IMMACULATA UNIVERSITY MUSIC DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER
Editor: Kailee McWilliams
Table of Contents Immaculata Symphony Orchestra...... pg. 2
Jennifer Campbell's Recital................ pg. 4
Practice Tip of the Month.................... pg. 2
Pathways to Love............................... pg. 5
PMEA Conference................................... pg. 3
Curtis Symphony Orchestra........ pg. 6
IU Word Search........................................ pg. 3
Announcements............................... pg. 7
Music Therapy/Wellness Center... pg. 4
Upcoming Events............................... pg. 7
On February 9th, 2020, The Immaculata Symphony Orchestra performed a fantastic Youth Concert in Alumnae Hall. Music students are pictured above with their director, Mr. Joseph Gehring! *Continue to page 2 to read more!
MARCH, 2020
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MARCH 2020
The Color of Sound Written by Rachel Yongwoo Kwon, Class of 2020
On February 9th, 2020, The Immaculata Symphony Orchestra held their annual Youth Concert under the direction of Mr. Joseph Gehring. This year’s concert highlighted a theme of The Color of Sound. This concert was the first performance of the Immaculata Symphony in the 2020 Spring semester. This concert was filled with excited children, parents, Immaculata University students, faculty, and community members. The concert featured familiar classical themes as well as highlights from the Disney movie, Pocahontas. Moreover, each instrument section of the orchestra had its own assigned color. The colors were green for the high strings, orange for low strings, yellow for the percussion section, red for woodwinds, and blue for brass. Throughout the concert, the background was lit continuously and was changed according to what instruments were playing at that moment. Each child received an interactive coloring book which allowed them to learn about the different sounds of each instrument group and how to classify them. The pieces that the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra played for the concert were Orpheus in the Underworld Overture composed by Jacques Offenbach, William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini, and Highlights from Pocahontas by Alan Menken. After the performance, several orchestra members from each instrument group demonstrated their instruments for the children. This will be a memorable concert for all who attended.
Practice Tip of the Month Written by Kailee McWilliams, Class of 2020
Last month we discussed setting goals for yourself when you enter a practice room. Now lets talk about those goals! As mentioned before, setting goals for yourself in the practice room is extremely important. But perhaps you are not sure as to what your goal should be other than the obvious of seeing improvement on your upcoming juries. Whether your concentration is education, therapy, or performance, don't be afraid to take your practice time and apply it to your field now. While practicing, ask yourself how would I approach this tough passage with a group of students? Or how could I use this piece in a therapy setting? After all, our goal after graduation is to be employed so it may be beneficial to start applying these scenarios now. Don't forget to make your goals unique to you and make sure you set realistic goals. As always, happy
MARCH 2020
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PMEA Annual Conference Written by Erin Gouak, Class of 2022
The annual Pennsylvania Music Education Association’s State Conference will be held from Wednesday, April 22nd to Saturday, April 25th at the Kalahari Resorts in the Pocono Mountains. This annual conference offers music educators and future music educators the opportunity to learn from one another. There are over one hundred professional development sessions presented by outstanding clinicians. There are also over thirty ensembles from all ages, levels, and genres of music. Some of the sessions of the weekend include teaching pedagogical techniques, introducing technology in the music classroom, teaching changing voices, and bridging the gap between middle and high school music education. At the end of the day on Thursday, Project Trio, a popular chamber music ensemble, will present a concert. At the end of the day on Friday, the 2020 PMEA All-State Vocal and Jazz Concert will be performing off-site. The following day, the 2020 PMEA All-State Concert Band and Orchestra will perform their concert. Though the music education students at Immaculata attended the 2019 PMEA District Conference in the fall, they are unfortunately unable to attend the state conference this year. We wish the best to all those in attendance and look forward to attending next year
Music Word Search
MARCH 2020
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Music Therapy and Wellness Center Written by Jessica Migrala , Class of 2021
One of the new spaces that was added to the Immaculata Music Department is a new music therapy space called the Immaculata University Music Therapy and Wellness Center. The goal for the music therapy was to have a space on campus in which music therapy sessions could be held for a variety of clients. This new space is located on the bottom floor of the Faculty Center and is equipped with a keyboard, a variety of percussion instruments, and guitars. Music therapy is currently working on developing a partnership with different facilities to bring new clients into the music therapy center at Immaculata University. So far, the music therapy has established a partnership with a facility that works with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through this partnership, music therapy collaborated with health, nutrition, and exercise science department to develop a research program called GetFit, which is a service-learning and community outreach program servicing adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We are very excited about the opportunities this space will provide the department.
Jennifer Campbell's Recital Written by James Dunwoody, Class of 2021
Jennifer Campbell is an applied Music Department adjunct with Immaculata University and esteemed pianist of the local area. Jennifer is also an affluent composer and international performer having played both in the U.S. as well as overseas. On February 22nd, Ms. Jennifer Campbell performed her recital "First Encounters" to a large audience of faculty, friends, and students. Her recital bears this title as it features inspirational works that include some of the earliest pieces she’s performed and studied such as the Holberg Suite by Grieg, a polonaise-fantasie by Chopin and Beethoven’s No.8 Piano Sonata, Pathetique among several others. Opening with the Holberg Suite, the piece was an easy listen and a perfect ‘pallet-cleanser’ for the rest of the recital; not too difficult to listen to but an explosive beginning to a wondrous program. Jennifer would display exceptional care with the piano as to her wrist positions, care for articulation and balance between hands. The next piece, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, was an excellent and dramatically classical choice to a largely romantic and contemporary program. Opening with a Grave, the piece was somewhat mellow and dark at first as it carried itself through the first movement. The second, an Adagio Cantabile was far more upbringing than the first, displaying a full use of the entire piano across large movements and dynamic contrast. The last, a Rondo was a classic ending to a Sonata that ended itself in a calm and collective nature. The piece as a whole is an incredibly demanding piece and lengthy to expect of a single player, but performed beautifully by Jennifer without trouble whatsoever. The next noteworthy piece is Prelude to Wind’s Eye by David Auldon Brown (for which the composer himself was present). The piece is more contemporary, featuring more use of dissonance and the highest range of the piano for several passages. The growth and dynamic contrast of the piece was uniform and exemplar and received a standing ovation by Mr. Brown upon completion. A truly breath-taking piece! Last of the program was Variations on Amazing Grace composed by Jennifer herself as a ‘dessert’ for the recital. Incorporating the famous tune with popular music references it remained fresh and even somewhat comic. A real fan-favorite, the piece incorporates well-known melodies from Fur Elise, Rhapsody in Blue, Charlie Brown and many others to appeal to all walks of listener. A true joy to hear and even more so to analyze there after!
MARCH 2020
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Pathways to Love Written by Julia Gillies, Class of 2022 On February 15th, 2020, one of Immaculata University’s voice teacher's, Ms. Dolores Ferraro, presented Pathways to Love with the Mission Chamber Orchestra of San Jose. Pathways of Love was a cycle of eight songs written by Romeo Cascarino at the age of sixteen; seven were written during the summer of 1939, and the final song, “Little Blue Pigeon,” was written later specifically for Ms. Ferraro, a soprano who later became his wife. “Later in 1980, he orchestrated all eight songs for me,” Ms. Ferraro stated in an exclusive interview, “And he did it purposively with my voice in mind. When I first heard it, it was just amazing because I had been used to doing it on the piano. It’s like black and white, then you get color; it’s so beautiful!” She had been invited to perform by conductor Emily Ray, who she claimed was an absolute delight with whom to work. The two of them originally began planning this concert a few years ago, and then Ray decided to schedule the concert for Valentine’s Day. Ray was regarded highly for her abundant energy and care put toward the concert. According to Ferraro, she sent recordings of Ferraro’s voice to each orchestra player so they could become familiar with her singing prior to the live rehearsals and performances. “When you’re playing a new piece, you don’t know what it sounds like, and you don’t know where you fit in the scheme of things,” Ferraro said. “So I thought that was brilliant of her to do that.”When asked if she had learned anything from this experience, she laughed and stated, “One always gains from the experience.” Despite knowing this repertoire for many years, it almost felt unfamiliar accompanied by the orchestra instead of the piano alone. She put her trust in the conductor and followed her closely, and the conductor in return made sure to accommodate for her. Since this was not the first time she had performed this program, she learned since then to trust in her own musicianship, too.Whenever she learns something new, she always tries to incorporate her knowledge into her private voice lessons; to her, teaching is taking what she learned and giving it back to her students. She encourages her students to “keep it in the moment” and “stay with what you’re doing. It cuts back on your nervousness, and it brings out the music more.” To all music students in general, she advises to “be open to opportunities in which you can use your art,” and, “offer your own music outward.” She emphasized the importance of gaining experience, as well as listening to all different types of music and absorbing it. Her dedication is to bring her husband’s music to people. “He was my pathway to love,” she said in her final words of the interview, “and the pathway to opening music to me.”
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MARCH 2020
Curtis Symphony Orchestra Written by James Dunwoody, Class of 2021
On January the 30th, the world-acclaimed Curtis Institute of Music performed a two hour concert of a quite diverse program; Symphony no. 2 in D by Jean Sibelius, Piano Concerto no. 5 in Eb by Beethoven known as the ‘Emperor Concerto’ and lastly a new piece composed by Curtis alum Gabriella Smith, f(x)=sin2x-1/x. The first piece they would perform was f(x)=sin2x-1/x, a creative and inventive look at music through the aforementioned equation. The result is a piece following the equation’s form, climaxing as the equation would carry its graph upward, back off and climax at the end. The piece’s use of brass and strings leaves a lot of dissonance and strong tones towards the ending. Overall, the piece’s form and shaping left it in a league of its own to the relatively tame other pieces of the program. The second piece, the ‘Emperor’ Concerto, is an incredibly typical concerto for Beethoven standards. The piece was harmonically relaxed to more modern pieces, but does offer two notable exceptions. The story of the piece goes that Beethoven created the piece as tribute to Archduke Rudolph who would perform the piece first in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz.. The piece’s second notable trait is the solo, an intensive and explosive solo that spans the entirety of the piano at times and taxes the pianist to no end. Steinway Artist, Jonathan Biss would perform this solo to perfection. The last piece is a rarity and oddity among symphonies. Sibelius at the time of the piece’s creation would be one of the first musical Finns to compose, and was often inspired by works of Wagner and Tchaikovsky. The second symphony however is an exception to this general rule as the piece is centered around a simple idiom he would use to generate the entire piece. Although Sibelius refused to create a program for the piece, it is often given such a program by others around Sibelius to give motive to each movement. Sibelius is a rarity also because his music almost never is played by mainstream groups compared to more acclaimed classics.
MARCH 2020
Announcements and Reminders
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As we are quickly approaching midterms, please keep in mind of the jury percentage distribution changes to take place this semester. Your final applied lesson grade will consist of your weekly grade cards (40%), bi-weekly submissions of practice logs submitted to Dr. Carr (30%), and your Applied Music jury grade at the end of the semester (30%). Please keep in mind that Memorial Hall is a performance space. Master classes, ensemble rehearsals, and percussion lessons/practice take place in this hall. Please do not "hang out" or eat your lunch here as the schedule in Memorial Hall will begin to pick up once we approach finals. Thank You! Juniors and Seniors: Piano proficiency exams will be approaching quickly. Be on the look out for more information regarding proficiencies from our favorite, Mauri Dillon!
Upcoming Events PMEA Choral Adjudication Festival
Symphony Concerto Concert
Symphony Spring Concert
Saturday, May 2 Great Hall 7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 25 Saturday, April 4 Alumnae Hall 7:30 pm
Evening Student Recital #1
Tuesday, April 7 Memorial Hall 7:30 pm
Evening Student Recital #2
Thursday, April 16 Memorial Hall 7:30 pm
Concert Band Concert Sunday, April 19 Alumnae Hall 3:00 pm
Chorale Concert
Friday, April 24 Memorial Hall 7:30 pm
Curtis Symphony Concert Saturday, April 25 Alumnae Hall 3:00 pm
Ensembles Concert Tuesday, April 28 Memorial Hall 7:30 pm