Exploring Disabled Culture and Musical Identity
In many cases, disabled and neurodivergent folx have found themself feeling a sense of empowerment in the music classroom, and throughout their musical careers. The relationships between empowerment between disabled, neurodivergent and musical identities has become an uprising topic in the music industry. Whether this is musical listening, composing, performing and other types of musicking. This session invites Andrew Wang, Nina Danon, Samantha Bassler, Kei Otake, and all panelists with lived experiences of disability, neurodivergence, and musicality. Panelists will share their stories, lived experiences, and even research. Please reach below to learn more about the panelists.
Interested in attending - register for the event HERE.
About the speakers:
Andrew Wang (He/Him) received his undergraduate degree at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. He also has his master’s in music education from Kent State University. Andrew works as the Music Education expert for Hip Hop In The 914 as well as Music Education expert for Hip Hop and Neurodivergence. Andrew has presented around the Country from University of Miami to Howard University in DC and internationally through virtual presentations in Dublin and Germany. Andrew or “Mr Hip Hop” brings the element of beatboxing to Hip Hop. Andrew believes good teaching happens when the student feels successful.
Nina Danon (she/they) is a disabled and neurodivergent composer and doctoral researcher. She is currently developing a musical neuroqueering practice as part of her PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, which investigates the interconnection between music and neurodivergence from a cultural and artistic perspective. Her PhD, supervised by Prof John L. Drever and Dr Alexis Bennett, is funded by the Arts and Humanity Research Council and the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England.
Samantha Bassler (She/They) is a multiply neurodivergent and disabled musician and musicologist. She works as a Part-Time Lecturer in Music (level 2) at Rutgers University at Newark, and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of music history and theory at New York University. Additionally, Samantha owns and operates Stellar Music Space in Brooklyn, NYC, where she teaches private piano, voice, guitar, and violin lessons. Samantha’s research includes music, gender, and disability in early-modern England, advocacy for scholars with invisible disabilities and neurodivergence, trauma-informed pedagogy and universal design, and music antiquarians during the long eighteenth century. In December 2023 Samantha co-edited, with Katherine Butler and Katie Bank, the edited collection Byrd Studies in the 21st Century.