Music Virtual Information Session

Brooks, can you hear me?

Hello hello hello.

Hum.

I don't know can you hear Maine?

Chris, I don't think there's a way for you to hear Maine for us to hear you unless you're broadcasting.

No, I can't see you.

You are broadcasting well. Let Maine.

Derek, can you see Maine?

Huh?

I.

We've got participants listed OK.

Welcome, we're going to wait a few more minutes for some other people to join us, but thanks for being here right on time.

I will get started in about a minute, but I encourage you to use the chat feature on the side if you have questions as I'm talking, uh, I don't know how much I'm going to be able to see what comes up in the chat function, but joining me is doctor Chris Rider who is the director of choral activities.

And right now he's paying attention to the chance he may even give you some answers to things and he'll join us. I hope on screen at the end of the.

PowerPoint, when you may have questions that are not answered well, we've got a number of us, so I think I will go ahead and get started. Some of you I have met some of the students looking at Mary Washington. I've met some of you have names that are not familiar to Maine, but welcome regardless whether I know you're not. I'm Brooks Kirkendall I'm the chair of the music Department and I teach mainly music history. I'll come back to the stuff I teach later, but this is an imperfect way I guess.

I'm showing you what the music Department is at Mary Washington, although we may appear to be a fairly small Department, were very, very active and one way to see that is to look at who umw music students are now. I've just changed the side on the screen so it should say on your screen. Who are you MW music students? If it doesn't, it is possible that you need to reload the program to see it. We were testing this out the other day and having some issues. However, even if you don't see the screens.

Correctly, I'm going to talk through everything, so you'll be fine if you don't want to go to the trouble of reloading everything, reloading the page.

So is it says two or student music students at umw? We only have about 50 actually this year it's looking to be closer to 60 music majors, which for a school of our size is a fairly small Department, but I think it's, uh, just about the right size. I'm not looking to get a music program that's very much bigger than that because we don't need that many majors to have a very robust program. Many of our most active music students are minors, all or students just taking it, taking whatever music courses that they like or.

Ensembles are lessons just because they're interested without necessarily intending to major or minor, and so as it says there in any given semester there are more than 300 students involved actively in the music program, either playing or singing ensembles or taking applied lessons, taking courses for general education, credit taking courses for elective credit, or majoring or minoring in the program.

Notice and I support their important. You can have a music scholarship without having to be a major or minor in some schools. If you're going to get a music scholarship, you have to major minor Mary Washington, although there are some scholarships that are specified. Four majors, many most. The vast majority of our scholarships do not require you to make a reminder in order to get them. Most of them are performance based that the assumption is that you're going to be performing ensembles.

Your lessons, but uh, but some are not actually.

Most of the music scholarships are awarded during the semester.

Some are awarded in advance. We have one or two scholarships actually that are for incoming freshmen and we did those auditions in February. But those are incoming freshmen intending to major. We have many other scholarships that freshman could get, but they don't have to be a music major and they don't have to audition beforehand. The auditions for our ensembles happened the weekend before classes start in August, and that's when you.

Get seated in the ensemble and that's a good chance for us to get a sense of who we might be able to give scholarship money to who we didn't already know about.

The note at the bottom that between a third and a half of music majors are double majors I think is a great thing, and I actually expect to see that number increase because our general education curriculum, which is roughly a third of the size of the 120 semester hours that any student would take to graduate from the University of Mary Washington.

That generally has gotten slightly smaller, which leaves a little more room for students to fit in a second major or a minor.

So I put up a sad about some of the things I recent students have done. Some have gone on to Graduate School in a number of fields in composition are including the University of Virginia, Ann, and a student who went to Victoria University in New Zealand because of his professor. He wanted to study with we have a student going on right now in combination. Combined program of musicology, which is the academic study of music, mainly music, history and music theory with library science. That student looking to be a music librarian.

A number of students have gone into arts administration programs in various ways. I mentioned to blend there recently at the Savannah College of Art and design.

And then we've had students, of course, go directly into careers without going on to Graduate School. Alot of music education students, Mary Washington College was founded as a normal school as a teacher, school and so education has always been a very, very strong program here, and we have music education graduates all over the state and the region. But we've also had students go on direct down into other things in music like music marketing and also with our double majors.

Student going on and do all sorts of other programs. Music in biology majors, music in computer science majors gainfully employed very quickly after graduation, sometimes even before graduation.

So just as there is a general education curriculum in liberal arts college, where of the 120 hours? Something like 1/3 of it, something like 40 hours are going to be courses that are more or less prescribed for you. There's some wiggle room in the general education, but you have to take some sort of social science, some sort of natural science. You have to reach a certain proficiency in languages and so on. The same thing applies within majors. There going to be some common courses that any history major is going to have or.

You know historic preservation major in chemistry major. So in music, these are the courses that everyone has. There's room for electives beyond this, but there's a course called technology for musicians which looks beyond just computer software beyond notation programs, but also does it looks into audio equipment as well, but also social media and how musicians can use social media, particularly to their advantage to spread their music around. That's usually the first course that a music major.

Or minor takes required of both the major and the minor. I'll talk about the minor in a minute. I realize now I didn't put aside about it, but I'll talk about it then. There are three semesters of music theory, and that starts usually in the spring semester of their freshman year, with a course called diatonic music theory, and it says their music theory 191 and 192. It's a course of vector course that meets Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with a lab component that meets Tuesday, Thursday.

192 is an oral skills training your ear doing some keyboard harmony as well. So those two courses go together as a total of 4 credits that's usually spring of freshman year of all of sophomore year is chromatic music theory 290. One 292 and then in the fault of this are the spring of sophomore year or spring and 2nd year that students here they would have post tonal theory an oral skills so 3 three courses in theory.

Usually taken back to back, you don't have to start that in the freshman year. You could start it in the software year. Little bit tricky if you wait till the junior to do that, it can be done, but you of course you lose some of the benefits of it because the sooner you understand that stuff, the sooner you can apply it another courses. So we like to get students in it right away. The reason we don't start the diatonic theory in the fall of the freshman year is because students come in with a very very wide range of experiences.

Some are very proficient at Reading Music in one class or two clamps, or three collapse even some really haven't had to read very much music at all, but still are very proficient at an instrument at the guitar or something, or singing, and so there is another class, music theory 181, which is not one of the requirements, but some students will take if it had no background. In theory, when I went to college, I had no no music theory background and we don't expect.

People to come in with the music theory background, although very frequently they have had some theory in high school, so there's a course that you could take in the first semester to prepare for in any semester prior to diatonic theory class to prepare for that.

There are two courses in music history, so A2 Semester Music history sequence, although that can be taken in either order. All music majors have that we asked for at least four semesters of ensembles. We like students to be in the same ensemble for four semesters, but sometimes the good reasons to be in different ones to switch around four semesters of applied lessons.

And again we are looking for the long term, so sticking with one instrument over 4 semesters, although again. Sometimes there good reasons to change for example, piano student might want to take organ and they've never had an opportunity to take organ before and they take a year of piano and then then take it your organ and that's that we encourage that but we also want to see the development of your skills overtime an ideally we want to see eight semesters of ensembles 8 semesters of applied lessons.

But only four actually required for the major and the music for 90, which is called Music Seminar, is really an independent research course. But it's an independent research course with everyone altogether doing their own independent research, because it's also a speaking intensive course and it's a writing intensive course. It's a chance for you to learn how to communicate about the research or whatever project you're doing.

Very often in the sophomore year I will start bugging students to say be thinking about what you might want to do in the music seminar, because sometimes we can budget for it. We can. If it's a project that requires some money, we can find some money to help you do something. Also, sometimes it just takes time to think about how to make something actually happened. The way I pitched that courses. If there's something you would like to do to have to show for your music education very Washington, this is the chance to do it, but also the chance to.

We'll talk about that. Two people who know about music and also to people who don't know about music, which is a very, very important skill, particularly as you're looking for funding for some project 10 or 15 years down the road to be able to justify why that's important. If your music educator to be able to speak to a school board about why your music program needs that sort of funding so those courses, every music major takes, but the music major altogether is 40 hours, and so there's room for elective credits, and you can take other things that you might want to take. And so I've got a few slides here.

Again, if you can't see them, You might not need to reload the browser, but I'm. I'll talk talk you through them anyway. For example, there are a number of elective courses. Can music technology amid composition course using using computer interface with musical instruments.

Audio recording course. How to set up microphones and for different different configurations of ensembles or solo instruments or whatever audio production course. So taking the raw audio and then doing something with it, which could be trying to achieve a very realistic lifelike sound. But it could also be.

Using that material to create yet another product, a dynamic product out of the audio that has been recorded and then that course that says electroacoustic techniques. I don't know how familiar the term electroacoustic is, but it is using a computer manipulation of live acoustic instruments and there are lots and lots of ways in which that can be manifested. But if you think of auto tune, for example, auto tune is an electroacoustic technique.

But their composers who specialize in electroacoustic music and we have a strong history of electric acoustic music here that may Washington, but those are the other only electives. For example, music theory and composition electives, for example, Counterpoint, which is how musical lines blend together rather than thinking of music in terms of chords. This is a tonic chord or a dominant chord. Use the theory jargon to think about how do these lines actually work together as they go happened in music.

Hum, so counterpoint is a just a fundamentally different way of thinking about music. Scoring and arranging is of course really intended for music educators, but anyone can take it. It is a course to learn how to deal with what instruments you have, or what voices you have, what works well in the voice, what works well for the clarinet or the flute of the saxophone or the violin? What doesn't work well, and how you can avoid that. So it's a practical experience in scoring for different combinations.

Not just band or orchestra, but who really do you have on hand? And also how to arrange music for that well account. I know I want to use this tune, but I need an introduction to it or I need a conclusion or I need something else we need to modulate. We need to learn how to move to another key. It's a practical course in those sorts of exercises, and of course composition, because In addition to all the applied lessons, you could have private lessons in piano or oboe or guitar. Organ is a set.

You could also have private lessons in composition. Takes the theory background, though to do that sort of thing. Other electrics though in music history or literature. So there's a world music course. Uh, women and opera course. History of jazz course does a Mozart course this fall were offering a Beethoven course. It's the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. Lots of options there. And also if there is a demand. If students say we'd really like to study X, whatever it is, there are ways that.

We can do special topics courses though the number of students who want to study this fine. Let's make that happen. It's one of the benefits of such a small program that we can really pay close attention to each student and build the offerings, and sometimes even the music that's being performed by the ensembles around particular interests and abilities. So there are those, but there more. There is performance and music Ed Courses. I mentioned the scoring and arranging courses. Of course, it's really tailored for.

Music educators, but there are similar courses that the education students need. Instrumental methods. How to be able to teach all of the woodwind instruments? How do we have to teach all of the browse instruments? All the string instruments, all the percussion instruments.

Brooks can you hear Maine?

Brooks, can you hear me at all?

I'm guessing not to care. Can you hear me?

Students that are here can any of you hear me?

Oh great.

So.

Yeah, I'm here. I just think you.

Yeah, yeah, I'm here and it seems the students can hear me students. Can you see me as well?

Good good.

So I'm I just texted doctor Kirkendall 'cause to tell him that I'm in.

Yeah, he's going to try refreshing, but I I've answered several of your questions already, just in the text, but if you have anymore questions, I'm happy to address those.

Yeah.

I can now here.

I think Doctor Kirkendall did a pretty good job of covering things. Now I see Doctor Kirkendall again. He disappeared for minute and came back. Can you hear me OK, great so yeah, the I answered several questions in the chat while you were talking and I heard from almost everybody.

We have a bassoonist Emily who's with us is a bassoonist.

Oh yes.

Yes.

The last couple questions Sofia asked about the Music Theatre Minor an what our involvement isn't that Alexander is a bagpiper though. In fact the very bagpiper you were talking about.

During part of that, an Gabriel is a guitarist, so they all had some questions about some of those things, but other other than I think I mostly answered their questions in the chat.

All right, so the Music Theatre Minor. I should have mentioned the music Theatre manner is actually run by the theater program and also I should say, if you have a chance at 7:00 o'clock tonight, you can see the theater program they were producing. They're doing a production of Much Ado About Nothing. When we had to vacate the campus and so they were doing at Seven o'clock alive. Zoom stream.

Of, Um, Much Ado About Nothing in an abbreviated version to work better on them. I think it's gonna be 7 to 8 and that will be. You can go to their Facebook page in the Facebook page and see that the Music Theatre minor is really designed to be a triple threat.

You need to be able to act, sing, and dance, so you're taking acting course. You take a a vocal production for the stage course. Speaking production you take some dance courses and take some voice lessons but no other music courses that you taking that minor. So it's a little different than the music minor, but we collaborate very closely with the theater program. We're glad to have them as far as our neighbors and I should have mentioned them.

Some other questions that didn't get answered, or is that pretty much it?

I don't see any other questions, uh?

I had answered Sofia's question about the voice component, in particular of music theory. Emily was asked a question about auditioning for ensembles and how that happens, so we talked about that a little bit.

Um?

But that those were all of the questions.

OK, any anything else?

OK.

Uh is do the music Theatre minor? Is there possibly studying classical voice? Yes, the theater program wants you to, for the minor wants you to take lessons in voice lessons. But what you study with your instructor really is up to you and the instructor, the the teacher who has worked most with the musical Theatre students, Kathy Ahern, is classically trained and although she has, she focuses on literature that they could do with more theater. She also teaches them.

Schubert and Hayden and whatever. So it's really what works with your voice that your instructor is going to work with its blurred question.

Yeah, and then Alexander had a question about the choral ensembles.

Um?

And how that works and also the acapella so yeah.

And Emily out. We can get to your question too about ensemble auditions. So yeah, the choral ensemble additions. It's we have you just asked about them in particular. We have sort of for really ensembles that are for credit 3 1/2 maybe depending on how you look at it. So doctor Kendall mentioned the Fredericksburg singers, so that's a large mixed choir of students.

And people from the community. This semester we had about 80 people singing with us. About half of those people are students in about half members of the community. Some of them are alumni, some of them are local teachers and just local musicians or people that like to sing.

That's that's a night class because obviously we have people from the community participating. Umw chorus is is a treble chorus. Doctor Kirkendall mentioned the history of our school as a.

Women's college, so that's sort of it's really the oldest ensemble that that has existed at the school and then the chamber choir, which is drawn from students in those other ensembles and then also the street choir, which is not. It's not run as typically as the other ensembles in that there's also a lecture component to that class.

In that case, see I see your question about the show choir.

Yes.

I'm not sure doctor condolence if our show choir we have had a show choir that has functioned as a student club. I'm not really sure if they're continuing right now or not. Do you know?

And I it's again one of these things that really goes by student interest.

Like at the pump and actually is another thing where when they're speaking, interested happens, uh, but when there is not, you know it happens with our support, but when there isn't, we don't try to to keep it going. If it's if it's something that they are not students enough because it required takes us critical mass to make happen. So in a sense we have an infrastructure for it. We've got music and other things for it, but it just sort of depends on the interest in at the moment, so this is just an interesting my third year in their locking them. In my time it show choir hasn't really been.

Then Act is, uh, and in fact the pep band of was kind of run by the athletic program was just sort of handed to us because there wasn't a continuing student presence there.

So there can be one, but there's one right now too. I would say if it's a critical thing for your college experience to have a show choir, we do not have a continuing show choir happening right now.

Right, so yeah, Casey, thank you for that question and then also just to get back to Emily. Had a question, Doctor Kirkendall you might be able to speak to this about the instrumentation, she says, is there a list of the instrumentation for the different ensembles posted anywhere online? I'm not sure.

Not not posted online. The ensemble have I think what you would expect them to. The Jazz Ensemble is, you know, five saxophones, four trombones for Trump. It's usually two percussion, guitar, bass, piano, so standard jazz, big band. The orchestra is Symphony Orchestra, Triple Ones and brass and strings. The string ensemble is just.

Valenzvela shows base the food on some food choir is flutes piccolo, an Alto flute. We don't worry, we own the Alpha and the basically you don't have to buy them the Brass Ensemble. It's whatever we have on hand that's interested. It's varied from a brass quintet to 9 or 10 member group. The percussion ensemble. We have all the instruments, but it's a mixture of pitched an unpitched keyboard protection around it percussion as well as other concert band is.

Standard concert band. Sort of. You know, of flu, double clarinet, saxophone, bassoon.

Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Tuba, percussion, uh, sometimes string bass. Uhm, the Jazz Improvisation Ensemble it is whoever wants to be part of it. There will be a way to do it.

So uhm there. We have also had other sorts of any music on something we have all the instrument, so you and we went into that, not without any expectation that you studied it before. Sometimes a violinist will be in the Indian music ensemble because the value and is used in Indian music, but it means kind of re learning a technique and style of play. But we don't have that online. But I don't think there any surprises. Bagpipe band is the bagpipes with drums.

And so it's, I think a fairly straightforward. There was a question about tryouts for acapella that is run by the students in the group. So you know the students. In that sense, it's sort of like a virginity or sorority in a way that students have you audition. Usually in the first week of the semester and they meet over who gets in, and it can be quite competitive for them.

It.

Great and then Emily just followed up with some chat. I don't know if you can see it or not. Works but.

Certainly there's a place for you, certainly.

If she plays the bassoon as well as the clarinet and have started learning some trumpet, so I think you've answered. Probably her questions about the instrumental ensembles.

Anything else? I mean I I don't want to cut it short, but also do you want to see the theater production? So are there any other questions?

Divided to help out.

Yeah, thanks so much.

Thank you for coming, uh, let you let us know whatever questions you do have, uh, and will hope to see you in the fall. We ordinarily would have an orientation in June, and we'd meet you. Then, as you may know, the orientation is going to happen in some virtual way. Will meet you that way. But of course, be in touch with us with any questions you have.

Thanks everybody.

Thank you.