Alumna to discuss how music affects healing

Grand Valley alumna Adrienne Trier-Bieniek was a graduate student at Virginia Tech in 2007 when the university became the site of the worst school shooting in the U.S. She turned to music as a way to deal with the loss and grief she experienced, which is the subject of her campus presentation November 25.

Trier-Bieniek will discuss her book, Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman - Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos, and the music that inspired her to research the relationships female fans build with feminist musicians.

Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman
November 25
4:30 p.m.
Kirkhof Center, room 2215

After the shooting at Virginia Tech, Trier-Bieniek said she listened to Tori Amos’s music, which is often about tackling grief, loss and violence against women. “My status as a Tori Amos fan for almost half my life told me that there was something happening, particularly with her female fans, that helped them heal from whatever they were experiencing in their lives,” said Trier-Bieniek.

Trier-Bieniek graduated from Grand Valley in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and a minor in women and gender studies; she worked for the Women’s Center as a volunteer coordinator. She is now a sociology professor at Valencia College in Orlando, and regularly contributes to organizations seeking advice or information about music and healing.

The event is sponsored by the Women’s Center. Visit www.gvsu.edu/women_cen for more information.