McNair Scholar Heads to Harvard, New England Conservatory
When Michael Gorostiza, a December ’08 graduate, hands out his business card, the recipient might be surprised by his title — or titles, for that matter:
Michael David Gorostiza
Biologist Composer
While they are two distinct disciplines, Gorostiza has found a way to combine both of his passions through his studies and research. For the McNair scholar, similarities can be drawn between them. For instance, just as many elements create a musical composition, genetics make up the composition of living things, he explained.
Now Gorostiza will have a chance to continue his interdisciplinary studies in the fall, when he pursues an M.A. in Environmental Policy at Harvard University and studies Music Theory at the New England Conservatory. He plans to divide his time studying at the conservatory during the day and taking classes at Harvard by night.
Homeschooled with his two other siblings, Gorostiza discovered his interests in biology and music at Burlington County College, where he received an associate degree in Biology summa cum laude. It was at Rider University, however, that Gorostiza was able to explore his two passions more extensively by taking an interdisciplinary course load of Music Theory and Composition, and Biology.
“I met extraordinary mentors at Rider – Dr. Jonathan Yavelow (assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Education, & Sciences), Dr. Jerry Rife (associate dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts), Dr. Stefan Young (professor of Theory and Composition), and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer (professor of piano and director of graduate piano pedagogy at Westminster Choir College of Rider University),” said Gorostiza, who graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Fine Arts in December of 2008.
Gorostiza also received The Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement, a scholarship program that identifies academically talented, underrepresented minority students, and encourages and prepares them to pursue doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities.
Toward the end of his Rider career, Gorostiza combined his passions in the arts and sciences as he began to research the extents of which the musical preferences of species are influenced by biology. Soon, Gorostiza discovered numerous ecological studies to support his preexisting suspicions.
As Gorostiza delved further into his research, he encountered complementary biological studies to support his ultimate suspicion of an underlying inherent cause contributing to mankind’s affinity towards sound. Among these were studies of the musical preferences of Black-capped and Carolina chickadees, which Gorostiza later used as a basis for comparison with humans.
“I wanted to explore the relationship between humanity and sound, and there is an extraordinary amount of unity in the diversity among different species,” Gorostiza explained. “While my study does conclude that yes, environment or cultural upbringing does play a role in shaping our musical preferences, it does present observations that would suggest that humans and other organisms also possess core musical instincts, which also shape our preferences.”
Last May, Gorostiza had a chance to present his work during the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the International Society for Hildegard von Bingen Studies at Chestnut College in Philadelphia. The paper received some notice by a few of the conference’s keynote speakers, and he was later invited to lecture on the paper at Tallinn University’s second International Conference: The Changing Face of Music Education last month after it was reviewed by an international jury of scholars.
Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, is located along the Baltic Sea below Finland. The main topic of the conference was environment and the role it plays in the creation and interpretation of music. Currently, Gorostiza’s paper is in the process of being published by Sonus Journal.
While Gorostiza continues to further his research, he is also working on a number of independent projects, which include composing a ballet, opera and symphonic poem.
“Rider gave me the foundation I needed to move on to graduate school,” concluded Gorostiza, who walked during Rider undergraduate Commencement on May 15.
