Music in Liberal Arts | Music Performance

MUSIC IN LIBERAL ARTS ERIC ROSS

Katie Fox/Old Gold & Black

MARYAM KHANUM

Opinion Editor

“The early periods of music, such as when Gregorian chant gave way to Organum and then to polyphony, are fascinating,” Eric Ross said of his interest in music. “Just seeing the formulations and foundations of modern western music is absolutely enthralling, especially to see how it has evolved over time.”

Ross hails from Pfafftown, NC. Although he is a distinguished major in music in liberal arts, Ross did not come into college interested in music. However, upon taking a First Year Seminar with Dr. David Levy, who taught him about Wagner’s Ring Cycle of operas, he became interested in the history and theory of music.

“Eric Ross is one of the most curious students I have ever taught,” Levy said. “His interests are diverse, both in musical scholarship and performance.”

Since then, Ross has greatly developed his involvement in musicology, studying the “Lord of the Rings” films for the summer 2021 Richter scholarship, supervised by Dr. David Geary.

“I was reading the books and thought back to the film scores and noticed some similarities which I thought were too on-the-nose to be purely coincidental,” Ross said. “I went back, did scores study, watched the films, took copious notes about the music I was hearing and distilled that into a paper about the music and its extra-musical associations for the villains.”

This project allowed him to pursue the study of music as associated with narrative-building and storytelling. He is particularly taken by the ability of music in film to convey events contributing to the plot which aren’t actively seen on screen or mentioned by the characters, as well as its ability to create an atmosphere and change the dynamic of a given scene and play a significant role in “world-building”.

“I taught Eric for three classes (Music Theory I, II, and IV) and supervised his summer 2021 Richter Scholarship research project (analyzing the villainous themes in Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy),” Geary said. “In all of these settings, Eric showed a deep passion and knowledge about music and history. I believe these attributes, among others, will lead him to continue flourishing next year while he pursues a Master’s in Musicology degree in at Indiana University.”

Ross hopes to develop this project further post-graduation, aiming to continue it into graduate school and expand into the entire cast of characters in “Lord of The Rings”. Besides this, his ultimate goal following graduation is to become a distinguished professor of musicology. He aims to learn more about the professional field of music and gain a clearer idea of how it functions, and how the profession is carried out.

The study of music has largely shaped Ross’ academic journey, allowing him to improve his research and critical thinking skills regarding music and extra-musical meaning and associations. In particular, musicology has taught him the value of patience.

“You’re trying to plot a course through all of the material you’ve been given to find a deeper meaning within,” Ross said. “It takes a while to be able to do that.”

In tandem with his deep interests in musical theory and history, Ross has maintained a significant appreciation for playing music, an appreciation which he attributes to his flute professor, Dr. Katheryn Levy.

“Eric’s inquisitive mind and intellect, combined with his fine performance skills, touched all of us in the Department of Music,” Katheryn Levy said.

MUSIC PERFORMANCE KATARINA SAMS

CHRISTA DUTTON News Editor

Katarina Sams’ love for music began at a young age. Born in Croatia and raised in Switzerland, she attended an elementary school where she was required to play a band instrument. Sams chose the flute and has dedicated her life to learning that instrument ever since.

Sams moved to the United States in 2018 to begin her undergraduate studies at Wake Forest. She entered her freshman year thinking she might want to study music performance but wanted to keep her options open. Once she began taking classes in the music department, however, her decision was solidified.

“Once I started my music lessons, doing wind ensemble and orchestra and private lessons with the flute, that’s when I knew that I wanted to be a music performance major,” Sams said.

Despite her years of experience, Sams still describes performing on stage as “nerve-racking”. Through the nerves, however, she still enjoys gifting her music to other people.

“My only goal is to make people happy when they see me perform,” Sams said. “If people like what they see, that’s enough for me.”

Sams’ mother played piano and also wanted her daughter to have music in her life. Sams inherited that same desire to share music with others, and that’s why she loves teaching music.

In her later high school years, she began helping her flute teacher teach younger students. She described an instance where one student made tremendous progress, and that’s what made her fall in love with teaching music to other people and inspired her to teach flute to students in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District while at Wake Forest.

“It’s fun, and I like to have that relationship with students because I like to help and inspire other people,” Sams said.

After graduation, Sams will be attending the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA, where she will be working on her Master’s in Flute Performance. Before she moves there in the fall, she will be participating in two major music performance projects over the summer. She will be performing in wind youth orchestra projects in Austria and Czech Republic. She also has her first gig this summer in Croatia playing alongside a Croatian city’s chamber orchestra.

Sams is excited that her future holds many performance opportunities, and she hopes to begin working on her long-term plan of having a private lesson business.

Reflecting on her time as a music performance major, Sams remembered the joy she found in finally perfecting a challenging piece.

“The best days are whenever I play something right after getting it wrong so many times,” Sams said.

Assistant Professor of Music Dr. David Geary had Sams in his music theory courses for three semesters. He cited her dedication to the department and meaningful involvement as a tutor and member of multiple ensembles.

“Among her excellence as a performer, she is also just an excellent student, and she is a very versatile musician,” Geary said.

Geary is confident that Sams will be highly successful in her post-graduation plans.

“Graduate students require a great deal of selfdirection, and I think she possesses that,” Geary said. “She sees opportunities and pursues them, and I think this will help her professionally.”

While Sams has certainly sharpened her musical performance skills during her time at Wake Forest, she says her most valuable lesson is not musical in nature. When asked the most significant thing she’s learned as a music performance major, she answered: “Patience.”

“My mom always said that patience is a requirement in life, and I never believed her until getting into this major,” Sams said.

When asked what she still has left to learn? “Patience.”