About the Music Mellon Fellows
Jalen F. Grandchamps simultaneously pursues a music major in performance and a minor in English. The trumpet is his principal instrument and he plans to graduate in spring 2021. His Mellon research examines jazz, hip hop, r&b/soul, and other forms of Black popular music from social and historical perspectives, documenting the communal experience of this music.
The public outreach component of Jalen’s project will be a festival or concert that celebrates these vital works, highlighting the messages and their impact on the culture.
Also known as the rapper Jay Gxld, his goal is to spread love through music and lyrics and to break the boundaries and stigmas currently placed on today’s rappers. His inspiration for this creativity comes from artists including The Underachievers, T-Pain, and Kanye West.
Professor Leah Batstone, Ph.D. will be Jalen’s mentor for the project.
Sydney Guinchard anticipates graduation in spring 2021 with majors in both music performance (voice) and clinical psychology. Her Mellon project combines both fields of interest and will focus on the benefits of music-enrichment groups on the treatment outcomes of psychiatric patients and others suffering from mental illness.
Her research will examine the effects of different types of music-centered activities including music education, songwriting and composition, and music performance as important therapeutic resources. She predicts that the presence of group music activities in psychiatric care will be coping tools that will allow patients to build a more positive self-concept, increase self-efficacy, and facilitate self-awareness.
The public component of her work expands on Sydney’s prior experience volunteering in a psychiatric unit at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She will bring the healing properties of music to psychiatric facilities and institutions in New York City where patients currently lack or have only minimal opportunities to engage with music.
Professor Leah Batstone, Ph.D. will be Sydney’s mentor for the project.
Peter Leo is entering his fourth year pursuing a BA/MA dual degree in performance (trombone) and education at Hunter College and plans to graduate in spring 2021. His Mellon project poses the question: How can we improve music education for visually impaired musicians?
Currently, there is much misinformation regarding visually impaired individuals and many educators are under-prepared to provide appropriate instruction to these students. Peter’s research will address this in three main aspects of music education: music notation, music performance, and music technology.
His public outreach will share the outcomes of his research with his peers through the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). As a member of the collegiate branches of both organizations, he will locate student leaders to arrange for presentations to future music educators. By reaching his peers now, he hopes to be an agent for change in the field of education for the visually impaired for future generations of students.
Dr. Victor Bobetsky, Director of Music Education and Professor of Music, will be Peter’s mentor for the project.
About the Mellon Award
Hunter College has received a substantial grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create advanced research opportunities for promising advanced undergraduate students in Public Humanities. Public Humanities is an evolving interdisciplinary field and set of practices that draw on humanistic modes of inquiry to help address pressing concerns in the public sphere and open new avenues of civic engagement.
Grant projects should have both a clearly identifiable academic dimension (a question of limited scope that can be reasonably addressed in a research or policy paper) and a public outreach dimension.
Students awardees will be assigned individual faculty mentors and will meet regularly with them to discuss independent study projects. They will have opportunities to present and share their research in Public Humanities symposia and outside conferences.
Each selected project carries a cash award of $3,000 to the student.
Read More about Hunter Mellon Public Humanities Program
