The Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) awarded Associate Professor of Voice (Baritone) and Musical Theatre Styles Specialist Matthew Edwards, D.M.A., ’15 a grant for $2,300 in April 2016.
The grant will be used to conduct a real-time MRI study of faculty and student singers performing in classical and Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) styles. The videos produced during the research will be archived in the Janette Ogg Voice Research Center at Shenandoah University and will be available for use by undergraduate students enrolled in private lessons and styles classes. These videos (watch an example) will provide the voice science community with new insight into how the vocal mechanism functions and will help Shenandoah students gain a better understanding of the changes that are happening in their vocal tract during vocal production. The results of the study will also be submitted for presentation and/or publication.
The Maurice L. Mednick Memorial Fellowship was created in honor of a young Norfolk industrialist whose family and business associates wished to perpetuate his name by establishing a memorial that would emphasize his and the donors’ strong interest in higher education. Administration of the Mednick Memorial Fund is vested in the VFIC to encourage the professional development of college teachers and improve their academic competence through fellowships for research and advanced study.
Founded in 1952, the VFIC is a nonprofit fundraising partnership supporting the programs and students of 15 leading independent colleges in the Commonwealth. The VFIC supports these institutions by securing gifts and grants for the consortium, increasing their visibility, facilitating collaborative initiatives among the colleges and supporting programs which ensure that the personalized and effective educational experiences of these colleges remain an affordable choice for the young men and women who will be tomorrow’s citizen-leaders.