Alissa Settembrino

M.A. Latin American Studies; M.M. Ethnomusicology

Alissa Settembrino was a Master of Arts student in the Center for Latin American Studies and a Master of Music student in ethnomusicology at the Fred Fox School of Music. She worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Fred Fox School of Music and the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, and is a 2023-2024 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow.

After earning a BM in Music Education from Ithaca College in 2018, she received a TEFL certification while working as an English teacher in Madrid, Spain. Alissa has also worked as a middle school instrumental music teacher in New Jersey. Her current interdisciplinary research involves the cultural transformation of music education and music and aging studies in Latin America.

Alissa is a former recipient of the Medici Scholar Fine Arts Award, which sponsored her field research in Guayaquil and Quito for her last master's thesis titled "Hybridized Folklore through Restoration: Examining Modern Band Pedagogy in Ecuador's American & International Schools." She is also a two-time recipient of the Tinker Field Research Grant to fund her prior research in Ecuador and current fieldwork in Costa Rica. Alissa's current work examines engagement with music and sound among elders and centenarians in the Latin American Blue Zone of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Her fieldwork throughout the peninsula will contribute to creating a new area of Blue Zone research, as well as further promote music and wellness practices in Latin America.