West Virginia University School of Music is pleased to announce Brittany Trotter and Lawrence Dine as the winners of the Mary Tiffany Ferer Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research in Music for academic year 2019-2020. 

Dr. Trotter's research, "Examining Musical Hybridity and Cultural Influences in Valerie Coleman’s Wish Sonatine and Fanmi Imèn," analyzed seminal flute works by one of the leading contemporary American composers of chamber music. In her research, Dr. Trotter investigates the transformation of narrative poems by Fred D’Aguiar and Maya Angelou into Coleman's unique musical voice. This research was also named the winner of the 2020 National Flute Association Graduate Research Competition. 

Lawrence Dine's research, "Recording the Classical Tuba," grew out of a common problem for professional tubists: creating a successful and representative audition recording for the difficult acoustic properties of the classical tuba. His research involved controlled experimentation with recording equipment and spectrogram analysis to provide best practices advice for professional tuba artists. 

This award for outstanding doctoral research is named in honor of Mary Tiffany Ferer, who was an important mentor to graduate students throughout her career as a professor of music history at WVU. Through this award and the generosity of donors, the School of Music seeks to continue her commitment to excellence and to encourage ongoing engagement in music research.