Bernhard Scully, Associate Professor of Horn Monday, April 17, 2023
Ann-Perry Witmer, Senior Research Scientist 5:15 – 6:30 p.m.
Illinois Applied Research Institute
Jessica Mingee, PhD student, Engineering and Music
Senior Research Scientist Ann-Perry Witmer, Associate Professor of Horn Bernhard Scully, and graduate student Jessica Mingee joined together in 2022 to explore the value of indigenous knowledge that is overlooked in Western traditions of music and technology. After spending time last spring among the Aymara people of Bolivia, the trio traveled to Sierra Leone in December to interact with and learn from the many tribes and traditions that spread across the African nation. The act of exploring disparate disciplines of music and technology has allowed the scholars to enhance their own skills and knowledge by exploring the complex conditions that have left indigenous traditions disregarded by Western performers and practitioners. The analogies that music and technology provide to each other uncover the way Westerners regard – often with disdain – the rich knowledge, artistry, and musicality that flourish in non-industrialized societies.
Ann Witmer is lead of the Contextual Innovation and Practice research group at the Illinois Applied Research Institute and a lecturer in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, where she heads the Contextual Engineering Research Group.
International horn soloist, Bernhard Scully, is currently the Associate Professor of horn at the University of Illinois. During the summer he is the Artistic Director of Cormont Music, the Kendall Betts Horn Camp, and a member of the North Country Chamber Players. He was the long-time horn player of the Canadian Brass and former principal horn of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Jessica Mingee is a first year PhD student in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University. She is a researcher in the Contextual Engineering Research Group under Dr. Ann-Perry Witmer, and is also a musician studying with Bernhard Scully on French horn.
Thanks to Chancellor’s Scholar Alejandro Pulido for proposing this topic for an SAS.
*If registration is full email chp@illinois.edu to be added to a waitlist.
