About Us!
From left to right: Hannah (bottom), Christine (top), Sophie, Darby
We are students in Dr. Louis Epstein’s 2022 Fall MUS 345 course at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota – Race, Identity, and Representation in American Music. Throughout the semester, we have scoured dozens of books by and about Densmore, gotten only slightly better at using ArcGIS, created the most massive honking spreadsheet ever (even impressed the chemistry major), determined which type of academic weapon we would be, learned a tiny bit of CSS, narrowly avoided learning a lot of Python, and ultimately produced a project we are pretty proud of.
Thanks for checking out our work, and we hope this inspires you to learn a little more about Indigenous song collection!
Group members
Christine Albrecht (she/her) is in the class of 2023 and majors in chemistry and music composition. She comes from San Jose, California, which is the original home of the Muwekma Ohlone people. She’s also on the track and cross country teams at St. Olaf and has a pretty extreme Bubbl’r addiction. You can catch her running probably everywhere because she is simultaneously super busy, super caffeinated, and is also a literal distance runner. Arguments can be made for or against her sound sanity.
Sophie Kushner (she/her) is in the class of 2024. She’s from Columbus, Ohio, the homeland of the Hopewell and Kaskaskia peoples, and is getting a BM in Composition and Education, which is basically a music education major in disguise. She is an Alto II section leader in the St. Olaf Chapel Choir (the best choir) and a student accompanist to many performers and groups across campus. Sophie’s favorite thing about Minnesota is Tettegouche State Park, north of Duluth, which she’ll miss very much when she moves away for Music Ed. graduate school!
Darby Wilson (she/her) is in the class of 2024. She is from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is majoring in vocal music education. She hopes in the future to become an elementary music teacher! Bless her heart! Currently she occupies her time as a senior admissions fellow, the secretary of Cantorei, and as a proud member of the German Choir. When not involved in numerous activities, you can find her in Goodbye Blue Monday drinking some hot chocolate with friends.
Hannah Paulson (she/her) is in the class of 2024 and is majoring in vocal music education. She is from the suburbs of Chicago, IL, which was the homelands of the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Ho-chunk people. She enjoys singing with the St. Olaf Choir and with Agnes A Cappella, St. Olaf’s treble acapella group. For the past two months, Hannah’s workout routine included hauling many of Densmore’s bulletins across campus. She is passionate about card games, hammocking, hiking, and spending time with her loved ones.