Louise Pascale
Professional Title: Associate Professor
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:
Traditional music and its role in culture and society; strategies for integrating music into the school curriculum
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley: Integrated teaching through the arts; music
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:
Integrated Arts Approaches to the Curriculum; Multiple Perspectives Through Music; Educator Inquiry: Seminar and Thesis Project; Arts and Children with Special Needs; Integrated Arts Seminar
Education: Ph.D., Lesley University; M.Ed., Lesley University; B.A., University of California
Louise has taught in the ITA Creative Arts in Learning program for over 15 years. Louise's research investigates the meaning of singer and non-singer with an interest in changing the ways singing is perceived, nurtured and implemented in classrooms. Most recently, she has launched the Children's Afghan Songbook Project, a project that strives to preserve traditional Afghan children's songs and return them to the children of Afghanistan. These songs almost completely disappeared from Afghan culture due to the devastation that has afflicted Afghanistan over the past 30 years. This project is rooted in her years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1960s.
In 2008, she published Children's Songs from Afghanistan: Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar, the English translated version of the songbook which is being distributed to music specialists, educators, Afghan-Americans and others interested in learning more about world music. There are currently over 30,000 songbook packages distributed across Afghanistan. In addition, Louise, along with a team of Afghans, created a Teacher's Guide to accompany the songbook. This guide provides lesson ideas that use the songs to teach basic literacy skills. A second songbook is being created and will be published, along with another Teacher's Guide, by Spring 2013.
lpascale@lesley.edu