Xenophobic River Campus students ? along with students who are just plain busy ? will find it increasingly easier beginning next year to study music.
The College Music Department and Eastman School of Music have teamed up yet again, attaining “another step forward in their attempt to make ESM more accessible to students on the River Campus,” according to a recent e-mail from Administrative Assistant Jean Caruso.
River Campus instrumentalists and singers can currently pick up collegiate music credits by taking primary or secondary lessons on the Eastman campus. Students who get credits this way must show that they have had some previous training in their instrument by auditioning at the beginning of the semester. Many River Campus pianists take advantage of this opportunity each semester.
Two recently created classes, PCL 111 and 112, are also offered at Eastman for River Campus students ? these classes are targeted at piano enthusiasts without previous experience on the instrument. They will be taught within walking distance of most River Campus students starting next semester.
Beginning this fall, two-credit piano classes will be offered in a brand new piano lab located in Todd Union ? the current home base of the College Music Department, International Theatre Program, student CPU boxes and UR’s radio station ? because of Yamaha Clavinova keyboards relocated by Eastman piano professor Tony Caramia.
The lab was created “to eliminate travel time for some River Campus students,” Caruso explained in her e-mail.
An ESM graduate student will be assigned three courses of up to six students each this fall in the new piano lab. In addition, the College Music Department plans to make the Clavinovas in Todd available to students enrolled in music theory courses.
PCL 111 and 112, the beginning piano courses, will be cross-listed as River Campus classes MUR 117 and 118 starting in the fall.
The River Campus equivalent of Eastman’s PCL 101 will be MUR 119. This class is the first in a series of four piano classes required of music majors to establish piano proficiency.
These plans are only an extension of the university’s continuous efforts to make music courses easily accessible to all students.
This semester, soprano Kim Upcraft offers a voice class, VCE 112, Wed. mornings in Todd Union. She also teaches private voice lessons on River Campus, along with ESM instructors Laura Enslin, Mario Martinez and Ali Grandey. These lessons are available to students who pass an audition.
ESM jazz guitarist Bob Sneider teaches Basic Theory and Improv, MUR 201, in Todd Union. An introductory course in music composition, MUR 205, is also currently being offered. Both of these courses require students to have taken MUR 111, or to have received consent from the instructor.
Information about these classes is available through the College Music Department, which is located at 207 Todd Union. E-mail eastman@ campustimes.org with any questions.
Weiss can be reached at jweiss@campustimes.org.
