Wyoming Arts Council

UW's Rod Garnett receives Fulbright grant to study music in Moldava

Uncategorized | October 13, 2010

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From a UW press release:

Things will be a little different when Rod Garnett returns to Moldova for the third time.

The first two times (2002 and 2009) he conducted research as a professor of music. This time, Garnett is returning as a Ph.D. student in anthropology. He received a Fulbright student research grant to study nai (Romanian-style panflute) and Moldovan music at the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts in Chisinau, the nation’s capital.

As an ethnomusicologist, Garnett combines the study of music in many parts of the world with the study of culture. He will incorporate his findings in his courses on world music and possibly perform public concerts.

Widely recognized as an outstanding musician and teacher, Garnett six years ago began taking classes toward a Ph.D. degree, while teaching part-time in the UW Department of Music.

“This has been an amazing way to enrich my knowledge, anthropology is an entirely different way of looking at things,” he says about returning to school as a student. “I have enjoyed it a lot, I never felt weird or out of place with the younger students.”

A UW faculty member since 1990, Garnett and his students have traveled across the world — from New Zealand to Japan, Ireland to Peru — to gain insight into other cultures and help develop his own teaching curriculum.

In addition to teaching music at UW and directing the UW World Music Concert Series, Garnett performs with university faculty ensembles, classical guitarist Alex Komodore, and popular Irish folk ensemble Colcannon. In 2004, he received a Governor’s Arts Award for “extraordinary contributions to the arts in Wyoming.” In 2002, he was given a UW Ellbogen Award for Teaching Excellence, and has served as the UW Presidential Speaker.

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program builds mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

The program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Photo: UW Professor Rod Garnett performs on a nai, a Romanian-style panflute.

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