Welcome! On this site find information about my editing and writing services, classical guitar lessons, and a portfolio of writing examples. There is also a link to my latest passion project, a blog on fashion history wrapped in family memoir. My love for music, history, and research led me to pursue a doctorate in music history. Whether playing or writing, in the end, it’s all about the stories we can tell.

For inquiries, please contact me at katharynbenessa16@gmail.com

Curriculum vitae

Dr. Katharyn Benessa
writer, editor, scholar, musician, educator
email: katharynbenessa16 @ gmail.com 

 

Editing Experience

• Editorial Assistant, Journal of Musicological Research
• Proofreader, Editor, for Lute Society of America Quarterly
• EFA course: Copyediting

 

Professional Memberships

• Editorial Freelancers Association; Women Writing the West; Society of Children’s Book Writer and Illustrators (SCBWI); Northern Colorado Writers

 

Forthcoming Publications

• A book review of John Dowland: A Research and Information Guide by K. Dawn Grapes (New York: Routledge, 2020), for the Guitar Foundation of America    
• “Nineteenth-Century Portraits from Thompson, CT,” for Echoes of Old Thompson III (Virginia: Donning Company, 2023)
• “From Mail Coach to Wild West Shows: An Historic Stagecoach,” for Wild West magazine, spring 2024

 

Publications

• “Patrick O’Brien and Douglas Alton Smith: Breaking New Ground. An Introduction to JLSA 2020, Volumes 47–50, A Brief Summary of Each Volume, and Table of Contents,” Lute Society of America Website, https://lutesocietyofamerica.org/publications/pat-obrien-instruction/
• “Douglas Alton Smith (1944-2018),” Lute Society of America Quarterly, 53/1 2018
• “Publications: D. A. Smith,” co-author with Arthur Ness, Lute Society of America Quarterly, 53/1 2018
• Two articles in: https://lutesocietyofamerica.org/journal/journal-2016-vol-xlix-journal-2017-vol-l/
  • “Recovery from Focal Dystonia,” Journal of the Lute Society of America, 50 (2017)
  • “What Factors Determine Success or Failure in Treating Musician Hand Injury,” Journal of the Lute Society of America, 49 (2016)
• “Sor Juana and Sacred Villancicos,” Early Music Colorado Quarterly, 20/4 2013

 

Recording Reviews for The Lute Society of America Quarterly

• “Tablatures: Gaultier, Lespine et Anonymes,” by Jean-Marie Poirier (20180
• “Esaias Reusner: Lute Music,” by Toyohiko Satoh, 51/4 (2016)
• “Bedlam,” by Kayleen Sánchez and Maudon Schuett, 51/2 (2016)
• “Silvius Leopold Weiss: The Complete London Manuscript,” by Michel Cardin, 51/1 (2016)
• “The Famous Weiss,” by David Miller, 50/4 (2015)
• “Pieces from the Gdansk Lute Tablature 4022,” by Magdalena Tomsinka, 50/1-2 (2015)
• “Mésangeau’s Experiments,” by Alex McCartney, 50/1-2 (2015)
  

 

Dissertation (2018)

• Secular Song of the Spanish Renaissance: Portrayals of Moors and Christians during the Reign of Isabel and Fernando, the Reconquest, and the First Morisco Rebellion
  

 

Refereed Presentations

• “There’s Something About Mary,” American Musicological Society, National Conference, Minneapolis, MN 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq3fxzjV_88
• “A Tale of Two Songwriting Teams,” American Musicological Society, Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference, Greeley, CO (event cancelled due to COVID-19), 2020
• “Achieving Inclusivity in a Classical Music Appreciation Course through the Incorporation of Student-Selected Music,” College Music Society, Rocky Mtn. Regional Conference, Laramie, WY (event cancelled due to COVID-19), 2020
• “The Song project: Incorporating Popular Music in a Classical Music Appreciation Course,” Poster, College Music Society National Conference, Louisville, KY 
• “Advice for the Lovelorn in Spanish Secular Song,” American Musicological Society, Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference, El Paso, TX, 2019
• “Love and Other Conquests: Moors and Christians in Spanish Secular Song,” College Music Society, Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, Greeley, CO, 2016
• “The Tientos in Eight Modes for Vihuela by Miguel de Fuenllana,” American Musicological Society, Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference, Tempe, AZ, 2014
  

 

Invited Presentations

• “On Spanish Music,” Renaissance seminar, Colo. State Univ., Fort Collins, CO, 2016
• “Lute Presentation,” for Music History I, Colo. State Univ., Fort Collins, CO, 2015
  

 

Education

• Doctor of Arts, Music History and Literature, Secondary Emphasis: Music Theory, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado 2018
  
• Master of Music, Music History and Literature, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 1994
  
• Master of Music, Classical Guitar Performance, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 1993
  
• Bachelor of Music, Music History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 1989

 

Higher Education Teaching Experience

• Instructor, Front Range Community College, Fort Collins, CO 2012-present
  
• Instructor, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 2015–2018
  

 

Professional Development:

• Online Instructor Certification 2016
• Writing Across the Curriculum 2015
  

 

Service (selected)

• Board of Directors, Lute Society of America 2017–2020
• Editorial Assistant, Journal of Musicological Research, University of N. Colorado, Greeley, CO 2012–2015
• Conference Planning Committee, Rocky Mountain Chapter, American Musicological Society, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 2015
• Elected Student Representative, American Musicological Society, Rocky Mountain Chapter 2012–2014
  

 

Foreign Languages

• Conversational Italian, Elementary Spanish and French
• Studied Italian at Centro linguistico italiano Dante Aligheri, Florence, Italy 1997
  

 

Technology Skills (selected)

• Microsoft Office Suite; Google Suite, Blackboard, Canvas, Zoom, Webex, Screencast-o-matic, Mp3 recording (on Zoom H2), Finale, WordPress, McGraw-Hill Online, W.W. Norton Online
  

 

Performance Experience (selected): Solo and ensemble lute and guitar performances of Renaissance to contemporary repertoire

• The Courtier and the Queen: Music of Elizabeth I’s Favorites, directed by Grant Herreid, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
• Every Man in His Humour: A Pageant of Temperaments Expressed in English Lute Song,Amherst Early Music Festival, directed by Grant Herreid, Connecticut College, New London, CT
• Laudamus Chamber Chorale, guitar accompaniment, Fort Collins, CO
• Di Due Voci: An Evening of Courtly Song from the Baroque Era, Fort Collins, CO
• Cider & Song, Art Museum at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
• 5-College Collegium Musicum and the Early Music Program, Amherst MA
  

 

Other Professional Memberships

• American Musicological Society (Pedagogy Study Group, Ibero-American Study Group); College Music Society, Lute Society of America; Guitar Foundation of America
  

 

Conference and Webinar Attendance

• Women Writing the West Conference (remote), 2023
• How to Plot an MG Mystery with Fleur Bradley, 2023
• NF Connect Webinar: Like Sewing a Quilt: Piecing Together Narrative Nonfiction w/ Ann McCallum Staats, 2022
• A Golden Gate Year: Opportunities (and Success) in Children’s Nonfiction Publishing w/ Lionel Bender; The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Nonfiction Picture Books w/ Emma Bland Smith, 2021 
• Northern Colorado Writer’s Conference, Fort Collins, CO 2021
• American Musicological Society
  National Meetings: Minneapolis (remote), 2020; Rochester, NY, 2017; Vancouver, BC, 2016; Louisville, KY, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, 2013; New Orleans, LA, 2012
  
• Rocky Mountain Chapter Meetings: El Paso, TX, 2019; Albuquerque, AZ, 2016; Fort Collins, CO, 2015; Flagstaff, AZ, 2013; Greeley, CO, 2012
• College Music Society: National Conference, Louisville, KY, 2019; Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, Greeley, CO, 2016
• Guitar Foundation of America: National Convention, Denver, CO, 2016
  

 

Awards

• Student-nominated for Master Teacher Award, Front Range Community College, 2021
• Best Paper Award, “Love and Other Conquests: Moors and Christians in Spanish Secular Song,” College Music Society, Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, Greeley, CO 2016
• Artistic Scholarship, Meadows School Award, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 1993
  

 

Community Teaching

• Classical and Flamenco Guitar Instructor, Private Studio 1983-present
  Teach lessons to students ages 15 to adult; direct community ensembles
  

 

Additional Guitar/Lute Study

• Lute Society of America Summer Festival 2013–2014
  
• Seminario Estivo di Interpretazione Musicale, Italy 1995 – 1996
  
• Flamenco Guitar Study with Miguel Antonio (also served as his teaching substitute), Dallas, TX 1994
  
• Southwest Guitar Festival, University of Texas at San Antonio 1991