Ensemble opportunities at the University provide music majors with a forum to practice their craft, but they also attract students from other fields who just want to get together with a group and play some music.
From geologists to economists and biologists to psychologists, each school term, students from many different fields come together for one major purpose: to sing in the University Men’s Chorus. The group is called a “cross-campus ensemble” because it is made up primarily of students who are not music majors.
“Even if you’re not into performing arts, performing is a good thing,” Dan Ellsworth, sophomore computer information sciences major and member of the men’s chorus, said. “You’re going to have to give presentations at some point in life. It’s psychological conditioning.”
Ensemble opportunities at the school of music are primarily set up to assist music majors with their studies. However, just as musicians are able to learn more about themselves by playing music with others, sociologists and biologists are able to learn about the fundamentals of music by taking advantage of the school’s ensemble opportunities.
“In men’s chorus, it may be their first choral experience,” said Genaro Mendez, director of the chorus. “In a cross-campus ensemble, they really learn a lot about themselves.”
In addition to giving students a place to practice with other musicians, ensembles also please the audiences with great performances.
“It’s a service to the community to have ensembles perform for the public,” School of Music Dean Robert Hurwitz said. Last term, student ensembles made more than 20 performances in Beall Concert Hall. Some of these shows had more than one student ensemble.
The music school will sometimes offer students who are not music majors a lesson scholarship if they continue to perform in an ensemble, Hurwitz said. A lesson scholarship pays for a student to take personal lessons with one of its many doctorate-level instructors.
The reason for offering free lessons is that sometimes ensembles are in need of more musicians. The contribution of cross-campus students can prove invaluable.
Although many ensembles require an audition because they only want the best performers, a few groups such as the gospel choir and the men’s chorus are open to all University students.
“The number of music majors and even minors [in the chorus] are in the minority,” Mendez said. “Some people have a good, strong music foundation. Some maybe sang in high school.”
Mendez said that his goal with the chorus is mainly to provide students with “a positive choral experience” and the return of students to the choir seems to prove that they are having fun. Last term, 18 of the 24 choir members had sung in it before.
Mendez said he also does his best to teach those students with little musical background a few of the fundamentals.
“When they leave after 10 weeks, certainly after a year, they have an idea of how musical notation works,” Mendez said. At the end of a well-sung concert, members not experienced in performing can appreciate the applause of the audience, he said.
“They had never been rewarded for something they didn’t know how to do,” he said. “Afterwards, they’re the ones with the biggest grins on their faces.”