In the field of the Performing Arts, research and scholarly works consist of various end-products including publication of journal articles, performances, production of discographies, conference presentations, and digital publications. While performances and conference presentations are the most common and standard expectations of research activities for professors in Performing Arts, my own research reflects several of these end-products as a performing artist and music education professional.
Performing artist: My scholarship and creative activities have been focused on the work of under-represented composers and performing their art songs in various venues. Specifically, my work consists of researching acclaimed yet overlooked songs by women composers such as Amy Beach and Lori Laitman from the United States, and Charminade and Poldowski from France. I performed art songs by these composers at various universities such as the University of Texas at Arlington, Providence College, Anderson University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Stillman College. A sampling of my performance videos can be found here: https://youtu.be/pISOQ8p_ffg
One of the acclaimed but overlooked art songs I discovered is by Jean Sibelius. During the past several years, I had opportunities to present on his art songs in a lecture recital format at regional, national, and international conferences such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Music By Women Festival, and the College Music Society. The digital publication of the topic is available at College Music Society Symposium website: https://symposium.music.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=11348:jean-sibelius- as-a-song-composer&Itemid=130. Additionally, I recently received an internal grant to support the creation of a discography of Charminade’s songs. Funding from this grant will enable me to pursue opportunities for publication of discographies, which is one of the most esteemed scholarly products in the Performing Arts.
As a music educator: Aside from the project of women composers, I have actively presented various topics in vocal pedagogy at international, national, and regional conferences. As a teacher of voice, I have incorporated several online teaching tools to applied voice courses, which have not been implemented in traditional applied voice courses before. Using data collected from a pilot research project with my students using innovative technologies in vocal pedagogy, I am completing a manuscript, which will be submitted for publication consideration in a vocal pedagogy journal. The following is a sampling of conference presentations about using technology in teaching music and vocal pedagogy are listed below:
- Artist Series Presentation, NATS Texoma Region Conference, 2017 “Appoggio and Its Application to Musical Theater Singers”, Texas A & M University at Commerce, Commerce, TX
- Workshop, The College Music Society International Conference, “Feasibility of offering blended music lessons”, Sydney, Australia, 2017
- Lecture, National Opera Association Convention, 2016 “Comparative Perspectives of Voice Teacher and Stage Director” Indianapolis, IN
- Poster Presentation, National Opera Association, 2015 “Developing an Outreach Opera Program” Greensboro, NC, 2015
Sooah Park 