university of san diego combined winter 2015 & … of san diego combined winter 2015 &...

Chair’s Corner 1

Faculty Spotlight 2-7

Student Spotlight 8

Mu Phi Epsilon 9

Staff Notes 10-11

Upcoming Events 12-13

Music Trivia 14

Inside this issue:

Music Department

Camino Hall 161

5998 Alcalá Park

San Diego, CA 92110

Phone: (619) 260-2938

University of San Diego Combined Winter 2015 & Spring 2016 Issue

2015 was an exciting year for the Music Department as we have a new faculty member (Dr. Malecki),

many new students and several ongoing initiatives – such as Band, USD Strings, and the final touches

on the Arts Entrepreneurship Minor (in partnership with Theatre Arts and the School of Business

Administration) and Music Education Emphasis with Teaching Credential (in partnership with

SOLES). The spring and the coming semesters should see growth in numbers of students, events,

and creative opportunities. As always, we invite you to help co-create new projects for the depart-

ment.

In the early summer of 2016, I will co-teach a course abroad, Religion and the Performing Arts in

Bali (Indonesia). Students can take the course for Music (MUSC 340) or Religious Studies (THRS

394) credit. The course is now open for registration. You can also contact me for more information.

The Angelus sacred music series was held on February 19 and 20; the latter featuring Choral Schol-

ars. The Mariachi Showcase (March 11-12) brought 200 mariachi students to USD and we hosted

concerts each night. The Kyoto Symposium, which I emcee and organize, will be held March 17

from 10:30-noon in Shiley Theater. The Arts and Philosophy laureate is ballet impresario John

Neumeier, who is bringing a number of his dancers to USD. Preceding the Symposium (10am) will

be a performance by four of our music majors: Taylor Cottle, Adam Davis, Gabe Kong, and Anh Le.

And, a special concert – A Celebration of Asian Music – will be held on April 24. These are among

24 concert events planned for the spring. Please see http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/music/

news_events/events.php for complete information on concerts and events this semester.

Fall 2015 was a great semester as it brought us Dr. Malecki, Band and USD Strings, new students

passionate about music, and some excellent performances – perhaps especially Eric Foster and

Friends, the Community Sing for Charleston, Il Giardino d’Amore, the Greater San Diego Orchestra,

the Chamber Cartel, the Fall Choral Concert, and Jeff Kaiser’s ZEITNOT. It also brought us heat (!)

and, unfortunately, a nomadic Dr. Amrein during much of the semester.

Students, please remember to register for the appropriate class piano section (contact Dr. Etheridge)

and, if you’ve completed MUSC 120, register for MUSC 210 Aural Skills I and MUSC 220 Harmony

I (unless you’ve completed all of these), and otherwise keep progressing through your degree and the

Core requirements. You can come to see me or other faculty for advising to plan out your schedule.

And, make sure that you “friend” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usdmusic.

http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/music/news_events/events.php

http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/music/news_events/events.php

http://www.facebook.com/usdmusic

Since a summer full of travel, scholarly activity and performance, I have mostly dealt with increasingly numerous and

complex issues as Chair of Music Department. Most of this work is good; developing new initiatives is positive and fun,

though time-consuming. While only two of my article submissions have been published this year – 1) on the influence of

the great Javanese music teacher, Harja Susilo, and 2) on the Indonesian jazz fusion band, Krakatau, 4-5 others await a

publication date. I attended and chaired a session at the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) national conference in Aus-

tin, TX, and I became President of the regional chapter of SEM in 2016.

The most inspiring activity for me last semester was attending the Kyoto Prize Ceremony and meeting with the Arts and

Philosophy laureate, John Neumeier. He is both an outstanding and wise artist and human being. Though he will only be

with us a short time, I strongly encourage you to attend the Kyoto Symposium in Shiley Theatre (Thursday, March 17

10:30am-noon).

Class Guitar: Basic chords applied to various song styles as well

as traditional note reading and classical solo techniques keep

Toreros busy all semester. The instructor, Eric Foster, has a

background in concert performance and well as experience in

rock, jazz, and flamenco guitar literature.

Meet Professor Foster’s Guitar Class of Fall 2015!

Join the fun . . .offered every semester!

In the Fall semester I offered my new upper-division “BB&B-course” in which students examined the musical “trinity,” Bach-Beethoven-Brahms (and not to forget ‘PDQBach,’ for good measure). After a semester of re-search and scholarship, the course culminated in actual student performances of works by each of the three composers. This is the first time we were able to inte-grate performance with musicological scholarship and

research. A wonderful trajectory I would like to see develop in more of my courses! As baroque oboist and recorder player, I traveled for performances to the Bay Area (more Bach), working with SFBachChoir, among others. On our campus, I produced and performed two Baroque concertos, one on recorder (Sammartini), the other on baroque oboe (Bach), with the Polish early music ensemble Il Giardino d’Amore. We had a wonderful audience, with many students and enthusiastic community members in Shiley Theatre. For Advent, I went to Europe, to perform in Copenhagen/Denmark and in Husum/Germany. In Winter, I prepared the second installment of our new Music Therapy course (MUSC336). Another visit to the fabulous Klanghaus near Berlin, with all its therapeutic instruments and its course offerings in Music Therapy, is part of that preparation.

The annual Angelus concert during Lent in Founders Chapel expanded into a weekend of early music. For the first time, we included a student “Angelus 2.0” concert, where the Choral Scholars and the visiting artists paired up to present a second program in Founders Chapel. This mini-festival of sacred early music was supported by the Office of Mission and Ministry, the Angelus Fund donors, and the CCTC. It was wonderful collaborating with Dr. Emilie Amrein on this! Visit http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/music/concerts-and-ensembles/angelus/ for more information.

In March 2016, Dr. Jeff Kaiser will have a research residency at STEIM (STudio for Electro-Instrumental Music) in

Amsterdam where he will continue his development of software for the sonification (using sound to perceptualize infor-

mation) of large data sets. His project (MadeAudible.com, with Trevor Henthorn from UCSD) sonifies data: from ge-

netics to politics, from personal to collective.

In April 2016, Dr. Kaiser will also present his paper, Electrifying: Jazz and Electro-Acoustic Experimentation in the 60s, at

the Alternate Histories of Electronic Music Conference, held at the Science Museum Research Centre in London.

The photos were taken by Khoa Vu. Check out the recording on Music’s new Youtube channel.

http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/music/concerts-and-ensembles/angelus/

http://madeaudible.com/

Novus Percutere’s

CD Symmetry|Reflection

Christopher Adler’s music is featured on two recordings released last fall. The percussion

duo Novus Percutere recorded his composition Nongak which may be heard

on soundcloud.com/novus-percutere, and he released an archival recording of his impro-

vising trio made in 2000 entitled Midnight Sessions on his digital label Liber Pulveris Re-

cordings, which may be heard at christopheradler.bandcamp.com.

On January 7-10, 2016, Christopher Adler joined San Diego New Music for the soundON Festival of Mod-

ern Music at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La

Jolla. This annual event features artists from across the U.S.

performing avant-garde and contemporary chamber music.

Christopher performed two piano solos, Sonata No. 5 by

Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya, and the world

premiere of an etude by Franklin Cox. He joined the en-

semble NOISE to perform works by British complexist

Michael Finnissy, Rune Glerup, Matthew Burtner, Claude

Vivier, and a world premiere by Eric Simonson.

In September, Christopher Adler presented a paper

"Transrational language and invented musical worlds in

Zaum Box” with percussionist Katelyn King at the Trans-

planted Roots Percussion Research Symposium held at

McGill University in Montreal.

Christopher Adler and Katelyn King presenting at McGill University

On March 22, guitarist Colin McAllister will perform the world premiere of Dr. Adler’s composition Spines at the San Diego Public Li-

brary downtown branch in a special performance entitled Night at the Library. And on April 24, Dr. Adler will join the Ostrich Ensemble

for a performance of Thai traditional music and dance at USD’s Celebration of Asian Traditions (pictured above).

Meet our Jazz Ensemble students of Fall 2015! Join the fun . . .offered every semester!

Instrumentalists and vocalists are welcome. No audition required.

The Torero Pep Band was delighted to join the Men's and

Women's Basketball teams for the WCC Basketball Tour-

nament in Las Vegas for the second time! Although cut

off to a surprisingly short end, the weekend served to

produce an esprit de corps for the pep band as its mem-

bers worked to cheer on the teams with unprecedented

volume. The pep band also found a new friend in the

University of Portland's pep band (who played for LMU).

From across the court, both bands pushed each other to

new heights.

Concert Band to present an “Informance” of Contemporary Music

Friday, March 18, the USD Concert Band will help the audience appreciate and understand contemporary band works in “Something

Old, Something New.” When we say “old,” we’re going really old, with the pleasantly tonal “Satiric Dances for a Comedy by Aristopha-

nes” and “Homage to Leonin.” Charles Ives’ Suite “Old Home Days” begins to stretch our ears, using popular tunes from the turn of the

nineteenth century. The band will use his characteristic Ives’ style to explain rhythmic displacement and bitonality. Finally, “Old Church-

es” by Michael Colgrass and “Epinicion” by John Paulson will use completely aleatoric sections to offer the audience an impressionistic

version of an old church, and then an unsettling, expressionistic view of war. If you haven’t taken those upper level theory or history clas-

ses yet and are unsure of a few of the words above… good! We’ll see you in the front row March 18!

On March 11 and 12, 2016, the University of San Diego Music Department resounded with beautiful mariachi music echoing through

its’ hallways as it hosted the Mariachi Showcase 2016. The fourth annual conference held at USD consisted of two days of intensive

mariachi classes in all instruments and vocals, and evening performances. The guest teachers who provided instruction and adjudicated

performances came from among the greatest mariachi ensembles in recent history. The Student Mariachi Showcase, held on Friday,

featured 18 high-school mariachi groups from four different states (Texas, Nevada, Arizona, California) performing and competing. On

Saturday night, all 250 students had a chance to play together, the USD ensemble (Mariachi Toreros de San Diego) performed several

pieces to great applause, the top four student groups performed their repertoire, and then the guests of honor – Mariachi Aztlán –

brought the house down with a big set to conclude the evening.

On Sunday, March 13, the top student ensembles, the maestros who served as instructors and adjudicators, the winning high-school

mariachi ensembles, and Mariachi Atzlan all performed at the National City Chamber of Commerce Mariachi Festival.

Serafin Paredes, is the director of the USD Mari-

achi Ensemble, aka Mariachi Toreros de San Diego,

initiated in the Fall of 2012. The ensemble intro-

duces students to a wide and rich variety of mari-

achi ensemble repertoire, consisting of traditional

and original compositions.

Mr. Paredes, is a leading Mariachi educator in San

Diego and the founder of the Mariachi Showcase,

held each spring at USD. Mr. Paredes completed a

Master's degree in Cross-Cultural Teaching, has

served as Music Teacher at San Diego High School

(MVPA) since 2005, and has been an active music

educator in San Diego for 17 years.

USD music major, Pooja Adigopula, awaits

her turn to perform at the Mariachi Showcase

Honoree Mario de Santiago (holding plaque) was

recognized for his lifetime achievement in Mari-

achi Music. Senor de Santiago played with the

best mariachis in the world for 48 years. Joining

him in the photo left to right are mariachi mas-

ters Serafin Paredes, Heriberto Molina, Rigoberto

Alfaro and Jonathan Clark.

Mariachi Showcase participants learn from the best teachers

and mariachi musicians in the world. It was an amazing

experience for the students to be able to work with them . . .

an opportunity a few are able to have in a lifetime.

(Photographed is mariachi master Ismael Hernandez from

Los Angeles and the Director of Mariachi Tierra Querida.

It seems like just yesterday I was

entering USD as a freshman and it is

hard to believe that I am graduating

in a few months. As I reflect on the past four years, I think

about the experiences that have made me into the person I am

today. It was really in the Music Department that I found my

family, especially in Choral Scholars where the older students

took me under their wing and gave me a place to grow and

develop as a person and a singer. I will never forget our trip to

Italy to sing for the Pope my freshman year, as well as traveling

to San Francisco this past fall. I am so glad I had the pleasure

of working with Dr. Amrein these past two years and I will

miss her and the Choral Scholars dearly. I have fond memories

of performing in Opera Workshop productions, countless

Concert Choir and Choral Scholars concerts, and taking inter-

esting music classes such as music for the stage, theory, piano,

guitar, digital audio, and music therapy.

On April 9th at 7:30pm in the French Parlor, I will present my

Senior Voice Recital, an accomplishment that means the world

to me. I decided on becoming an opera singer in high school

when my choir director told me he wanted me to sing the Ha-

banera from Carmen my senior year. I took voice lessons for a

couple months to prepare for my college auditions, but it was-

n't until college that I had professional voice lessons. I am eter-

nally grateful to Dr. Shaheen. I could never have imagined how

far I would come with developing my voice and my abilities as

a performer. It is under his direction that I was able to flourish

as a vocal performance major. I am also grateful to Ms. Wa-

lens, her coaching and accompaniment have taught me many

musicianship skills. I also wouldn’t be where I am without the

love and support of my family, especially my mom and dad.

Although I am very sad to be leaving my community at USD, I am

excited about the future ahead of me. After taking Dr. Pfau's music

therapy class, I found my path. I will be attending grad school for

music therapy, most likely at Arizona State in Tempe. It is my plan

after graduation to become a certified music therapist and profes-

sional singer. I would love to work with populations from the elder-

ly with dementia to young teens struggling with mental illness. To

my professors: each one of you has had an impact on my life and I

thank you for all the knowledge and advice you have given me. I

want to thank all of the music faculty and staff and my classmates

and friends. It is because of you that I have had such a wonderful

time at USD, and I will miss you all. To my fellow students, always

believe in yourself; you can always accomplish anything you set your

mind to, trust me. “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts

– such is the duty of the artist” – Robert Schumann

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Hayley is happy to announce that she was accepted into

all three Master’s program in Music Therapy for which

she applied: The School of Music in the Herberger Insti-

tute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University,

Marylhurst University, and CSU Northridge. Join us in

congratulating her for this great achievement.

Southwest Conference 2015

On November 21, 2015, seven Mu Phi Epsilon members went to our district confer-

ence for the first time and we had a blast! Here are some thoughts from the members:

“I loved the keynote speaker, Deborah How. She was so inspiring because she showed

us that having a music degree is anything but limiting.” -Anh Le ‘17

“I really enjoyed the Mu Phi conference and thought it was quite helpful. I most en-

joyed getting to meet other members at different colleges and learn how to improve our

chapter on campus. I thought the presentation on how to make a successful career in

music was very enlightening as it mentioned many different types of careers besides

performing and how to achieve your goals in life. The performance at the end was fun,

and I liked seeing the other groups as well as performing "Blackbird" by the Beatles. I

thought we represented USD very well.” -Hayley Park ‘16

"It was great to go meet other chapters and hear about the things they do. As a new

chapter, we learned a lot about Mu Phi as a whole. UCI was a great host. Their mem-

bers were friendly and their arts school was quite nice. The closing recital was one of my

favorite parts of the day. It was fun to hear other chapters and perform for everyone!" -Mark Sasaki ‘17

Contact Mark Sasaki

([email protected])

for more information.

We are excited to welcome the Music Department’s new work-study student: Kiera McNeill. As our depart-

ment continues to grow, we are happy to have Kiera join our staff to help better serve the department.

Kiera is from Plano, TX, a suburb of Dallas. She has been singing in choirs since she was a child, performing

in choral and a capella ensembles. She figure skated for ten years and is a nationally ranked athlete in her field.

Kiera moved to San Diego this year; as a freshman at USD, she is enamored with the climate and opportunities abundant on campus.

Kiera is a member of choral scholars, TPB street team, and the honors program at USD.

What is your favorite song? Come Round Soon by Sara Bareilles

Do you play a musical instrument? I'm learning to play piano, and I would love to be proficient

in it by the time I leave USD.

I am happiest when . . . . I am in the sunshine!

What is your favorite candy? Any and all kinds. I have the worst sweet tooth ever.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I say "listen" before everything.

Name your favorite movie? Blades of Glory.

What is your greatest extravagance? I have a whole section of my room dedicated to a tea collec-

tion. I can't go shopping without buying tea.

What is your favorite pet? My orange tabby cat named Cody.

Who is your favorite cartoon? Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.

What is your favorite hobby? Finding new music.

Fall 2015 Welcome Pizza Meeting

Music majors and minors welcomes

new and prospective music students

to the vibrant Music Department!!!

Have you ever wondered who has kept the Music Department’s pianos in tune for the past 25 years? Meet our piano tuner, Bud Fisher, Registered Piano Technician. Mr. Fisher ,or “Bud”, as he prefers to be called, is a member of the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG), a professional organization for piano tuners and rebuilders and has served two terms as President and three terms as vice-president since he joined the guild in 1990. Bud came to San Diego in the late eighties, and from the day he arrived, he says, “I have been tuning pianos every day of my life. It has been my profession for the past 27 years.” He came from Denver, where he had already been tuning part time. There, he started just about the time the first of his two chil-dren was born and just about the time he hit rock bottom in the job market. “The record distributor I’d been working for got sold and resold, and my job ran out. I kind of bounced around to a few other jobs, and I thought I’d end up going to truck driving school or something.” Instead, his stepfather suggested he take up piano tuning. His stepfather, who also tuned, gave him a few tools, and a family friend put him in touch with a dealer who let him begin tuning in the back room of a ware-house. He worked for free—“Because I wasn’t any good [at the time]. Absolute practice is what it was.” But all the same, he feels fortunate to have had the chance. There is, he says, “a huge debt of gratitude.” “Piano tuning is a practiced art . . . there is more than meets the ear . . . you need to be a musical mechanic as well” says Bud. In addition to voicing and aural skills, Bud explains that piano tuning is more physical than most people realize. “You can put a temperament on the piano that will allow the strings to sing, but if [the strings] doesn’t stay put, it doesn’t matter how skilled a piano tuner you are. Tuning takes ‘hammer skills’ to make strings resist getting out of tune.” He goes on to explain that it needs a combination of using your shoulder, elbow and hands for a solid hammer technique. Bud jokingly comments that one can get ‘tennis elbow’ without ever playing tennis. He explains that tuning requires repetitive back-and-forth movement of the wrench or tuning hammer with quick impact and controlled force to test the stability of the strings. When asked what training is required to become a Registered Piano Technician (RPT), Bud replied: “There are a handful of schools where you can receive an Associate in Arts (AA) degree and become an RPT. Another route is through apprenticeships

(i.e. being mentored by a professional) and going through the Pi-ano Technicians Guild’s rigid 2-day testing board for field repair and tuning through Cal-State Long Beach.” “Learning to feel and hear a piano tell you what it wants is one of the great joys of my profession.”

Building his business from referrals, these days Bud does an aver-age of sixty tunings a month in just about everywhere there are pianos (i.e. at universities, colleges, private homes, restaurants, city’s prominent piano stores tuning floor models, concert venues, hotels, etc.). You can grow your business however big or small you want depending on your level of desire, good attitude, pa-tience, and the quality of work you produce (keeping in mind bad news travels quickly). Piano technicians can earn anywhere from a low $230 a month to over $125K a year. “All you do is put your heart and soul into it and the piano will reward you over and over again.”

Concert Band: Something Old, Something New

FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.

Camino Hall, Shiley Theatre

Mendelssohn Piano Concerto

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Mendelssohn Piano Concerto

SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2016 // 2 P.M.


USD High School Choral Festival

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 // 7:30 A.M. TO 3 P.M.


Hayley Park, Soprano, Senior Voice Recital

SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.

Founders Hall, French Parlor

Kay Etheridge and Friends



Junior Recital: Julia Francone, Soprano

SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Let the River Run

FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Celebration of Asian Traditions



http://www.sandiego.edu/events/cas/detail.php?_focus=53889









Tuba-Euphonium Weekend

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 // 10 A.M. –

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 // 5 P.M.


Student Recital II

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 // 7:30

P.M.


Chamber Music Ensembles and USD

Strings

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Concert Band

TUESDAY, MAY 3, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


USD Jazz Ensemble End-of-Semester

Concert

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2016 // 7:30

P.M.


Student Recital I

THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 // 12:15 P.M.


USD Mariachi Ensemble and USD

Gamelan Ensemble Concert

THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Opera Workshop Performance

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016 // 7:30 P.M.


Digital Audio Composition Students: Experimental Music Concert

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 // 5 P.M.


Eleventh Annual Summer Chamber Music Festival

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016 // 2 P.M. – MONDAY, JULY 11, 2016















Was

Haydn

married?

How many

children did

Bach have?

How many

flute quartet

did Mozart

compose?

What’s a

Mannheim

rocket?

Who’s

the Red

Priest?

According to the

Guinness Book of

World Record, who

is the most prolific

of all composers?

Which of the

woodwinds

have the small-

est range?

What are

two oboes

playing in

unison?

For answers to trivia questions, please

see Anh in the Music Office. :-)

university of san diego combined winter 2015 & … of san diego combined winter 2015 &...

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