“When I was about five or six I told my parents that I wanted to sing,” Farah said. “My parents aren’t musicians, so it was kind of awkward for them to know what to do with me.”
Farah is a Brazilian native and said public schools in Brazil do not offer music programs there, so her parents placed her into a conservatory of music.
“I went back and forth pursuing a career as a singer and pursuing a career as a conductor,” Farah said.
She said back then she knew she loved choral music.
“I was taking voice lessons in college,” Farah said, “and, then, you know just as a college student, I was working, singing in bars. I was doing a lot of singing, but, for some reason, I knew opera wasn’t really my real passion.”
After studying general music for nine years at the conservatory, Farah said she went on to study conducting in college.
She moved to the United States in 2000 to continue her studies in graduate school. She received her master’s degree at the University of Iowa and her doctorate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Finishing her education in 2008, she moved to New Albany to become director of choral activities at IU Southeast.
Since arriving here, Farah said she has worked diligently to expand the music department.
“I brought to campus a huge choral festival — the Southern Indiana Women’s Choral Festival,” Farah said.
The festival is held annually at IU Southeast and has brought high school music students and directors to campus.
“I think the goal is to continue bringing more people into our program,” Farah said.
Farah said one tool for growth would be adopting a degree track for music education.
As a board member of the Indiana Choral Director’s Association, Farah has been in contact with most of the local music educators in the area.
“I know for a fact that there is a great need for us to have good music teachers out there in the community teaching,” Farah said. “Having a bachelor of music education would attract a lot of wonderful students who want to get a degree as music educators.”
This sentiment does not stop with Farah.
“There’s quite a bit of demand for qualified music teachers in the state of Indiana,” Ken Atkins, office coordinator for the Theatre and Music Departments, said.
Atkins said Farah has been working toward the goal of the education degree through community outreach, getting the choir out into the community and building relationships with the community.
Aside from her work in expanding the Music Department, she conducts the IUS Community Chorus and the IUS Concert Choir.
By ETHAN FLEMING
Staff
ethflemi@umail.iu.edu
