Higgins leads research on teaching transgender singers
Rising senior Luna Higgins is working on a literature review to compile the latest research on teaching transgender singers.
This study was their project for the Cornell Summer Research Institute (CSRI), where they worked one-on-one with Professor of Music and Director of Choral Music Christopher Nakielski.
Higgins, a music education major, wants to be a choral teacher in a middle school after they graduate.
“I’m interested in how transgender singers sing after they’ve had some sort of physical transition, whether that be surgery, hormone therapy, or something as simple as binding their chest,” Higgins said. “Working with Dr. Nakielski, we’ve been doing a literature review about different ways to create affirming spaces in the choral rehearsal because that’s really important.”
Higgins says affirming spaces include welcoming posters on the walls and exclude phrases like, “Hey, guys.”
“We live in a world of extreme change at a very fast rate,” Nakielski said. “And simply saying, from a teacher’s perspective, ‘Oh, this is what we’ve done for years,’ that doesn’t fly. There are some things that are tried and true that you can continue to do, but when it comes to things like gender studies, we are always changing what we do.”
Higgins worked long days to get all of the research finished in the eight weeks of CSRI.
Their alarm went off at 8:30 a.m. They spent the morning reading books and articles for their research paper. After a lunch break with friends, they spent the afternoon writing, working on supplementary research projects, and interviewing choral directors.
Nakielski says Higgins is a self-starter who organized the plan for their work. This, he says, sets them up for future graduate school success if they choose to go that route.
“I think one of the purposes of completing a dissertation and getting a doctorate is to prove to an institution how much work you can do on your own, effectively, and how effectively you can do research on your own; I think that this learning process starts here in undergraduate research programs,” Nakielski said.
Higgins has a lot of content in their final report, but one of the key takeaways that they want choral directors to understand is that gender identity doesn’t define students’ voice part (tenor, alto, etc.).
“Using myself as an example, I don’t necessarily present as more feminine or masculine, so if it were based on looks, I could be placed anywhere. Knowing I can sing alto and soprano, I’m usually put on that side, but this past year we needed a tenor in Chamber Singers, and Dr. Nakielski asked if I could sing tenor, so I got to work my range down there.”
Higgins and Nakielski said they’ve learned a lot during CSRI and want other teachers to gain knowledge from their summer research. They hope to publish their research in teaching journals once it is complete.
“It’s not always easy to keep up, especially if change is hard for you. It’s hard for me,” Higgins said. “Going through my own journey of finding out who I am–there have been a lot of challenges, and it has been so great to have such a supportive faculty and group of students at Cornell to help me realize it’s okay that I’m feeling these things and it’s okay that I don’t know for sure at that moment.”
This CSRI team of two says that learning more about what students are going through can help create a healthier educational experience.
“I think CSRI is really important because it has given us the means to explore and become better teachers and educators who will go on and educate other students coming up through the pipeline in the state of Iowa,” Nakielski said.
Seventy-five students studied a variety of topics during CSRI. The research institute wrapped up on July 14.
Header Photo: Luna Higgins working on their research presentation with Professor of Music and Director of Choral Music Christopher Nakielski. Photo by Megan Amr.
