIA Publications), The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy (Oxford University Press), Planning Instruction in Music (GIA Publications), and Becoming Musical (GIA Publications).
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Matthew Shaftel, Ohio University
Matthew Shaftel is currently Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University. He has previously served as Dean of the Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University and as Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at Florida State University. Highly active as a teacher, scholar, and musician, he has won three university-wide teaching awards, and has published numerous articles and books, including a textbook published by Oxford University Press. His award-winning volume on Cole Porter was released in 2016 by the University of Illinois Press.
