2008 Woodie Awards
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The Scene
Honors student explores musical alternative for senior capstone
By Drew Richardson on 3/29/07
While most seniors in the Honors Department slave away over their 50-page plus capstone papers, College of Arts and Sciences senior Danielle Giusto is working on a different type of project.
Giusto is majoring in music with a concentration in vocal performance, and instead of a paper, she is presenting a recital as her honors project. Dr. Michael Mass, director of the University Honors Program, said he strongly supports capstones that take advantage of all kinds of nontraditional expression.
"We want it to be something the student is passionate about," he said. "We're very excited about this presentation because it gives [Danielle] an opportunity to put together her interest in music with her activism in other areas. It is wonderful that this event can be part of the Women's Initiative HERstory Month."
The show, titled "Music She Wrote," seeks to draw attention to women in the arts by presenting a 50-minute concert consisting entirely of works written by female composers.
"I didn't have to choose a theme, but I wanted to focus on women composers," Giusto said. "That made [the recital] much more difficult than it already was, because it is obscure music. Most of the teachers aren't even familiar with it. And I certainly didn't have to do the display and make it a mission to educate women in music."
But Giusto felt that it was important to develop this focus for her project.
"I was frustrated in my music history class that women were only mentioned as a marginal comment," she said. "They were featured in set aside text boxes. But the music is obviously out there and being a feminist in other areas it really appealed to me to showcase that music in my capstone."
JoAnna Smith, director of Women's Initiative, said it is very important for their organization to support women in the arts through events like this one.
"We think it is wonderful that Danielle is raising awareness of all of the great contributions to music that women have made," Smith said.
Giusto is majoring in music with a concentration in vocal performance, and instead of a paper, she is presenting a recital as her honors project. Dr. Michael Mass, director of the University Honors Program, said he strongly supports capstones that take advantage of all kinds of nontraditional expression.
"We want it to be something the student is passionate about," he said. "We're very excited about this presentation because it gives [Danielle] an opportunity to put together her interest in music with her activism in other areas. It is wonderful that this event can be part of the Women's Initiative HERstory Month."
The show, titled "Music She Wrote," seeks to draw attention to women in the arts by presenting a 50-minute concert consisting entirely of works written by female composers.
"I didn't have to choose a theme, but I wanted to focus on women composers," Giusto said. "That made [the recital] much more difficult than it already was, because it is obscure music. Most of the teachers aren't even familiar with it. And I certainly didn't have to do the display and make it a mission to educate women in music."
But Giusto felt that it was important to develop this focus for her project.
"I was frustrated in my music history class that women were only mentioned as a marginal comment," she said. "They were featured in set aside text boxes. But the music is obviously out there and being a feminist in other areas it really appealed to me to showcase that music in my capstone."
JoAnna Smith, director of Women's Initiative, said it is very important for their organization to support women in the arts through events like this one.
"We think it is wonderful that Danielle is raising awareness of all of the great contributions to music that women have made," Smith said.
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