Student Spotlight: Hannah Jordan ‘23
Centenary junior Hannah Jordan, a native of Greenwood, Louisiana, who studies piano performance and French at Centenary, had the unique opportunity to marry her academic interests this fall as a participant in an international conference, the Forum on Traditional Music of the Francophone World. Appearing alongside professional musicians and scholars, Jordan presented her research on relatively unknown 19th century piano compositions by Creole musicians of color and drew high praise from her fellow conference contributors and proud Centenary professors. Jordan, who also plays the violin, holds the Hurley School of Music’s prestigious Mary C. White full tuition scholarship.
Jordan wrote about the experience and the new horizons it has opened for Centenary Magazine.
I first learned about the Forum on Traditional Music of the Francophone World because I’m presenting with another international conference with the Society for Ethnomusicology. The whole story has unfolded over the course of about a year and a half. My interest in music of the Francophone world was first piqued when Dr. Dana Kress brought some 19th-century French sheet music to our French 102 class. Due to my musical experience as a piano performance major, Dr. Kress asked me if I would be interested in working with this piece and other unknown 19th-century compositions by Creole musicians of color. We began working and talking and collecting, although the project largely sat untouched for the next year or so.
In January 2021, Dr. Kress approached me with an email from a friend and colleague, Dr. Roger Mason (visiting scholar at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami). The Society for Ethnomusicology had issued its call for abstracts for the 2021 conference, and we agreed that this would be a great opportunity to share some of my research. Early in the spring, I submitted my abstract to the Special Interest Group on Traditional Music of the Francophone World (chaired by Dr. Roger Mason) under the Society for Ethnomusicology, then I waited to hear whether I would be accepted as a presenter. Around the end of July, I received an email and phone call from Dr. Mason saying that not only was I accepted to present at the SEM conference, but I was also invited to participate in this independent Forum on Traditional Music of the Francophone World. The Forum is sponsored by the Special Interest Group of the Society for Ethnomusicology, the Center for Louisiana Studies of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, the University of the Antilles, and the University of Paris-Sorbonne IReMus.
The process of preparing for and participating in this Forum has been so exciting. I’ve been in contact with Dr. Mason and the other presenters (musicians, historians, and musicologists from the United States and various Francophone countries) since the end of July, and I had the opportunity to attend another forum with this same group of people earlier this year. I definitely feel out of my league with these brilliant musicians and researchers from around the world, but I’m so grateful for the opportunity to learn from their expertise. This forum covers a wide range of topics pertaining to music of the Francophone world, and this is a rare opportunity to listen to and chat with some of the leading professionals in this field of study. Through participating in the forum and conducting my own research over the past year, I’ve learned that the world of Francophone music is so profound and extensive, I could spend an entire career in this vein of research and still never understand it completely. It’s fun and encouraging to interact with professionals who are so passionate about the subject and delight in sharing it with other people. I can never thank them enough for allowing me to participate.
I had never taken French before coming to Centenary, and I certainly hadn’t anticipated wading into the research world; I’ve always seen myself primarily as a performer. This opportunity fell into my lap rather unexpectedly, and I’m still trying to figure out what it means for my future. In addition to performing, I’ve definitely realized there are so many other layers of the music world about which I’m passionate, and I’m excited to see where the research takes me next.
— Hannah Jordan ‘23
Watch Hannah’s conference presentation below.