Four large projects comprise this section.
The CantoVario projects integrate my Electrical Engineering and Music Portfolios demonstrating External Impact (recognized by external experts), Developing Students (knowledge and skills growth), Building & Sustaining Olin College (external recognition for the College), as discussed further in the CantoVario page.
The book chapter “The Engineers’ Orchestra: a conductorless orchestra for our time” shows how a conductorless orchestra develops professional skills in engineering students, fosters external impact by enabling the conductorless orchestra model to reach a larger audience, thus helping build & sustain the college’s reputation as an incubator for innovation in engineering education. There is also the new Engineers’ Conductorless Orchestra Hub—a website of resources and materials exportable to other engineering schools considering a conductorless orchestra for their musician-engineers.
This document gives an overview of the 140+ orchestral arrangements I've created for the Olin Conductorless Orchestra (OCO), now available to other engineering schools. These orchestral arrangements have external impact because they remove the barrier to procuring music for orchestras with non-standard instrumentation, a likely occurrence for an engineering school wanting to start its own conductorless orchestra. Thus a conductorless orchestra for developing engineering students to lead, team, and effectively communicate becomes possible for other schools. Such an orchestra can help attract prospective students, in similar ways to how OCO has helped Olin attract students, thereby helping build & sustain their schools, as well as ours. Just as my arrangements have enabled a small college like Olin to have an orchestra—despite nonstandard instrumentation across unbalanced wind, brass, and string sections, as has been noted by students, staff, faculty, parents, trustees—they can open the conductorless door to others.
The Music Program at Olin—has shown impact outside Olin by virtue of its visibility to external constituents through concerts. It has continually developed students by offering performance opportunities inside and outside Olin. By showcasing students’ multifaceted talents, the program underscores Olin’s dedication to both technical and artistic pursuits, thus helping build & sustain the college’s reputation. Perhaps most importantly, it has given students “balance” in their engineering studies, or as one student put it, “No music, no life.”
These projects (CantoVario, The Engineers' Orchestra, Orchestral Arrangements, and Building a Music Program) are interdisciplinary in nature (uniting music and engineering) with the CantoVario project spanning engineering, music, and entrepreneurial thinking. My three overarching themes of lifelong learning, intrinsic motivation, and the creative process infuse all of them.