Tucked away in Roxy Grove Hall and McCrary Music Building is an assortment of pianos, which is what someone may expect to find beyond their stages. But with about 200 pianos in daily use on campus, the instruments need consistent work and repairs.
Browsing: School of Music
In 1933, Florence Price became the first Black female composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. Almost a century later, Dr. Michael Clark, a lecturer of piano at Baylor, is preparing to release his rendition entitled “Waltzes & Character Pieces of Florence Price.”
In honor of Black History Month, the band is partnering with local public elementary schools, inviting around 1,700 students in order to educate them about jazz musicians and their backgrounds.
The concert took place in the Jones Concert Hall of the Glennis-McCrary Music Building on Monday night. Despite the gloomy weather, the voices of the choir cheerily cut through the pitch-black storm.
In the clarinet section of the Baylor Wind Ensemble, one student is a little further from home than most. Mina Ahn, a second-year graduate student, joins the School of Music from South Korea.
Baylor events, in my experience, have the tendency to be dismissed as hot, loud and overcrowded gatherings that will in no way add to one’s Baylor experience. While all of these descriptions can make school events seem less appealing, I think attending them significantly adds to the Baylor experience.
The last opportunity available from Tuesday to Thursday is the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month activity, which will be hosted online every day from Monday through Friday.
As the piece came to a close after riding the highs of Beethoven’s hope and the lows of his torment, the piano accompaniment and voices faded, but the choir kept ‘singing.’ In silence their mouths moved, and Holmes continued to conduct as if to convince the audience and allow them a taste of Beethoven’s inevitable surrender to his deafness.
Shortly after the warning’s expiration at 8 p.m., conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya welcomed the audience back into the Jones Concert Hall from their shelter in the inner practice rooms of the Glennis McCrary Music Building, and carried on business as usual.
Harold Dunn, a retired elementary school music teacher of 30 years, passed away in December of 2022. School of Music Dean Gary Mortenson said that Dunn inherited his family’s wealth which had been passed down for generations.
“The pieces that are often performed are definitely by composers that have been canonized, and they happen to be European male composers,” Maxile said. “But even in those European male composers, there are composers of African descent that are slowly moving from the margins of history into the actual pages of history books.”
In Vienna, Blackwood played in a concert hall in a castle in Innsbruck, one of which halls composer Johannes Brahms once played. During her performance there, Blackwood said she could feel the history of the music she was playing, making it her favorite performance of her life so far.
“I firmly believe what’s so special about a Baylor education is the way that we can walk into the faith component and talk about things in an open fashion that you really can’t talk about the same way at publicly supported institutions. That’s distinctive of Baylor,” Mortenson said.
After noticing increased levels of anxiety, stress and depression in its students last year, the School of Music instituted a health and wellness initiative under the direction of Dr. Lesley McAllister, Professor of Piano and Director of the Keyboard Division.
She was born with Symbrachydactyly, a condition where she is missing two fingers on her right hand. When deciding which instrument to learn, some instruments that she wanted to play — like the flute or cello — weren’t possible with her age and condition. So, she turned to the viola.
“It’s crazy to see currently … right now we’re seeing benefits from the music and significant benefits,” Vikas said. “It’s really assuring to see our hypothesis is working, and that always is great for a researcher.”
Baylor Opera hosted their annual performance this Saturday and encouraged Baylor students to bring their younger siblings to see their performance of the Three Little Pigs.
Following Dr. William May’s retirement as dean of the School of Music last spring, the music department conducted a thorough search for a replacement and has found its top three candidates.
Artists have their own stories of struggles and overcoming obstacles to achieve greatness. For one Baylor student, it wasn’t just hours of practice. His hardships came in a different form: no car, no ID and no home.
Baylor professors have signed and filed a letter in opposition to Sen. Bill 128, filed by Texas Senator Brian Birdwell on Jan. 17. The bill would allow students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.
Dr. Blake Burleson, a senior lecturer in the religion department, and Dr. Robin Wallace, a professor of musicology in the School of Music, took the letter and the 120 signatures by Baylor faculty and staff to Birdwell’s office Monday.
Baylor University’s School of Music will be hosting its 19th Annual Midwinter Organ Conference which started Thursday and ends Saturday at various locations throughout Baylor campus.
The conference, which chooses to focus on the younger generation of organists, will feature many new rising stars in the organ community like Stephen Buzard and David Baskyfield, who are both award winning, young organists.
The Baylor University Board of Regents met today for its annual Homecoming meeting. During the meeting, the addition of two new doctoral programs to the university’s School of Music and a joint master’s degree in divinity and business administration were approved. University stadium founders and recipients of last night’s 2012-2013 Baylor Meritorious Awards were also honored.
The Baylor community can expect a large dose of Texas over the next month.
An ensemble from the School of Music placed first in their division at the National Trumpet Competition. This is Baylor’s fourth year sending musicians to the competition.