Melody Chapin, UNH alum Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Scholarships

Related Media

Melody Chapin has received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in São Paulo, Brazil.

DURHAM, NH (05/16/2011)(readMedia)-- Melody Chapin a 2010 alumna has received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship that will provide support abroad during the 2011-2012 academic year. Chapin  will conduct research in São Paulo, Brazil.

Chapin, a resident of Cambridge, Mass., graduated  from UNH with a Bachelor of Music degree in voice performance and a minor in theater, and developed proficiency in Portuguese language.

During her Fulbright year in Brazil, Chapin will create an anthology of 25 Brazilian art songs, providing a translation of each song's text into English, using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to produce a Portuguese pronunciation guide, and including a brief biography on each composer. She will also format and edit the work in an American publishing style.

"I became interested in Brazilian art song in college when I visited my old elementary school to sing for its students," says Chapin. "Because of the large Brazilian population in my community, many of the students asked for songs in Portuguese."

Their request motivated Chapin to apply for a UNH International Research Opportunities Program grant, which she received to conduct research in Brazil during the summer following her junior year. While there, she discovered that no Brazilian art song anthologies exist in Brazil or in the United States. Working with UNH associate professor of music Jenni Cook and Yuka de Almeida Prado at the Ribeirão Preto campus of the University of São Paulo, Chapin translated and wrote the IPA for the 15 Brazilian art songs she studied. This initial research provided her with the skills she will need during the coming year.

In addition to her research, Chapin will take graduate courses in musicology and Brazilian literature, and will take weekly voice classes with Almedida Prado. She also plans to join a community chorus, participate in music festivals, sing in master classes, and coach Brazilian voice students in pronunciation of English song.

Upon her return to the U.S., Chapin will pursue graduate studies. She says, "I plan to work with musicians and editors to bring Brazilian music into the United States and educate those who wish to sing Brazilian art song, making it a more accessible form of art music for those outside of Brazil."

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.