Key Points
- The FSU College of Music has launched an interactive global map highlighting international activities and connections involving its students and faculty across teaching, research and performance.
- FSU College of Music faculty and students are building partnerships and sharing expertise internationally, with recent activities in Thailand, Singapore and South Korea, as well as exchange opportunities in Italy.
- The College of Music’s global engagement extends beyond international performances, including partnerships with universities and arts organizations, alumni connections, international performances and FSU’s extensive World Music Ensemble programs on campus.
Florida State University’s College of Music has launched a new interactive webpage showcasing the global reach of its students and faculty.
The webpage uses an interactive map to highlight College of Music activities around the world and illustrate how international experiences are shaping teaching, research and performance at FSU.
Sarah Eyerly, associate dean for research and faculty development, and Greg Jones, associate dean for artistic planning, led the creation of the webpage in collaboration with Jeremy Katz, a research impact librarian, and Krista Rockne, research impact assistant with FSU Libraries.
“As part of the college’s strategic vision, one of our key focus areas is ‘Connecting with Local and Global Communities,’” said Todd Queen, dean of the FSU College of Music. “The FSU College of Music is a global leader in music education, and this mapping project vividly demonstrates the extraordinary reach and impact of our faculty and students as they connect with communities around the world through music.”
“The FSU College of Music is a global leader in music education, and this mapping project vividly demonstrates the extraordinary reach and impact of our faculty and students as they connect with communities around the world through music.”
– College of Music Dean Todd Queen
This spring, College of Music leaders visited universities and arts organizations in Thailand and Singapore to explore potential partnerships. The delegation included Queen along with Liz Avery, associate dean for academic affairs, and Lori Gooding, director of the college’s Music Therapy Program.
In Thailand, the delegation traveled to Salaya to meet with representatives at Mahidol University’s College of Music and discuss opportunities for faculty, research and collaborations.
In Singapore, the delegation met with representatives from the LASALLE College of the Arts, a globally ranked institution for performing arts education that serves as a constituent college of the University of the Arts Singapore. The connection to LASALLE was made through Indra Delvarajah, an FSU alumna who earned her Ph.D. in Music Education/Music Therapy from the College of Music in 2013. Delvarajah leads LASALLE’s master’s program in Music Therapy.
The group also met with representatives from SEADOM, a Southeast Asia cultural and educational network that includes 70 member institutions in 10 countries, to explore opportunities for collaboration. They also attended the organization’s annual conference to connect with other regional leaders.
FSU College of Music students are building international connections of their own. Phee Phupaibul, a student from Thailand pursuing a Doctor of Music in guitar performance, planned and organized a trip for FSU students to attend the Mahidol International Classical Guitar Forum in June at Mahidol University’s College of Music in Salaya, Thailand.
“Bringing top-tier faculty and students to exchange their knowledge makes me so proud, as a student here at FSU, to do that for my home country,” Phupaibul said.
Stephen Mattingly, associate professor of guitar, accompanied the group, which included Logan Florence, a current doctoral student, and recent FSU graduates Paul Sessoms and Carlos Guevara. The group performed as a quartet at the forum, while Mattingly presented a masterclass and technique workshop and performed as a featured artist.
“As a musician, you learn how to adapt your playing and how to get the music to touch the audience more,” Phupaibul said. “That’s the most valuable thing I’ve learned as a musician traveling internationally.”
Before arriving in Thailand, Mattingly also participated in Singapore’s National Guitar Festival, where he performed and taught masterclasses.
“The experience of international travel, and specifically international study, is important for any student pursuing a career in music,” Mattingly said. “Part of that experience is teaching you to be the cultural ambassador that you aspire to be in your career.”
Faculty members also represented FSU on international stages this summer. Members of the Dohnányi Chamber Players performed at ClarinetFest, the International Clarinet Association’s annual festival, held July 7-11 in Incheon, South Korea.
Founded in 2019, the Dohnányi Chamber Players perform classical masterworks, including those by Ernst von Dohnányi, a Hungarian composer who served on FSU’s faculty from 1949 to 1960. Members of the ensemble include Jonathan Holden, associate professor of clarinet; Read Gainsford, professor of piano; and Gregory Sauer, professor of cello.
The festival and symposium brought together hundreds of orchestral players, educators, students and instrument manufacturers from around the world for concerts, masterclasses, lectures and exhibitions.
“To reach across boundaries and barriers with music that we all love and agree upon, and agree that it’s worth loving and worth spending time on, there’s something kind of unifying about that,” Sauer said.
The group was invited to perform at ClarinetFest by Wonkak Kim, an FSU alumnus who served as the artistic director for the event. Kim, who earned his Master of Music in 2009 and his Doctor of Music in 2012, is an associate professor of clarinet at the University of Oregon.
After Clarinetfest, Sauer traveled to Daegu to teach a cello masterclass at Kyungpook National University (KNU). FSU signed a memorandum of understanding with KNU last year to expand opportunities for faculty and student research and collaboration.
During the masterclass, Sauer worked with KNU students on technique and musical interpretation. He said the experience was an opportunity to learn from another educational approach while sharing his own expertise.
“I always get inspired learning about what’s being taught in other places and what’s being focused on in other, far-flung places, especially,” Sauer said. “It opens my eyes and ears.”
The College of Music has a student exchange agreement with the Conservatorio Di Musica G. Puccini della Spezia in La Spezia, Italy. Named for Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, the conservatory offers FSU College of Music students the opportunity to study there for a semester while paying FSU tuition and fees.
The College of Music’s global engagement extends to campus through its World Music Ensemble programs. Among the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation, FSU’s World Music Ensemble programs feature African Music and Dance, Gospel Choir, Andean Music, Balinese Gamelan, Chinese Ensemble, Brazilian Ensemble, Irish Ensemble, Old Time Ensemble and Mas n’ Steel.
These activities represent just some of the College of Music’s connections around the world featured on the new interactive map. Click here to explore the College of Music’s global activities.
For more information about the FSU College of Music, visit music.fsu.edu. To learn more about FSU’s activities around the world, visit global.fsu.edu.