Provider Details
Provider: Melissa Foss
Contact Details
Address
Baltimore, MD 21223
Primary Contact: Melissa Foss
Teaching Artist
Mud to Music, led by instrument-maker, musician, and teaching artist Melissa Hyatt Foss, brings ancient sound worlds to life through hand-crafted ceramic instruments inspired by Pre-Columbian traditions. Based in Baltimore, Melissa offers bilingual, arts-integrated, hands-on programming where STEAM and SEL are woven seamlessly into explorations of history, culture, visual art, and music.
With extensive experience in Pre-K–12 classrooms as well as museums, universities, and libraries, Melissa’s Mud to Music programming centers open-ended creativity, community-building, and joyful discovery. Through performances and music- and instrument-making residencies, her ever-growing collection of sculptural sound-objects, such as Whistling Bottles, Polyphonic Flutes, Trumpets, and Noise Generators, immerses learners in dynamic experiences where clay, sound, and music spark curiosity, dialogue, and meaningful connections to nature and the rich musical heritage of the Americas.
Events and Programs Offered
Mud to Music Residency: Music-making with the Ocarina
In this residency we take a journey back in time through the Ocarina, a type of ceramic flute that has been made across Central and South America for thousands of years. We explore this fun and intuitive instrument through simple rhythmic call and response and…
Program/Event Format:
In School Residency, After School/Weekend
Art Forms:
Music
Mud to Music Residency: Instrument-Making with Clay
Students are introduced to musical instruments that have been made across Central and South America for thousands of years and learn through a step-by-step process with simple pottery techniques to construct their own one-of-a-kind rattles or flutes with clay. Together we navigate between the functional…
Program/Event Format:
In School Residency, After School/Weekend, Professional Development
Art Forms:
Visual Art and Design, Storytelling, Music
Early Childhood Residency: Discover Ancient Sounds Through Play!
An Owl-shaped flute, an instrument that sounds like Jaguar, and a Whistling Bottle that plays itself when we tilt it back and forth… explore the magic of sound and music through the exciting world of ancient instruments! Through songs, storytelling, group games, and hands-on instrument…
Program/Event Format:
In School Residency, After School/Weekend
Art Forms:
Visual Art and Design, Storytelling, Music, Dance and Movement
Assembly Performance: Sound Technologies of the Ancient Americas
Take a journey into the world of ancient sound technology through live demonstrations of ceramic instruments from the pre-Columbian Americas. This performance-based assembly gives an historically-grounded introduction to rare instruments whose forms, scales and timbres provide a glimpse into the extraordinary cultures that created them.…
Program/Event Format:
In School Performance, After School/Weekend
Art Forms:
Visual Art and Design, Storytelling, Music
Assembly Performance: Little Hawk and the Magic Quest
Little Hawk and the Magic Quest Our story takes us to the faraway lands of Halconcito Pichón or Little Hawk, who is a bird that can’t yet fly because she doesn’t know her song. For her wings to take flight, she must go off on…
Program/Event Format:
In School Performance, After School/Weekend
Art Forms:
Visual Art and Design, Theater, Storytelling, Music, Dance and Movement