Lydia Wagenknecht was 5 when she began taking piano lessons. Although she loved the sound of the music, she wasn鈥檛 keen on practicing. So, being from Wisconsin, Wagenknecht鈥檚 mom bribed her young daughter with cheese to entice her to practice.听
The strategy must have worked since Wagenknecht can now play the piano more skillfully and is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at CU Boulder鈥檚 College of Music.听听
鈥淲hile singing in a high school choir, I realized I wanted a career as a music teacher,鈥� she says. 鈥淢usic is something I鈥檝e always been excited about. But I鈥檓 interested in a lot of things, not just playing the piano. I鈥檝e been interested in learning to speak Spanish, other languages, history, activism and ecotourism. I love how ethnomusicology brings so many elements together and allows me to work with people and tell stories, which is something I鈥檓 excited about.鈥澨�
Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural contexts. Wagenknecht began scholarly work in the field to delve into questions of equity, justice and听ecotourism. She has even come to embrace Chilean musical activism. It all makes a good fit for combining her many interests into a cohesive career.听
An initial interest in German/Chilean musical interactions from the 20th century piqued an interest in Chilean immigration in general. That interest brought the city of Puntarenas into focus; located in the southern peninsula of Chile, the city has a connection for many researchers who study weather and climate change in Antarctica.听
鈥淧unta Arenas is like an Antarctic research hub,鈥� says Wagenkencht, recent recipient of a Fulbright Research Award to conduct research in the area. 鈥淪ince the Colonial era, it鈥檚 been growing into a cosmopolitan area with people of different backgrounds coming and going, especially now since it鈥檚 a jumping-off point for travel into Antarctica.听
鈥淢usicians in Punta Arenas are becoming climate activists. The direction I鈥檓 going with my research now is looking at the many musicians who are changing their artistic focus in the wake of the evolving makeup of that area.鈥�
In addition to her research interests around the evolving Punta Arenas musical scene, Wagenknecht is involved with Soundscapes of the People, a project of the American Music Research Center. Soundscapes is based in Pueblo, baby直播app, and is being led by CU ethnomusicologists Susan Thomas and Austin Okigbo, along with CU Boulder alumna X贸chitl听Chavez from the University of California, Riverside. The project is documenting the music and culture of Pueblo and the surrounding area, and will result in a digital archive of interviews and performances that will be accessible to the public through the University of baby直播app听Libraries. Soundscapes was recently awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities鈥� Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research program.
鈥淧ueblo has a rich culture and history, and has a very vibrant music scene,鈥� Wagenknecht says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a steel mining town, and that brought in workers and others from all over the world.鈥�
As an Engaged Humanities and Arts Scholar, Wagenknecht is also collaborating with K-12 teachers in Pueblo using some of the recordings and interviews from the Soundscapes project to create materials for teachers to use in music classrooms. 鈥淚 have a soft spot in my heart for K-12 music,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I got my start.鈥�
Wagenknecht grew up in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. After graduating magna cum laude听from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2017 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in wide-range music education, she taught classroom music in Wisconsin. Wanting to teach at the college level plus a desire to live near mountains led her to CU Boulder.听
In 2020, she received the听Joann W. Kealiinohomoku Award for Excellence at the Rocky Mountain Music Scholars鈥� Conference.听She is president of the Graduate Musicology Society, and has presented her work at national and regional conferences.听
In her free time, she serves as a church musician, trains for ultramarathons and works on her self-described 鈥渕ediocre鈥� rock-climbing skills with her husband Austin, a graduate student in applied math at CU Boulder. He has an interest in the mathematics of music applications and signal processing.听
Curiosity drives Wagenknecht. 鈥淚鈥檓 a curious person and I always want to learn more,鈥� she says. 鈥淒oing research about Punta Arenas will allow me to use my skills, training and knowledge to do something that I feel impacts our understanding of how climate change is affecting lots of people. The Soundscapes project will disseminate musical knowledge into classrooms and for public awareness.听
鈥淚 care about all of this. I care that my research will help us understand something in a more broad-based way that we didn鈥檛 understand before.鈥�
