How do you envision change in a curriculum that is focused on constancy, conservation, and conservatism that tends to define US music conservatories? The School of Music’s core curriculum for undergraduates last underwent a major overhaul sometime in the late 1970s. This presentation focuses on some of approaches that the School of Music Core Revision taskforce has used to evaluate our present curriculum, collaborate with colleagues from a variety of programs and fields of music, and make recommendations for change to support the education of 21st century musicians.

Kate Brucher is an Associate Professor of Music and teaches courses in ethnomusicology, music research methods, and world music. She especially enjoys teaching Discover Chicago Music Scenes as part of the Chicago Quarter. She currently serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the School of Music.

Dr. Brucher has published on folk and ethnic music in Chicago, global brass band traditions, music and locality, and Portuguese music. She edited, with Suzel Ana Reily, Brass Bands of the World: Militarism, Colonial Legacies, and Local Music (2013) and the Routledge Companion to the Study of Local Musicking (2018). Other recent publications include the essay, “Grant Park Music Festival and Music in Chicago’s ‘Front Yard,’” published in the Journal of the Society for American Music (2020). Her current projects include a study of music in Chicago’s city parks and a book about how community wind bands maintain musical and cultural ties between rural Portugal and Portuguese communities abroad. Dr. Brucher serves as co-editor of Book Reviews for Ethnomusicology, the journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology.