SURF day, or the day of the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum, gives students a chance to present their research. There are presentations from the sciences and social sciences such as biology, psychology and sociology, but also there are presentations from the more creative arts.
Junior and Lumen scholar Nicole Payne has been working on her research since last year, but instead of spending hours in the library or in a lab, she has been playing music. Her project, "Que Viva El Ritmo," explores the history and development of Afro-Cuban music both through research and performance.
"Since the music I am researching is a performance style, it just makes sense," she said.
Afro-Cuban music has a mix of Spanish and Caribbean influences and African rhythms. It's a style of music with which Payne feels a personal connection.
"My family's Puerto Rican but we have some Cuban family," she said. "It's been a music I've grown up with, grown up listening to and never really thought anything of until I as a music major started dissecting it."
For Payne, music research and performance is about bridging the gap between the music itself and the culture it came out of.
"It's perfect because it doesn't make any sense to perform when you don't know the history and the meaning behind what you're performing," Payne said.
Earlier this month, Payne performed some of the piano pieces she studied at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Kentucky, and when she finishes her research next spring, Payne will stage a salsa concert exploring different aspects of Afro-Cuban music. For her SURF presentation, Payne is not playing her piano work, but she is demonstrating some Afro-Cuban rhythms. She says performing music helps others understand the research behind it.
"It's really a lot of fun," she said. "It makes it easier for those who may know nothing about music. It makes it more tangible."
Payne says that music research is important because it is something with which everyone can make a connection.
"It's important because music is something so transcendent," she said. "It can touch anybody."
Music is Payne's passion and she hopes it can continue to play a large role in her life.
"Any version of my future I see," she said, "I see myself doing music in any form"