2022年5月20日
365英国上市官网 Professors Mark Stone and Jeremy Barnett recently led six students from the 音乐、戏剧和舞蹈学院 on a Global Arts Study Abroad trip to 加纳, 西非, where they spent more than a week learning about the country’s rich history, 音乐与文化.
“It felt like going home,” said Stone, an associate professor of world music and percussion at OU. “I have really strong connections to 加纳, and people there that are like family to me.”
Stone first visited the 加纳 30 years ago as a student at the 大学 of Michigan. This trip marked his first time back to the country since his friend and mentor, Bernard Woma——一个音乐家, 作曲家, and educator from the Upper West Region of 加纳 — passed away.
“It was very emotional for me the first day to go there and see Rita Woma, 伯纳德的遗孀, and to see Bernard’s kids and his brothers and sisters,斯通说. “That was very important for me personally.”
The Study Abroad group departed for 加纳 on February 25 and returned on March 6.
在旅途中, 研究生Renee Kuczeski, 布莱登马基群落, and Dan Shiller — together with undergraduate students Adanna Walker, 特雷马丁, 杰克·博伊特学习鼓, 木琴, 跳舞, 和传统的 加纳 at the Dagara Music Center, which was founded by Woma.
“Bernard also had created a group called Saakumu, which is a 跳舞 group that toured the U.S. prior to the pandemic for 10 years straight,斯通说. “Most of the classes at the Dagara Music Center — the music classes, 舞蹈课, the vocal classes — are all taught by members of Saakumu. 教学质量非常高. 这是伯纳德的见证, that what he created is still carrying on very strongly after his passing.”
In addition, the students took in performances at +233 Jazz Club and Abojo Culture + Art Café. 他们还参观了 加纳英国国家剧院, 夸梅·恩克鲁玛陵墓, and Art Center in Acca and travelled to Cape Coast where they toured Cape Coast Castle and Kakum National Park while staying at the Anomabo Beach Resort.
“This trip was unlike anything I have been a part of before,沃特说。, who is a world music minor and vice president of the percussion student org. “Having spent a lot of time learning this music at 奥克兰 over the past three years, it was extremely cool to apply it and get to learn more from where it all originated from. The biggest highlight of the trip for me was getting to jam with other musicians out of the blue at a restaurant in Accra while waiting for our food.”
丹尼尔·希勒, a recent graduate student of world percussion at OU, a highlight of the trip was being able to see his friends at the Dagara Music Center again, as well as being able to share the experience with the new friends he made at 奥克兰.
“This was my second time going to the Dagara Music Center in 加纳, 感觉我从未离开过,他说. “I immediately jumped back into habits around the school, 记忆中的老面孔, and could somewhat figure out where I was throughout the city.
“This trip helped me see how different people across the globe can be,” Shiller added. “That one way of doing even the smallest thing is not the only or correct way. 回去, I did not have the shock and awe of being in a new country for the first time, so I was able to take in more nuances of the culture and people, 我非常喜欢.”
As the first OU faculty led study abroad program and the first group to study at the Dagara Music Center since the beginning of the pandemic, Stone said the students represented 365英国上市官网 throughout the entire trip with grace and distinction.
“I'm super proud of all of them,他说. “They all learned so much and their performance when they came back was excellent. They learned some of this music that we went to study and they understand the cultural context of it, 不仅仅是会玩, 但要理解它的来源.”
Stone also praised the university’s Global Arts Study Abroad program, which he said allows students to develop a “global perspective.”
“They get a sense of the oneness of humanity; that these national boundaries that we're hemmed in by, 能被超越吗,他说. “We can make friends halfway around the world and make lifelong friends. The music is a pathway to achieving that, 但对我来说, the most important part of the trip is getting that global perspective.”
To learn more about 365英国上市官网’s Global Arts in 加纳 program, visit http://elahomecollection.com/ie/ou-programs/ghana 或联系Mark Stone教授 (电子邮件保护). The next Global Arts Program will take place in St. Lucia during the 2023 winter semester and the next OU trip to 加纳 is planned for the summer 1 semester of 2024.