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One of the special benefits of a large research university is the opportunity it provides undergraduates to study in a wide variety of disciplines and to work under the personal supervision of nationally recognized scholars. As a means of promoting such educational experiences for students, the Office of Undergraduate Studies offers Research and Creativity Grants each semester and during the summer term. The grants are intended to take advantage of the rich resources available through the libraries, the laboratories and, most especially, the academic personnel at the University of Kentucky. Undergraduates in all areas of intellectual inquiry are eligible, and students at many different levels of matriculation have received support. Both individual projects and joint ventures have been endorsed by the selection committee, which is particularly interested in funding interdisciplinary efforts. During the summer of 2002, a total of twenty awards were made. Of these awardees, the following students had progressed far enough to be able to supply a description of their research in time for publication in this issue of Kaleidoscope:
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Chris Barbee My Research and Creativity Grant project is a composition written for a jazz saxophone quartet with rhythm section that is heavily influenced by different world music genres. I attended the Kentucky Institute for International Studies program in Salzburg, Austria from May 28th to July 1st 2002, to study "Classical and Romantic Styles," "Music of the World's Cultures," saxophone, and composition. I am using the knowledge I gained from that experience as a resource for composing a piece that will draw upon music from cultures not often considered in the creation of jazz music. My research in Salzburg contributed toward the addition of African, Middle Eastern, and Asian instruments in the rhythm section and as substitutes, or doubles, for the saxophones. From the saxophone ensemble I will also demand many different sounds and tonal concepts, some of which will have a non-western influence. I have had the assistance of Richard Burchard of Bellermine College (the teacher of "Music of the World's Cultures"), and Peter Simpson (my Faculty Sponsor, who also taught courses with the program) in constructing a logical piece that shines a new light on the realm of possibility for the standard jazz saxophone ensemble. Richard Burchard's "World Music" course provided me with the opportunity to hear many world musicians speak and perform on their various instruments. The most inspirational of these to me was an Austrian Didgeridoo player named Klaus Wintersteller. Klaus spoke about and performed on this aboriginal Australian instrument and I was so taken by the sound that I have based my work around this instrument's fundamental sound. Professor Burchard's class also provided an opportunity for everyone to get hands-on experience with the djembe, an African drum, under the instruction on Jamike, a native South African djembe virtuoso. This experience taught me about standard playing styles for African percussion instruments. The knowledge I gained in the world music class and the opportunity I had to explore instruments in a Salzburg "world instruments" shop also opened my eyes to numerous possibilities for inclusion of various wind instruments in my composition. I have since tried different combinations of Armenian, Persian, and Indian flute instruments in conjunction with our standard western saxophone sound in my writing. . |
