ThisWorldMusic: Not Your Typical Study Abroad in Ghana Program

This World Music

Jeremy Cohen is a Boston-based musician, educator and arts entrepreneur. In his dual role as founder/director of ThisWorldMusic® and adjunct professor at The University of Massachusetts Amherst, he leads the top-rated UMass Study Abroad in Ghana program. We caught up with Jeremy recently to find out more about what is unique about studying in Africa in general, and about the ThisWorldMusic/UMass Music, Arts & Culture course in particular.

 

 

Tell us about ThisWorldMusic
ThisWorldMusic was founded to provide professional development opportunities and curriculum resources to educators interested in teaching world music, with a special focus on West African drumming. Through partnerships with organizations like The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Memphis City Schools, we have been helping to lead the (still nascent) effort to develop best practices in the field of world music education. After I began teaching at UMass Amherst in 2008, we decided to expand the scope of TWM by creating the Ghana study abroad program.