From PhD to Do-Re-Mi — Megan Voeller’s Musical Leap into Settlement Music Online
Megan Voeller is an adult student who joined Beth Benson’s Beginner Adult Musicianship course this fall with Settlement Music Online. Outside of the Saturday class held on Zoom, they are the Director of Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University’s campus in Center City Philadelphia since 2016 and are currently a PhD candidate in art history at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture.
Megan is a big fan of free jazz and new music, having served on the board of Philly’s own Ars Nova Workshop for three years. They admire the ability of musicians to “know the rules” of music and then break them in radical and interesting ways, an appreciation that has been deepened by joining SMO’s Musicianship class.
They had some initial worry about joining the course from a non-musical background, but as soon as the class started, those concerns fell away. “Beth is being extra inclusive to make sure I am keeping up with everything,” explains Megan. “She’s really fluent and flexible about meeting people where they are and understanding everyone’s experience.” Beyond this class, Megan may even pick up the guitar or piano, fully diving into the experience of making music (after the dissertation is finished, of course).
Start your own musical journey with musicianship classes online or at one of our branches.
