CAROLINE SHAW EARNS WATSON FELLOWSHIP, STEVEN PARKER EARNS FULLBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP

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Lindsey Fiedler
Assistant Editor, Rice News
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Email: lfielder@rice.edu

Steven Parker, who received his master’s degree this month in trombone performance, will be studying at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany. He will work on experimental techniques for the trombone, including singing while playing, vocalizing techniques, mute experimentation and incorporating dance, theater and video into performances, he said. Parker also will be studying how and why classical music is so much more successful in Germany than in the United States.

Caroline Shaw received a Watson Fellowship and will travel to France, England and Italy to study various garden styles and concepts. She plans to then compose music for a string quartet based on the aesthetics she experienced. “I’ll be spending most of my time taking photos and sketching,” she said. “It’s the kind of project with no right or wrong way to complete it. This project is very seasonal, though, with the gardens each blooming at a certain time.”

A composer since she was 10 years old, Shaw said a great masterpiece isn’t her objective for this project. “The point is to be alone for 12 months and figure myself out as a musician, as well as a composer,” she said. “I haven’t been able to write music in a long time, and I’m excited to find a system and motivation in which to write.”