Learning by Teaching: 91ֱ�� Students Share Global Music with Young Learners</h1> <article> <h1>Learning by Teaching: 91ֱ�� Students Share Global Music with Young Learners</h1> <p>awillia2 — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:47:22 +0000</p> <span>Learning by Teaching: 91ֱ�� Students Share Global Music with Young Learners</span> <span><span>awillia2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-12-16T16:47:22-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - 16:47">Tue, 12/16/2025 - 16:47</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Through 91ֱ��’s <a href="/conservatory/divisions/pace" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="33f5c8a2-e58a-4cce-84d9-f20438a670b4" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement">Division of Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement (PACE)</a>, college and conservatory students share the joy of music with the wider community. For students enrolled in PACE 103: Community Music Engagement in the Schools, that means a semester-long partnership with area elementary schools.</p><p>Led by Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, students in the course created and taught 40-minute music lessons for children at 91ֱ�� and Western Reserve elementary schools. The course is one of the foundational offerings in the <a href="/conservatory/divisions/pace/integrative-concentration" target="_blank" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="74b35a56-1a62-49bf-9bba-ede2e0839374" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="PACE Integrative Concentration">PACE Integrative Concentration</a>, which teaches 91ֱ�� students ways of connecting with local and global communities through music.</p><p>This fall, the 91ֱ�� students taught third- and fourth-graders songs from Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea and introduced them to cultural instruments such as the gayageum and pipa. “We visited the schools’ music classrooms with the goal of introducing children to folk music that guest musicians would perform at a concert later in the semester,” Kerchner says. “It allowed us to present, at a basic level, the instruments, languages, geography, and cultural contexts of non-Western traditions.”</p><p>Children begin to lose their cognitive flexibility for embracing unfamiliar musical sounds in the middle-school years, explains Kerchner. “This makes early exposure to a range of expressive musical traditions especially important. Intercultural knowledge and experiences at the elementary-school age can also foster open-mindedness and empathy.”</p><p>The lessons culminated in a children’s concert on campus in November, an event supported by the conservatory’s Social Impact Fund. Approximately 300 children gathered in Warner Concert Hall, where wandering performers greeted them throughout the space. Guest musicians Angela Chong, Joyce Kwon, and Tina Huynh—affiliates of the Smithsonian Folkways educational program—led the young audience in cultural songs and games, with help from the 91ֱ�� students. </p><p>91ֱ�� students Parv Gosai and Choyi Lee also took to the stage, as did faculty members Alexa Still, Hyunsoo Kim, and David Kazimir, performing on flute, piano, and organ, respectively. Between pieces, the 91ֱ�� students narrated fun facts about the music and instruments—ensuring that the children went home that day having learned something new. “Above all,” adds Kerchner, “we wanted the children to actively enjoy the musical experience, from hearing the Warner Concert Hall organ to engaging with the music.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">College and Conservatory students in PACE 103 prepare local children for an immersive community concert at 91ֱ��.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-12-17T12:00:00Z">Wed, 12/17/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Stephanie Manning ’23</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=324886">PACE Integrative Concentration</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/pace" hreflang="und">Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Hundreds of elementary-school children visited campus in November for a concert of global music organized by 91ֱ�� students.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erin Koo</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-46656" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images photoswipe-gallery"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-46655" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="3"> <div id="obj-46652" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-12/ENK_6223.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="760" data-pswp-height="570"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-46653" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-12/ENK_6263.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="570" data-pswp-height="760"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-46654" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2025-12/ENK_6365.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="760" data-pswp-height="570"> </a> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Erin Koo </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Launches Concentration in Music Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 20:35:39 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Launches Concentration in Music Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-04-27T16:35:39-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 27, 2021 - 16:35">Tue, 04/27/2021 - 16:35</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In the two years since 91ֱ�� began a <a href="/sites/default/files/content/about-oberlin/aapr/aapr_final_report.pdf">strategic course of action</a> to capitalize on the collective power of the Conservatory of Music and the College of Arts and Sciences, faculty have collaborated on the design of <a href="/musical-pathways">several distinctive programs</a> intended to provide new opportunities for students to specialize and build professional skills.</p> <p>The latest thematic concentration to be added to the growing number of interdisciplinary courses of study is the <a href="/conservatory/divisions/pace/integrative-concentration">integrative concentration in Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement </a>(PACE) in the Conservatory’s <a href="/node/42011">PACE division</a>.</p> <p>Established in 2017, PACE builds upon 91ֱ��’s <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/con/connews/2017/book/index-h5.html#page=46">100-year legacy of excellence in music education</a>. The educational emphasis of the division is defined by a 21st-century need to train performing musicians, composers, and multidisciplinary artists to better serve their communities.</p> <p>Coursework and opportunities within this division support students as they imagine, research, create, and practice connecting their enthusiasm for music, interdisciplinary arts, and academic interests to surrounding communities. Through hands-on experiences, they develop critical skills that allow them to more effectively engage diverse music learners and audiences.</p> <p>Student interest in community music engagement is hardly a new phenomenon at 91ֱ��. The Conservatory Council of Students presents annual children’s and family concerts. Students secure internships with local youth arts organizations, create and perform programs for hospitals, and participate in after-school community engagement projects.</p> <p>The versatility required of professional musicians in the 21st century encompasses an expansive set of skills. For 91ֱ�� Conservatory students primarily immersed in preprofessional performance and composition tracks, the art of teaching and community arts programming are equally important to their future success. The entrepreneurial, organizational, and financial grounding necessary for creative independence and professional music-making is also essential coursework in the PACE division.</p> <p>This new integrative concentration, open to all Conservatory and College of Arts and Sciences students, will more substantively guide and prepare students who prioritize music teaching, learning, and community music engagement for roles in which they will ultimately serve beyond 91ֱ��—not just as artists and teachers in their communities, but in areas of arts access, public policy, and social justice. They will envision innovative and sustainable ways to connect with local and global communities through music and gain experience in effectively making an impact—and making this work part of a meaningful career.</p> <p>Music education professor and PACE division director <a href="/node/6816">Jody Kerchner</a> emphasizes, “At the heart of this concentration is the opportunity for students to develop as artist-citizens, those who embrace their responsibility to build mutually beneficial partnerships with local and global communities through music.”</p> <p>A minimum of 20 course credits and two experiential projects are required to complete the PACE concentration. The concentration’s design incorporates foundational and elective courses housed in both the Conservatory and College of Arts and Sciences that include music pedagogy, principles of education, psychology of musical behaviors, arts management, oral history, advocacy, and community building.</p> <p>The two experiential projects can occur as independent projects throughout the academic year, <a href="/winter-term/about">Winter Term</a>, or as summer internships, with one project being locally based—with institutions such as the 91ֱ�� Center for the Arts, Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, Grafton Correctional Institution, Mercy Health—and the other project undertaken elsewhere. Through this work, students will experience music-making and music engagement that already exists in community organizations and educational settings locally and globally. They will also expand their network with community musicians, music teachers, and music advocates.</p> <p>Students will also maintain a digital portfolio that demonstrates their musical, pedagogical, and academic work and growth.</p> <p>For students who embrace their responsibility to connect with communities through music, this pathway offers a formalized structure as well as credit for work they are already doing.</p> <p>The integrative concentration in PACE joins an existing concentration in <a href="/interdivisional-programs/arts-administration-and-leadership-integrative-concentration">Arts Administration and Leadership</a>. 91ֱ�� students may also pursue interdisciplinary minors in <a href="/interdivisional-programs/music-and-cognition-minor">Music and Cognition</a>, <a href="/interdivisional-programs/music-and-popular-culture-minor">Music and Popular Culture</a>, <a href="/interdivisional-programs/arts-and-creative-technologies-minor">Arts and Creative Technologies</a>, and <a href="/interdivisional-programs/interdisciplinary-performance-minor">Interdisciplinary Performance</a>, and all 91ֱ�� College students may pursue <a href="/interdivisional-programs/music-minor">minors in music</a> that capitalize on the Conservatory’s faculty and resources. Learn more about 91ֱ��’s musical pathways at <a href="/node/180896">91ֱ��.edu</a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Program leverages campus, community, and industry resources to foster development of students into artist-citizens.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-04-27T12:00:00Z">Tue, 04/27/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathy Partlow Strauss ’84</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=324886">PACE Integrative Concentration</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jody-kerchner" hreflang="und">Jody Kerchner</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/pace" hreflang="und">Pedagogy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">91ֱ�� students perform for elementary schoolchildren during a conservatory tour in Chicago.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>