Cadenza | Opus 46

Welcome to Showcasing UTSA School of Music CADENZA

Friends,

Welcome to the May 2023 issue of Cadenza, our final issue of this whirlwind academic year in the School of Music! As we close out our concert season, we are grateful to you for your support in attending so many of our concerts this year. And after a brief pause, our halls will be filled with camps and workshops all summer long!

This issue is a celebration of a wonderful first year as the UTSA School of Music, where we presented over 200 concerts by students, faculty, and visiting artists. We have many academic successes to celebrate, as well, and our “Semester in Review” feature shows just a glimpse of what we have accomplished this year. Our Alumni Spotlight features one of our young alumni who is making a big impact through her performance and teaching, and another feature article gives a glimpse into a special trip to NY in June for many of our choral students!

I would also like to thank each of you who made a gift during UTSA’s 3rd Giving Day in April. Your participation at every level of giving helped us achieve some amazing goals during this event! And your contributions during power hours and in overall number of donors helped SOSA, Friends of Music, and Mariachi Los Paisanos earn a combined $14,250 in bonus funds! Many of the accomplishments you will read about in this issue were made possible due to the generosity of donors like you. We are excited about the future of our program and eager to provide more opportunities to our students to excel in their studies and their artistry, and your support is vital to this effort.

Are you interested in having live music at your own event this summer? You could hire a student group! Our Gig Service link has been very busy lately and is always live on the School of Music website. And as always, we invite our alumni to submit your news and reconnect with your UTSA Music friends by sending an update to music@utsa.edu. We are grateful for all of you who support the work we do to learn and share music with those around us. We wish you all a happy and healthy summer, and look forward to reconnecting in the fall!

Tracy Cowden

Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor in Music and Director

G U I T A R E N S E M B L E

T U E S D A Y , M A Y 2 N D

5 : 0 0 P . M .

B S E A T R I U M

SEMESTER IN REVIEW

SPRING 2023

major at UTSA with a concentration in Professional Writing and double minoring in Russian and Dance. She’s been an excellent addition, bringing her experience in copywriting and working with multiple publications to help elevate our brand growth as San Antonio’s School of Music. Her passion for the arts is present in her writing as well as her work as a church accompanist on the weekends and as a part-time dance instructor.

¡En Vivo! Kickstarts The New Year

A string of inspiring performances and masterclasses from our visiting artists kicked off the Spring semester and the new year for our students. Six guest artist performances, including the UTSA Recital Hall’s first concert of 2023 with Sympatico Percussion, stretched throughout January and February These accomplished musicians brought their unique capabilities and characteristics as artistic enrichment for our students and San Antonio’s community.

Visiting artists also included the likes of Chelsea Bonagura (soprano), duo per se (clarinet and piano), the Calliope Duo (pictured above), Claire Vangelisti (soprano) with Martha Mortensen (piano), and duo per se

The number of UTSA musicians performing in the young San Antonio Philharmonic has grown significantly since the start of the new year Their Dreamweek San Antonio concerts on January 27 and 28 featured a plethora of School of Music faculty, including director board members Dr. Stephanie Westney and Peter Rubins, Dr. Rachel Woolf, Erin Webber, Peter Rubins, Gary Poffenbarger, Peter Breithaupt, Paul Millette, and the ensemble’s contractor, Sherry Rubins Even more remarkably, they were joined by two UTSA alums, violinists Jackson Mankewitz and Ryan Coppin. All have been regularly featured on subsequent programs through April.

El Chief de Corridos February 2023

Vivo’s largest attendance came when living San Antonio legend conjunto artist Santiago Jimenez Jr. took the stage on February with his two-row button accordion. Carrying the legacy and soul of his family’s music with him, “El Chief” gave a performance that ectly captured the spirit of his hometown to roaring applause in he Hall. During the concert, he played selections from his newest record, Still Kicking, and other recent releases and music from the legacy of his father, Don Santiago Jimenez Sr., who pioneered the conjunto genre.

Our winners of the concerto competition, Zachary Cook (right) and Clarisa De la Garza (left), fully realized their artistic visions in front of a live audience this semester. Their performances with the UTSA Orchestra were everything one could hope for from such an occasion–magnificent! Congratulations to our student soloists for their hard work and beautiful results in getting to this point.

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Vocal Arts Community Outreach

Not only is our Vocal Arts Series an excellent showcase for our voice students, but it’s also one of our outlets for bringing the school into the community through outreach recitals and concerts. Crystal Jarrell Johnson brought students from various voice studios to perform at Madison Square Presbyterian Church near Downtown San Antonio. These singers auditioned for the program during last semester’s juries in December. Winter’s Edge seemed to highlight German Lied and themes of nature and unrequited love through the students’ solo selection.

March 2023

Our resident composer Dr. Stacey Garrop had a significant hand in making 2023’s New Music Festival successful, contributing large portion of the event’s music across all performing ensembles. In addition, with a sizeable attendance festival, her work could be heard being performed by ensembles and student musicians by many within the community during the week.

Risi’s Success at the TMC Competition

Master’s guitar student Enzo Risi had an amazing performance at the Tuesday Musical Club Strings Competition, where he placed second. Also in the competition were students from other prestigious music institutions such as Rice, Southern California, and others similar, adding to Risi’s honor. It is also a big win for his guitar colleagues and strong supporters at home and school, as Risi elevates the program’s standing with his accomplishments. In the words of the TMC Competition’s Co-Chair, Adriana Florez, “Enzo Risi made quite an impression at the Tuesday Musical Club String Competition on Saturday! He was very humble and gracious and had a team of supporters with him.“

Risi also had his graduate recital in April as well in the UTSA Recital Hall.

Tuba and euphonium instructor John Caputo gave his faculty recital the latter half of March, performing with his euphonium. The program was titled Groove, and it covered a wide range of contemporary styles. Caputo utilized electronic noises and samples at one point to captur different perspective on today’s sounds using his artistic abilities and musicianship.

A Weekend in the Country

UTSA Lyric Theatre brought the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim to life with their production of A Little Night Music in late March. The show’s four dates were held in San Antonio’s historic Woodlawn Theatre-now the Wonder Theatre and pending relocation to the Wonderland of the Americas mall.

There wasn’t much more that could be asked of the experience. Crowds of music lovers, family, and friends flocked to the theatre to experience the magic of Sondheim during the weekend. The cast was fantastic in their performance. Not only was the music on point, but their characters were incredibly convincing too. Jared Kellman-Medina particularly brought an incredible energy with his performance as the Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Numbers such as “You Must Meet My Wife” and the musical’s iconic “Send In the Clowns” were nothing short of spectacular

The UTSA Guitar area has been doing amazing work this year. They saw significant recognition at the Brownsville Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition held at the end of March. Our UTSA Guitar Ensemble was awarded 1st place in their respective category for their performance at the festival. Additionally, Andrew Rubio and Eduardo Lopez also won 1st place in their respective category performing as a duo.

April 2023

Fiesta season is at its close, but we can still look back on the wonderful memories that we made this year!

UTSA Southwest’s Fiesta Arts Fair was a spectacle to attend this season, being filled with lively music, beautiful art, and our traditional Fiesta foods A number of performing groups were out there representing us throughout the weekend. Mariachi Los Paisanos opened up the festival appropriate 210 fashion on Saturday previously-mentioned guitar duo of Andrew Rubio and Eduardo Lopez and the UTSA Jazz Combo perform as well throughout the weekend.

Of course, Fiesta would be totally incomplete without the irreplaceable presence of the SOSA Band in the Battle of the Flowers parade downtown All of the bands featured in the parade were stellar, but SOSA quite literally is the spirit of San Antonio Now if only September at the Alamodome wasn’t so far away...

Wind Ensemble certainly saved the best for last this semester with their concerts. Their final concert of the spring was a standout for a few reasons Rather than the usual big band repertoire, Ron Ellis opted for a selection of jazz works arranged for a large wind ensemble, and the difference was immediately noticeable. E even let the audience know before the music began to “get loose” and abandon the usual etiquette for the UTSA Recital Hall.

The concert was most notable for featuring two outstanding guest musicians, Sal Lozano and Matt Mill, as well the UTSA Jazz Faculty Trio. Lozano is a member of the Grammy Award Winning Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band and of the Dancing With the Stars and Academy Awards Orchestra. Mill plays trumpet for Big Bad Daddy Voodoo and the Walt Disney World Band.

Viva Fiesta!

Don’t Call the Jazz Police!

Dr Parker’s Sonic Meditation

Dr. Steve Parker’s sound exhibits with Co-Lab Projects never cease to amaze. His exhibit Sonic Meditation for Solo Performer on display until Saturday, May 6th at 5419 Glissman Road. It is an exploration of the therapeutic qualities of sound and a reimagining of a marching band as a tool for sonic meditation It had its opening on April 13th, with members of SOSA performing. For more information on the exhibit, you can visit https://www.colabprojects.org/

Redefining the Standard and a Difficult Farewell

Graduate student conductor and soon-to-be alum of 2023 Hector Garcia conducted his final UTSA concert on April 30th with the UTSA University Band. During his at School of Music, he has set a high bar for his successors, conducting at nearly every band event for the last few years. He’ll walk the stage this month to receive his M.M. in Conducting.

“We honestly don’t know what we’re going to do when Hector Garcia graduates,” said Ron Ellis at the final Wind Ensemble Concert in genuine acknowledgment of the significant role his student has played in helping lead the ensembles. Garcia deserves massive congratulations for his accomplishments and the best of luck for his future.

The Low String Area held its spring recital at the UTSA Art Gallery on Sunday, April 30th to a warm reception and great turnout. The event was sponsored by Terra Nova Violin and was a collaboration with the UTSA School of Art, as attendees were able to view the gallery’s end-ofsemester exhibition during and after the music. Senior cello student Isaiah Valdez was the main organizer of the event. The recital also featured a guest bassist, Charlie Ruth Welty, a DMA student at the University of Arizona.

Pictures at an Exhibition

COLFA Spring Research Winners

By Suzanna Bridges

This year’s COLFA Research Conference took place March 21st - March 23rd and brought together many talented individuals to present projects that took hours of dedication and hard work to prepare. This year saw a record number of participants from the School of Music, with 18 student presentations.

Trent Fallin, Sydney Castillo, and Jared Kellman-Medina are three UTSA Music undergraduates who placed in the top three for various categories and gave insight into the experience at the conference/competition.

Fallin’s project was a part of the Poster Presentations category, which included all COLFA majors in the competition, and earned 3rd place in the undergraduate category. In addition, he collaborated with a group, including fellow student Alex Valles, to conduct a music experiment.

“The actual experiment that we performed spanned over two weeks and multiple tries,” Fallin reflects. The group also presented this poster and research at the Texas Society of Music Theory at Kingsville A&M.

“This project was something that I had never done before and Dr. Jenny Beavers really helped us drive to do it,” Fallin states. “Overall, it was an awesome educational experience that has the potential to continue forward.”

Sydney Castillo’s project was part of the Music-Lecture Performance competition and placed 3rd. Her project was focused on an arrangement that her group made of “The Apex of the World” by Takeru Kanzaki, from the game “Fire Emblem: Three Houses.”

“My project was focused on what techniques and musical elements the composer used to paint an image of a roaring battlefield and bittersweet victory,” Castillo states. “I believe that video games are a very underrated and

Trent Fallin’s group with their poster presentation

overlooked medium for telling stories through gameplay, dialogue, and of course, music.”

Her group wanted to use this presentation to share something they find exciting and rarely discussed, which is the world of video game music composition and storytelling.

“As musicians, we often tend to focus on the traditional ‘classical’ repertoire and forget that there is so much complex and wonderful music being created all around us by composers today, so I wanted to bring something unique to my presentation,” Castillo said.

Jared Kellman-Medina, whose project won 1st place in the Music-Lecture Performance competition, presented on a topic he finds special and close to his heart.

“My research topic happened to stem from a spiritual that I wanted to perform for a while, but I could never find the score for it,” Kellman-Medina said. “The American Negro Spiritual was a genre and art form of music I have come to grow fond of in my time as an undergraduate here at UTSA.”

Kellman- Medina, like all those who competed, felt his hard work and dedication to the project paid off and thanked all those who supported him.

“With the encouragement from Professor Barbra Hill-Moore of Southern Methodist University gave me and the support from my mother and professor, I could start accomplishing the spiritual goals I had for myself,” Kellman-Medina states. “I want to thank God, my family, the voice faculty of UTSA, and my friends for believing in me when I didn’t fully believe in myself.”

Other winners of the competition included Alejandro Cuellar, who 2nd place in the undergraduate Music-Lecture Performance category competition with his presentation, Analysis of Erlkonig: Loewe vs. Schubert. In the graduate category of the same competition, Kaitlyn Norman and Eric Garcia won 1st and 2nd place, respectively, and there was a tie for 3rd between Diego Emilio Chavarria Rosas and Nikola Dimitrijevic.

Click to watch Sydney’s group performance on YouTube

Kat Norman and Diego Emilio Chavarria Rosas with their awards

Nikola Dimitrijevic during his performance

UTSA String Project Brings Home Honors

By Rolando Ramon

UTSA’s String Project has long been a focal point of its commitment to serving the San Antonio community and driving the success of aspiring music educators through hands-on learning. Its most recent achievement happened this past March at the National American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Conference. The program was honored with winning the Most Outstanding NSPC String Project of the Year award for 2023.

The award is given annually to a String Project that exemplifies the mission of the NSPC (National String Project Consortium) and positively influences the community in cultivating new generations of highly qualified music educators and providing culturally diverse string instrument education opportunities for students. The NSPC, established in 1998 by ASTA, is the nationwide organization that binds the different String Project chapters across North America together.

As we covered in December, the UTSA String Project turned 20 years old last year. Through the program, music educators have refined their teaching approach and served the community by providing affordable music instruction in string instruments (violin, viola, cello, string bass, and classical guitar) to many families residing in San Antonio. The program had grown into its strongest incarnation yet, with the level of recognition that it now receives far superseding initial expectations when it was established in 2002.

“Twenty years ago, I was an undergraduate student at UTSA during the String Project’s first year,” said alum and UTSA String Project director Majah Acton. “To witness and experience the growth now as the director of the String Project is both gratifying and inspiring.”

The conference where the award was received was held in Orlando, Florida, on March 17, 2023. Chapters from all over the nation were represented at the multi-day event. The conference featured workshops, keynote speakers, concerts, masterclasses, reading sessions, and multiple exhibits, similar to TMEA, except that this conference is exclusive to strings.

In attendance to represent UTSA String Project were Acton and the program’s pedagogical advisor Kristen Pellegrino. Accompanying them on the trip were three students who are currently teaching in the program; Fernanda Cuevas, Grace San Juan, and Jessica Salas

“The three of us enjoyed getting to meet and talk to other String Project teachers from around the country...some sessions were even presented by well-known composers and pedagogues; it was so exciting! We learned so much and got many new ideas,” said Cuevas, a violinist and senior music education major at UTSA.

Like their fellow String Projects peers and many before them, going through the program has allowed Fernanda, Grace, and Jessica to gain invaluable experience while providing one that is as equally important to their students. From fostering healthy relationships to finding confidence within themselves to lead their pupils in the right direction, String Project has given them the room needed to grow and blossom as music educators.

“...I have been given the chance to truly experiment with everything that I have learned in class. As a pre-service teacher, all you want is a safe space to teach where you can grow and learn from mistakes. It’s not always easy to see it from one lesson to another, but when I take a step back, I can see that I have grown significantly from where I began...” Cuevas reflected.

With this achievement being quite the milestone for the program, Acton eagerly looks forward to what the future of String Project holds in store.

“We are eager to create additional opportunities to engage San Antonio’s emerging young musicians and will continue to incorporate culturally relevant composers into our curriculum,” Acton said.

UTSA Voice Students to Perform at Carnegie Hall

By Rolando Ramon

UTSA choral students are set to make their mark on one of the grandest stages in the world this summer, with choir director Dr. Yoojin Muhn behind the conductor’s podium. They will be joined by the Masterwork Festival Chorus and New York City Chamber Orchestra for a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem at the legendary Carnegie Hall.

Known for being one of North America’s most prestigious venues, performing such a celebrated work at Carnegie Hall is an opportunity afforded to very few individuals. Muhn was invited by Manhattan Concert Productions as a guest conductor for the concert, which will take place in the venue’s main hall, the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

“I am deeply humbled and privileged to be given the chance to conduct Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall this June. It is an incredible honor, and I am particularly grateful that my past and present students from UTSA will be joining the festival Chorus to perform this masterwork with me,” said Muhn.

Dr. Yoojin Muhn conducts the UTSA Orchestra and Choirs during 2022’s Winterlude concert.

Accompanying Muhn to perform in the world-famous hall are 25 UTSA choral students and alumni. Of that group, 22 are current students. The other 3 vocalists, Mariah Martinez, Madison Blanco, and Azziya Richardson, are all Class of 2022 graduates from the School of Music. For most of the entire group, it will be their first time performing on a stage as grand as the Perelman (and it may not be the last for some of them). The hall seats approximately 2,790 guests, leaving the potential for there to also be the largest crowd that many of the young singers have ever performed in front of.

The concert will feature a total of 150 singers from across the country. In addition to 25 UTSA vocalists, Muhn will be joined on the trip to New York by an equally sized group from the San Antonio Mastersingers, of whom she is also the director. Throughout the symphony chorus’s history, they have performed at Carnegie Hall five times, in addition to many other distinguished venues.

In addition to what many consider the chance of a lifetime, the students will be able to apply for a COLFA fund designated for student professional development to pay their travel expenses and fees. Being able to offer this type of experiential learning is a strong point of COLFA and UTSA School of Music’s ability to drive student success. Opportunities to apply classroom learning in a real-world environment such as Carnegie Hall with other professional musicians will likely improve student engagement and confidence, fostering a better framework for career success.

“I hope that this remarkable experience will open up more opportunities for our gifted students at UTSA to participate in similar grand occasions in the future,” said Muhn.

This isn’t the first time in recent history that Muhn and her students have performed the Requiem. It was only a year ago, in April 2022, when she conducted the choral students, as well as the orchestra, through a masterful performance of the work before a sold-out crowd in the UTSA Recital Hall. They will be able to revisit the famously unfinished work when they arrive in Manhattan on June 12, 2023.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

MARGARET WOLFE

Class of 2021, M.M. Music Education

Voice Instructor, Musical Arts Center of San Antonio

What inspired your passion and choice to pursue music?

“I have loved to sing since I was a little kid, and I remember trying to sing louder than anyone else in my elementary music class because I thought that being loud was the same as being good at singing (I have since learned that this is not always the case). I think the inciting incident of my aspiration to pursue music was my participation in my middle school’s production of Pirates of Penzance Jr. when I was in 6th grade. I completely fell in love with the stage and made the decision then that I wanted to be a performer. I continued developing a love for musical theater into high school but became concerned about the viability that a career in musical theater would have for me since my dancing skills lagged far behind my singing skills. That was when I started to look more toward classical music and more specifically opera as a path to the stage that would not require as much dance ability.

I knew that I had a passion for music, but I worried that I did not truly have the talent or skill to make my goal a reality. Even though I got frequent positive feedback from my musical mentors and teachers, I felt that I did not have many accomplishments to show for it. I never had a leading role in my high school’s musical productions and was rarely chosen for solos in choir. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and despite my best efforts, I never made it past the district level at ILMEA. On top of that, many adults in my life expressed doubt that I would be able to support myself as a musician. As I began to look toward college, I thought about pursuing other paths, even though I knew deep down that music was what I really wanted to do.

In the summer before my senior year of high school, I attended the Illinois Summer Youth Music program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and had the opportunity to take a few voice lessons with Professor Yvonne Redman. She encouraged me to audition for UIUC’s voice performance program in the upcoming year, and for the first time, I felt like someone believed that I really could pursue music. If it hadn’t been for Professor Redman’s encouragement, I don’t know that I would have had the courage to audition for collegiate voice programs. I was admitted to UIUC’s BM in voice performance program later that year, which to me felt like the first moment of real success that I had had in my pursuit to become a professional musician. I am extremely grateful for Professor Redman’s

belief then, my years at the University of Illinois as her student.”

What made you decide on UTSA for your graduate studies?

“When I began to search for graduate programs, it was important to me to find a school located in a warm climate, since I could no longer tolerate the harsh winters of Illinois. Because of this, Professor Redman suggested that I look at schools in Texas, and particularly recommended UTSA. At that point, I had no idea that Texas had such a flourishing musical atmosphere. When I came to Texas to visit several schools, UTSA stood out to me from the rest. I met with Professor John Nix on my visit at the suggestion of Professor Redman, who knew him through the Summer Vocology Institute and felt that he would be a good teacher for me in the continuation of my studies. When I met with him, I was struck by his kindness, generosity, and immense knowledge of voice science. Not only did he meet with me for a sample lesson, but he also showed me around the music building, allowed me to observe the lessons of a few of his students, and discussed UTSA’s voice program with me at length. I left feeling like I had a good sense of the education that I would receive at UTSA. I was struck by the welcoming demeanor of the students and faculty that I met during my visit, which came in contrast to some of my experiences visiting other schools.

Another big draw to UTSA for me was the Performance and Pedagogy degree. I had taken two semesters of voice pedagogy in my undergraduate degree but felt that these had not sufficiently prepared me to teach voice. Up to that point, performance had been my primary focus, but I knew

that it would be important for me to learn how to teach properly, no matter which direction my performing career took me. I felt that this degree option would prepare me for a career as a musician in a way that a simple voice performance degree might not.”

How did your studies at UTSA shape your development and expand on what you learned during undergrad as a vocalist and music educator?

“As I mentioned, I wanted to study pedagogy at UTSA because I did not feel adequately prepared by my undergraduate pedagogy coursework. I had always been told that every performer teaches, and I figured I should learn to do it well. I also wanted to learn how to be my own teacher to the extent that that’s possible, because I knew that I would likely not have the luxury of weekly lessons after finishing my graduate studies. I did not expect that I would actually fall in love with teaching in that process. I think there is often a false dichotomy drawn between performing and teaching, but I feel that my approach to performing is wholly informed by my teaching and vice versa. I was surprised by the way my singing changed when I delved into the world of voice pedagogy. I think that an understanding of voice anatomy and physiology, acoustics, and psychology, just to name a few things, is absolutely essential to both performing and teaching. I am surprised that this rigorous pedagogy curriculum is offered by so few universities throughout the country.

My time as a graduate student at UTSA was shaped almost entirely by the pandemic. I was in my second semester when the pandemic hit, just weeks before I was supposed to play Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. I found it extremely difficult to adjust to life as a graduate student in a completely online setting, and was devastated by the cancellation of all my upcoming performance plans. I do believe, however, that this gave me a unique opportunity to focus on my teaching while the performing world was largely shut down, and to develop new ways to engage with teaching and performing that I continue to use now. I’m grateful that I gained the ability to adapt my teaching to an online setting, which I hadn’t really considered possible until that point.

During this time, I was the graduate assistant for the music theory area, and worked a lot with undergraduate students on ear training and sight singing skills. I have always loved music theory, and greatly enjoyed this as an opportunity to combine my music theory skills with my voice skills. What I saw was that many issues students were having with sight singing arose from issues of voice technique rather than issues with aural skills. It was really gratifying to help show students that they didn’t have a “bad ear,” since their struggles with intonation often came instead from tension or lack of proper airflow. I also gave one of my degree recitals outside near the JPL library, since performance in the recital hall wasn’t yet possible. While I’m very glad that we are able to perform (almost) normally in indoor settings these days, I

look at my outdoor recital as a very unique experience–one that I’m glad to have had.

I would like to mention the wonderful experience that I had working with Christine Debus, my collaborative pianist. When transitioning from undergraduate to graduate studies, I realized it would be important for me to take more ownership of my artistry and interpretation in my performance, rather than always singing as I think I am expected to. I felt that Mrs. Debus empowered me to make artistic decisions that I otherwise might not have had the confidence to make. I felt completely free to make choices when I sang with her, and fully trusted in her suggestions and feedback. This is such a wonderful thing to have in a singer-pianist relationship, and I feel that it enabled so much growth for me as a performer. Mrs. Debus played for both of my degree recitals, but because of the necessary COVID precautions, it was very difficult for us to rehearse together. We did our best on Zoom, but the lag often posed a problem in coordinating the ensemble between us, so Mrs. Debus came up with a creative solution. I would go to her house and stand in her backyard while she played from inside so that the lag would be reduced as much as possible. We were able to rehearse like this, and Mrs. Debus made countless tracks for me to perform and rehearse with based on our rehearsals. Although this was of course a far from ideal situation, I do look back on this experience very fondly. I am so grateful for Mrs. Debus’s creativity in finding ways to rehearse and collaborate, and for her patience as I asked her to make minute changes in the tracks I performed with.

I would be remiss if I did not give proper credence to the impact that Professor Nix had on my graduate experience. It would not be an exaggeration to say that everything I know about teaching voice, I learned from him. I apply the skills I learned in his pedagogy courses every single day in my teaching practice. Something that I really appreciated about his approach is his method of determining the root of a problem. It is easy to tell a student that they are tense and to ask them to relax, but why is this happening?

I learned from Professor Nix that it is important to address not only the problem itself, but the cause as well. I think singing is as much a psychological endeavor as it is a singing one, and that teaching must be informed by this. If a student is still tense after we’ve asked them to relax, it is rarely because they are not trying to relax. Perhaps it is because they have an incorrect perception of the structure of the vocal mechanism, that they are nervous, that they’ve been told to sing that way by a previous teacher, they are trying to sound or not to sound a certain way, and the list goes on. In my graduate coursework with Professor Nix, I learned the importance of finding creative ways to address the whole of a problem rather than just its symptoms, and I find this immensely important in my work as a teacher and a singer. I also can’t understate the ways in which my singing grew during my time studying with Professor Nix.

I feel that I had a good foundation from my previous studies, but I was surprised by just how free singing could actually feel when I began my studies at UTSA. I think some of that comes from getting older and having the vocal mechanism develop more physically, but I also think Professor Nix challenged my ideas of what singing “should” sound and feel like. I believe there is a general conception that if something doesn’t feel like hard work, it means we are being lazy or not doing it right. I definitely subscribed to this belief in my singing, and still struggle with it. But Professor Nix asked me to explore what singing would be like if it felt easier physically, and surprise surprise, it sounded better as a result. Just as I had found in Professor Redman at the University of Illinois, I found in Professor Nix someone who believed in me, encouraged me, and pushed me to explore and fulfill my potential, and for that I feel extremely lucky.”

You’ve kept performing an active part of your life with your work at San Antonio Opera and as a cantor at St. Mark. How has the experience performing there and at other places been so far for you?

“When I graduated in May 2021, it still felt to me like the performing world was in limbo. I was discouraged by the uncertainty and difficulty of performing in a world so deeply affected by the pandemic and took almost a year-long break from performing in earnest. I had difficulty figuring out how to function as a professional musician after being in school for my entire life. During this time, my work as a cantor was really the only singing I did.

I started to find more hope and joy in performing again in the spring of 2022, and little by little began working to give performance a larger space in my life. In the intervening months, I sang at a lecture recital at the International Trumpet Guild’s 2022 conference, performed with San Antonio’s Classical Music Institute as a teaching artist, competed in the Singer of the Year competition at NATS, and most recently performed as a member of the chorus in OPERA San Antonio’s productions of Pagliacci and Romeo & Juliet. Performing is such a vulnerable endeavor, and I often struggle with imposter syndrome, but I have been striving to learn new repertoire and to improve my technique through the doubts and fear. These performing experiences, especially my work with OPERA San Antonio, have given me a renewed sense of inspiration and motivation in my performing career. ”

Can you tell us a little more about your history with MASCA? How have you applied concepts from your graduate coursework to your teaching approach?

“I started teaching at the Musical Arts Center of San Antonio (MACSA) in January of 2022, and absolutely love teaching there. I have about 30 students who range in age, experience level, and area of musical interest. I really enjoy the variety of students I get to work with–little ones just starting out, high school students looking to audition for collegiate music programs, adults who play other instruments and want to improve their singing, and students of all ages who just want to sing for fun. As I mentioned previously, I feel that it was

very valuable for me to learn how to discover and address the cause of a particular problem, and I use this skill constantly. I also make frequent use of the work I did in my graduate pedagogy courses on the function and design of vocal exercises, repertoire selection, keyboard skills, and the identification of technical issues based on what I can see and hear from a student. Another very important skill has been creativity and adaptability in my teaching. I am a classical musician who has received almost exclusively classical training, but very few of my students sing classical music. It has been an interesting challenge to figure out how to apply the skills I mentioned to repertoire that is outside my comfort zone. I don’t want to teach my student to sing pop music in a way that is too classically based, because it would not be stylistically appropriate and would probably sound quite strange. I’ve worked to extract the techniques that can be applied across genres, and to develop an understanding of the unique stylistic and technical concerns of the genres my students want to sing in.”

Is there any advice that you can offer to graduate students in our Voice Pedagogy and Performance program looking ahead to post-graduation?

“It seems strange to consider myself in a position to offer advice when I don’t feel that far removed from my time at UTSA, so I suppose that I’ll share some of the things I say to encourage myself. I felt that I was supposed to have everything planned out when I graduated and was discouraged when I didn’t. It has been helpful for me to realize that in the scope of my life and my career, I have much more time to work on things and achieve goals than just the few years since graduating with my Master’s Degree. I try to work on appreciating the things that I have been able to accomplish while also realizing that these things don’t represent everything that I will have accomplished years from now.

It has been a strange transition into the world since I graduated, as I always felt I thrived in the structure of an academic setting, and no longer have many of those structures. I have been working to motivate myself in my performing and teaching work without many of the external guidelines that are provided at school. When I feel worried that I am not doing well enough or doing what I “should” be as compared to my peers, I try to imagine how I would have felt as a high school student or even a college student dreaming to be where I am now, and it helps me feel proud of what I have accomplished. I try to be patient with myself and allow for mistakes and setbacks, since I know this is how growth happens.

I hope that I haven’t presented myself as having everything figured out, as I certainly don’t feel that way. I am happy to say that I am doing my best to pursue what I love, and that my time at UTSA has in large part allowed me to do so.”

TIER 1 FACULTY

Highlighting UTSA School of Music faculty who lead by example

DR. JORDAN D. BOYD, Assistant Director of Choral Activities – Dr. Boyd first joined the UTSA School of Music when it was still a department in May 2022 and began teaching in the Fall. To say he’s made a strong impression on the students and faculty within his first year would be a gross understatement

Boyd is what many would refer to as a visionary artist. His projects with the choral are conceptual in nature, stemming from the far reaches of his imagination and progressing to their eventual fruition into comprehensive programs that tell his stories. He’s able to translate this so well with his choral direction due in part to the connections he’s fostered with his students and the love he has for what he does at the university.

One of his most notable feats since joining the school’s faculty, which has been covered extensively in university media, was his fall concert for the Concert Choir and University Chorus, “Interstellar,” in which he collaborated with the UTSA Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Dr. Chris Packham to conceptualize a concert presentation inspired by space and human exploration. It drew a massive overflow audience comprised of students and San Antonio community members into the Hall on October 26, 2022

Since then, Boyd has gone on to conduct Winterlude, New Music Festival, University Chorus “Singing with our Friends,” Lyric Theatre’s Scenes at the Overtime, and most recently, a large Choral Cavalcade concert in April.

On February 16, Boyd successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in a presentation before committee members from his now-alma mater, UNT College of Music His dissertation defense, William Duckworth’s Southern Harmony: An Exploration into the Synthesis of Two Archetypal American Genres, explored the composer Duckworth’s transformation of 19th-century shape-note hymns into minimalist material for new compositions Upon completing his dissertation, Jordan will receive his DMA and continue his teaching at UTSA for what will hopefully be a long term, as his presence immediately elevates the caliber of the School of Music’s choral area and concert programming.

Dr. Jordan D. Boyd, Photo by Bill McCrary

Boyd conducts Interstellar, Photo by Brandon Fletcher

Boyd conducts orchestra and choirs during Winterlude

at the University of Arizona.

Dr Parker’s Sonic Meditation

Dr. Steve Parker’s sound exhibits with Co-Lab Projects never

MAY 2023

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