VOICE

MEMORY

Rhapsody Fellow

ORAL TRADITIONS

Four children and an adult sitting on the dry grass in a natural outdoor setting, observing a large, ancient stone structure surrounded by green trees under a bright blue sky.

The Odyssey is not a book. For centuries before it was written down, it was performed — sung and spoken by rhapsodes who knew how to inhabit a story so completely that they called whole cultures into being. The poem was a physical event: breath, rhythm, call and response, the body as instrument.

Children know this. Before they read, they are listeners and tellers — holding a story in their bodies, asking for it again, passing it on. Oral tradition isn't a primitive precursor to literacy. It is the original school, the original technology for everything a culture most needs to remember. If whales click and wolves howl, humans sing tales.

We are looking for a musician and performer who can teach children to inhabit a story the way the ancients did: through voice, breath, and the disciplined freedom of oral art.

Pathway along a hillside with trees and plants, overlooking water with buildings and mountains in the background.
A small wooden sailboat named 'Tilling' docked at a marina with other boats, a concrete pier, and a hillside with green trees in the background under a clear blue sky.
A group of hikers walking through a tunnel on a trail surrounded by rocks and vegetation.
View of a historic stone building with steps and a door, seen through a stone archway on a sunny day, with a person walking in the background.
Children playing on a stone-paved courtyard surrounded by old stone buildings with small windows and wooden doors, under a cloudy sky.

The Fellowship

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    Role

    Field Fellows join our community as a participant — enrolling your own children in the program alongside other Field School families — and as a contributing expert, leading our students in the vocal and performance work at the heart of this project. You will be expected to contribute about ten hours each week of active rehearsal, direct instruction, and faculty consultation. In addition, this fellow will likely want to spend time in general exploration of Hvar and the world of rhapsodic performance.

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    Reciprocity

    In return, we offer a full scholarship covering your children's tuition for the term. We aren't able to cover travel or accommodation, so this works best for families who have the flexibility — whether that's a homeschooling lifestyle, a sabbatical year, or simply the appetite for an unconventional fall.

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    Storytelling

    We'd love to be part of your story if this experience moves you, and we ask for one long-form piece (a podcast episode, Substack essay, or video) within 90 days of your residency, provided that it feels like a natural fit.

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    Dates

    The fall session runs September 7 through November 28, 2026.

Group of children working together on a woodworking project, assembling wooden pieces with tools on a tiled floor.
Close-up of a small, carved wood figure with a smiling face, set against a blue background.
A young man wearing a black baseball cap, white long-sleeve shirt, and striped shorts picking lavender in a sunlit outdoor garden with two women nearby, in a rural setting with green bushes and dry grass.
Two children, one girl and one boy, standing in front of a museum exhibit, looking at an old stone artifact with carved symbols and a lion figure on top, while the girl points at the informational plaque.
A weathered stone sculpture of a chubby, possibly mythological or cartoonish character with curly hair, standing on a rectangular base with one arm bent and hand near the chest, against a plain wall.
Two young girls holding hands and observing ancient pottery jars in an archaeology exhibit or museum.

THE PROJECT

Field School's 2026–27 curriculum centers on the ancient world, which sometimes still feels very near on the island of Hvar. Our showcase moment will be a live rhapsodic performance of the Odyssey — drawn from a selection of books, shaped for young voices, and performed for the community at the close of the fall session.

This is not a school play. Working alongside our Ancient History Fellow, this Fellow will guide students from first encounter with the text through to public performance — teaching the fundamentals of oral delivery, call-and-response structure, and the somatic awareness that theirs is a voice worth listening to.

We are also curious about the musical dimension of ancient performance. Homeric recitation was accompanied; the aulos and the kithara were not decorative. If the Fellow has an appetite to explore what that might have sounded like — even speculatively — we are here for that experiment.

A young boy in colorful clothing looks at ancient pottery displayed in a glass museum case.
Sailboats docked near a pier in a harbor with a mountainous landscape in the background on a sunny day.
Two people in a small black boat on a calm body of water, with four additional people swimming nearby. There is a rocky shoreline with trees on the left and mountains in the background under a clear blue sky.
Open books showing illustrations of a white horse and a colorful mythological scene from "The Iliad: The Odyssey."
Child drawing a pirate ship with a parrot on a black chalkboard, clouds, and musical notes.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

The right Fellow is a musician and performer with deep experience in early music, voice, and the body as instrument — and a genuine gift for working with children. Formal training in early music performance, music education, or voice is a strong foundation. Experience leading children's musical productions, choral ensembles, or performance workshops is warmly welcomed.

Because rhapsodic performance is inseparable from breath and physical presence, we are especially interested in candidates whose practice bridges music and somatic work — teachers who have trained in Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, yoga, or related disciplines, and who understand performance as an embodied rather than purely technical act.

This is unusual territory, and we don't expect any one person to have mastered all of it. What we're looking for is someone who finds this combination genuinely exciting, and who has the skill and the warmth to bring a mixed-age group of children along with them.

Three children hiking on a rocky trail in a forested area, with green trees and bushes in the background.
A museum guide shows a bust to two young boys in an art gallery.
A compass rose engraved on concrete, showing cardinal directions: North, East, South, West, and intercardinal directions, with the names in Spanish and English.
Drawing of an ancient Greek temple with a stone base and a structure with columns, a triangular roof, and two blue windows. There is also an illustration of an olive tree with leaves and a green trunk on the left side, and two musical notes on the right side. Text mentions Greek history and olive trees.
Children and a woman on a boat preparing to swim in clear blue water, with a small plush unicorn hanging from a pole on the boat.
Three children, wearing hats and casual clothing, are leaning over the edge of a stone wall, reaching down to touch or pick something from below. The wall has a carved inscription and decorative elements, with greenery growing nearby.

NOMINATE

If someone comes to mind when you read this, please share this page or send us their name and a line about why you think they'd be a good fit. If this sounds like your kind of project, we'd love to hear from you directly.

There's no formal application — just reach out to Field School Director Carolyn or book a call.

Interested in a full-time role? We are also hiring faculty.

Four children and a woman sitting and kneeling on a tiled floor, working together to assemble a large wooden stringed instrument, possibly a harp, with a hollow circular cutout in the middle, near a sliding glass door and some furniture.
A young boy with curly hair and a white shirt is reading a colorful picture book at a wooden window sill, with a bright green outdoor view in the background.
Group of children hiking on a trail between stone walls under a sunny sky with trees around.
Ancient stone monument with inscribed Greek text, displayed on a wall in a museum.
A chalkboard with handwritten notes about Tuesday, August 26, listing three activities: 1. being in an elevator accident, 2. winning an award for acting, 3. going skydiving. There is a drawing of a boat, clouds, and mountains on the board. A black cap dangles from the top right corner. A book titled "Greece" is on the floor in front of the board, along with some papers and a hand holding a chalk or marker on the left side.