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Integrating Global Music Across the Curriculum with the Music of Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei



July 2019 through spring 2020


Chapel Hill, NC

5.0 CEU / 50 PDCH offered


Application deadline: June 5, 2019



Integrating global music into classroom instruction provides a gateway to exploring and connecting across cultures. Music has always been a vital part of human expression. It has the power to engage, motivate and inspire students and builds bridges between both what is familiar and what is unfamiliar. The integration of music across the curriculum enables students to engage in rich textual analysis of diverse, interdisciplinary primary source materials, as well further develop global competency skills such as recognizing perspectives and communicating across cultures. K-12 and community college educators of all disciplines are invited to apply to the 2019-2020 World View Global Music Fellows Program. 

This interdisciplinary professional learning opportunity will enhance educators’ global competency skills and expand educators’ pedagogical toolkits for integrating music into their curricula. This program culminates in the creation of a comprehensive teaching toolkit with background information, lesson plans, learning activities and educator resources designed to integrate global music into K-12 and community college classrooms. The teaching toolkit will accompany an original album by Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei, scheduled for release in the spring of 2020. This selective program will accept a total of 12 fellows representing a variety of disciplines across K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and community college.

Note: please download and save your application prior to completing it digitally.



Meet the Musicians

Abigail Washburn, daughter of idealistic, hardworking Midwestern parents from Evanston, IL wasn’t particularly musical as a child – that would come later. As a young girl in Beijing, Wu Fei was a musical prodigy, fast-tracked to be one of the very best musicians in a country of over a billion people. Abigail expected to become a lawyer with the goal of bettering US-China relations. Fei was to become a professional musician performing state-sanctioned works in austere settings. But both women chose a fork in the road. Abigail has improved US-China relations with a banjo, not with a briefcase, touring the world and releasing a number of records that mingle Appalachian and Chinese folk music. She is one of the few foreign artists  touring China independently and regularly and her journeys included a month-long tour (Nov-Dec 2011) of China’s Silk Road supported by grants from the US Embassy, Beijing. Abigail, along with 24 other innovative and creative thinkers worldwide, was named a TED Fellow and gave a talk at the 2012 TED Convention in Long Beach about building US-China relations through music. Wu Fei became a guzheng master and multilingual composer of her own works assimilating avant-garde classical and folk music from around the world while retaining her own voice. Her commissions range from a composition for the Percussions Claviers de Lyon (France) that premiered in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, to live performances in Paris and Tokyo for Hermès. Wu Fei has composed for Balinese gamelan, symphony orchestra, choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, film and modern dance. During this period, Fei toured the world extensively performing at some of the most respected museums, festivals and events. Her time in the States studying free improvisation led her to Boulder, CO where she would discover bluegrass music and meet Abigail.

Specific Program Objectives

  1. To enhance educator’s global competency skills and knowledge of global music, especially global folk music traditions.
  2. To build the learning capacity of K-12 and community college educators in developing teaching tools and materials to integrate music across the curriculum
  3. To provide an opportunity for K-12 and community college educators to develop lesson plans, learning activities and educator resources that integrate global music across the curriculum.
  4. To pilot and publish these materials online, in conjunction with the release of Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei’s album in the spring of 2020, as a tool to inspire and model integrating global music across the K-12 and community college curriculum.

 World View Fellows Program Benefits

  • Fellows will have the opportunity to create a teacher toolkit to accompany the Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei spring 2020 album release.
  • Fellows who successfully complete all program requirements will be eligible for up to 5 CEU or 50 PDCH.
  • Fellows who successfully complete all program requirements will earn a stipend of $500.
  • Fellows will receive program-related digital and print resources.
  • Fellows will receive admission to a select Carolina Performing Arts global music performance and accompanying World View mini-workshop.
  • The following program costs are covered for participating fellows:
    • Registration fees for the July workshop
    • Dinner and lodging in Chapel Hill for one night during the July workshop
    • Admission to a select Carolina Performing Arts global music performance

World View Fellows Program Conditions of Participation

  • Each participant is required to attend a two day workshop in Chapel Hill, July 25-26, 2019. Participants will engage in intensive, interactive, collaborative professional learning focused on global music and integrating music across the curriculum.
  • Each participant must agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the access and use of unreleased album material in conjunction with the Fellows program.
  • Each participant is required to attend a select Carolina Performing Arts global music performance, as well as a pre-performance World View mini-workshop.
  • Each participant must read or view all required program materials (print and digital) provided by World View and complete any scheduled assignments in connection with the World View Fellows Program.
  • Each participant is required to pilot at least one component of their lesson plan in their classroom.
  • Each participant is required to submit final program deliverables by the published deadline (and complete any necessary revisions) in order to earn the stipend and CEU/PDCH. Final deliverables will be published and made available on the World View website.
  • Each participant is required to deliver a presentation on their professional learning experience in the Fellows program and their deliverable at least one time (for example, an in-district professional development day, World View program or statewide conference).

 2019-2020 World View Fellows Program Timeline
May 1, 2019 Application period opens
June 5, 2019 Application period closes
Applications and supporting materials are due by 5:00 p.m. on June 5, 2019
June 7, 2019 Applicants are notified of the review committee’s decision
July 25-26, 2019 2019 World View Fellows Program two-day introductory workshop
January 17, 2020 Carolina Performing Arts Performance of Invisible(s) with Christina Pato and Mazz Swift and pre-performance workshop featured UNC Visiting Lecturer in Scottish Gaelic Studies Dr. Tiber Falzett.
August 2019-
March 2020
Ongoing communication, independent work
March 1, 2020 Final deliverables due
April 1, 2020 Final revisions due