Rosa's Music Portfolio

  Racism and feminism have long been popular topics of discussion in American history. However, the intersection of the two is not always spoken about with the same level of acknowledgment. Black women could not vote in the U.S. until 45 years after white women could, and still today, black women experience equality discrepancies such as having three times the maternal mortality rate that white women do. Therefore, conversations about the specific discrimination that black women face are of particular importance. In our group project, we will create a podcast in which we will analyze the music theory, lyrical meaning, and historical impact of several songs that address the topic of the mistreatment of black women. Each group member will individually analyze and present one of our song choices, and then we will all have a discussion together about the overall meaning and impact of these songs. More specifically, Deanna will focus on sound mixing and music theory; Shania will focus o...

     For years centuries women have been fighting for equality and just when it feels like is in reach we are always reminded that it is not. From healthcare to violence to sexism, there are things women face every day that we are told to just deal with it. There is no reason we should have to "suck it up and bear it".  The issue that I would like to tackle is the gap between everyday discrepancies between men and women in everyday society and the repercussions that patriarchal society currently has on women's, especially Black women's, everyday life. I hope to use Black Popular Music to highlight the struggles of women and black women in particular using songs like "Four Women" by Nina Simone and "Don't Touch My Hair" by Solange Knowles. I will be addressing this gap by tackling the everyday issues that women face daily through song and talking about the under-representation of women and the problems that are still very prevalent.      As a ...

          In Professor Turner's interview something I found very admirable was his approach to teaching, the use of pedagogy and dynamic mindfulness. Its brilliant to structure the class in a way everyone is a teacher and everyone learns from one another and how each class starts off with something like yoga so everyone is starting the class very introspectively. In this way there are multiple learning sources and people are not just learning from an article or a textbook but from other people's actual experiences. This also facilitates a creative learning environment which I think tends to be an issue we have today when it comes to learning. Being a stem major, my classes are always very structured and formatted in a way where I am learning something I like in a way that is almost unbearable. Taking notes on hour long lectures with the occasional quiz with no interactive elements can be dull and make it more difficult to learn  so when I see a profe...

Hi! My name is Rosa Hamilton-Leak and I am currently a rising fourth-year majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience and pursuing a minor in Music. I am from New York and I am currently living in Massachusetts. I am currently looking to go into the medical field and am on a pre-med track. I am a cello player and played in a few musical performances in the pit and have mainly performed pop and classical pieces. I listen to a plethora of music genres and am hoping to learn more about music from this class. I am passionate about many social causes including BLM, Stopping AAPI Hate, and LGBTQ+ movements and have also been getting more involved in the movement for women's reproductive rights.