Projects

Da Camera, Greek Odes, 2021-2024

Ms. Sham led over 50 workshops in various HISD schools on the intersection of Greek history, classical harp, and poetry.

Da Camera, Music and Social Roles, 2021-2024

Ms. Sham led over 30 workshops in various HISD schools on emotional connection and intrapersonal skills, in conjuction with chamber music performance.

Da Camera, Cultural Snapshots, 2021-2024

Ms. Sham led over 20 workshops in various HISD schools on world history, culture, and acceptance of new traditions in our own worlds.

Da Camera, Finding Home, 2021

During March and April 2021, Ms. Sham conducted a 5-week residency at Wharton Dual Language Academy, where she conducted folk music workshops entirely in Spanish. Students will learn about anthropology, geography, and music through this lesson, and will eventually compose a folk song of their own at the close of the program. Read more about Da Camera here.

Sviatoslav Richter Grant for Community Outreach, 2020

Ms. Sham worked with multiple elementary schools to teach students about identity through culture, ethnicity, and music. Her project is outlined below:

My project will involve a program for solo harp that features music in a classroom setting for upper elementary school students. I will perform traditional dance music from six countries: United States of America, Argentina, Taiwan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

This performance will stimulate discussion of historical context and cultural values. The Children will also absorb information kinesthetically as they respond with clapping, stomping, swaying, snapping finger, or other small rhythmic exercises. My goal is to encourage children to grow an appreciation for the arts and recognize that musical and listening skills can relate to and enhance other areas of study in their life. I hope that they will also appreciate various international cultural values and connect with some of the historical events offered in my program.

Young Audiences of Houston, Arts for Learning Lab, 2018

During the summer of 2018, Ms. Sham worked with Young Audiences of Houston to train teachers in arts-integrated education. Read more about the project on YAH’s website here.

The Arts for Learning Lab (A.L.L.) is an educational partnership between Young Audiences of Houston and the University of Houston’s Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts with support from the Departments of Dance, Theater, and Center for Art & Social Engagement.  The certificate training program offers a pathway for artists interested in entering the arts-in-education field. The program consists of 45 contact hours of professional development training, field experience with master artists, and collaborations between artists and educators in designing an arts-integrated residency.

For the 2020-2021 cohort, A.L.L. will incorporate Dance, Theatre, and Visual Arts strategies into the curriculum and 2021-2022 expansion will include Dance, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Music.

St. Mark’s Episcopal School of Houston, Welcome to the Orchestra, 2017-2019

Ms. Sham created a program to introduce pre-school aged children to different instruments of the string orchestra family. Students sang, danced, and clapped to various pieces, learned how to play basic melodies on various instruments, and heard many different types of music, including classical, jazz, and pop.

Performances

Performing Asia: Traditional and Contemporary Music from China and Taiwan, 2023

Presented in partnership with the Houston Symphony and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, this concert at Asia Society Texas featured Ms. Sham in the United States premiere of East and West XIA by Taiwanese composer Huang-Long Pan.

Stop and Listen: Music of POC Composers, 2021

Motivated to merge current events and music, Ms. Sham has spearheaded multiple projects outlining the importance of multiculturalism through art. In January 2021, she was invited to perform a solo recital of music by POC composers for the Greater Houston chapter of the American Harp Society, and will perform another concert for Houston’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts in late April. Click here to view a list of harp works by POC and female-identifying composers.

Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience, Climate Justice Training Workshop, 2021

In February 2021, Ms. Sham was invited to perform for a Climate Justice Training workshop in which Houstonians uncover the past, understand the present, and envision a more just and equitable future, learning about how racism shaped policies in the past and how those policies are impacting the climate crisis right here in Houston.

The In-Between (Rachel Gibson), 2019

lost in the Middle

now we are the In-Between

never could choose Sides

“The In-Between” (2019) is a performance-installation that seeks to reunite identities that may seem far apart from each other. For me, it is growing up as an Asian-American.

The performance-installation features guzheng (a traditional Chinese instrument) and harp, which represent the “East” and “West,” respectively. The players are interpreting a graphic score that wraps around the gallery by freely improvising on Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean folk songs. Their sound is also being live-processed.

In the background, a soft, generative soundscape plays. The soundscape is being generated by using search term data from Google Trends. This installation used the data of three search terms: “China,” “Chinese Adoption,” and “Sichuan.” The data of each controlled probability-based parameters such as sound selection, volume, and sound spatialization, respectively.

The sound mobile in the middle of the space is made of broken mirrors, which symbolize how identity is never cut and dry. An accelerometer attached to the mobile wirelessly transmits data to a Max patch, which controls the manipulation of sound in real-time.

Ultimately, the space invites you to interact with the sound mobile and reflect on what your identity means to you.

Rachel Gibson, guzheng

Kelsey Sham, harp

Special thanks to the student members of Oberlin College and Conservatory’s Asian American Alliance for their support.