LSU Music Education Graduate Students Present at Regional Symposium
February 29, 2024
(From left to right) Roderick Paulin, David Saccardi, Chris Song, Joseph Casselberry, Veronica Perez
Earlier this February, Dr. David Saccardi, Assistant Professor of Music Education, and several graduate students from LSU's Music Education area attended the Mid-South Music Education Research Symposium, held at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS, where they presented their ongoing research, and worked with the symposium's featured clinician, Dr. Deb Confredo, President of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
Presenters
Chris presented his research on the vernacular music of South Louisiana, including Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco music, and its inclusion in public school music programs by featuring a program in Vermillion Parish that includes traditional music in the school curriculum.
Song also presented his work in conjunction with Dr. David Saccardi and Dr. Simon Holoweiko which examined the peer learning structures and culture within LSU's Tiger Marching Band, situating the band's leadership culture in the larger college marching band milieu and connecting it to the ideas of psychological safety.
Roderick presented his research on the Great Lakes Experience. This was a historical research project examining the confluence of numerous African-American musicians, many of whom were from New Orleans, at the Great Lakes military base outside of Chicago during World War II.
These musicians were trained to lead dance/jazz bands as a means of encouraging the troops during the war effort and the skills the musicians learned in the military transferred back to their civilian lives after the war, with many of them becoming influential teachers and musicians in the New Orleans area and affecting the direction and quality of jazz music in the city for the remainder of the 20th century.
Joseph presented his work on sleep hygiene interventions for music educators and spoke about the experimental design he'd created to implement this intervention over a 6-week process.
Veronica presented her research on the impact of movement education on the visual and cognitive capacities of 3-4 year-old music students.