A class of West Virginia University majors will present modern musical works and their unique histories.
The recital will be held at the at Bloch Hall at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in Bloch Hall, 200A Creative Arts Center, and has been executed entirely by a musicology class of upperclassmen and graduate students.
The students will share the unique histories behind each musical work and teach the audience how advances in technology, racial diversity, globalism, visual art and previous musical styles have influenced the distinctive sound of 20th and 21st century music.
“This recital combines history, performance and an array of entrepreneurial skills in a way that is not conventionally seen in the academic classroom,” says Amanda Cook, the course’s graduate teaching assistant.
In addition to studying the history of this time-period, students have been learning the ins and outs of logistics, program notes, promotions, performing and editing.
The recital will showcase the expansive variety of music composed in the 20th and 21st Centuries including student-performed works by Claude Debussy, Astor Piazzolla, Benjamin Britten, Mark Adamo and more.
The entire class will also perform Meredith Monk’s Panda Chant, conducted by Cook.
“I wanted to find ways to engage students in hands-on, project-based learning rather than simply evaluating them using inauthentic assessments,” says Travis Stimeling, instructor of the course, Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
“By asking students to participate in a real project that has tangible outcomes, it is my hope that students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of the ways that their intellectual engagement, project management skills, and musical talents can be used toward a greater purpose,” Stimeling said.
Stimeling is an assistant professor of music history at WVU.
One of the students performing on Monday’s recital is Steven Michael Patrick, a senior vocal performance major from Morgantown.
“There seems to be a stigma around the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, especially in music schools. There is a lot of beautiful and interesting music in this repertoire and I am excited to share some of it with our audience,” says Patrick.
The hour-long recital is free and open to the public and is made possible by the WVU School of Music.
For more information, please contact Stacey DaBaldo at 650-465-5388 or sdabaldo@gmail.com.
-WVU-
sd/10/26/15
CONTACT: David Welsh, WVU College of Creative Arts
304-293-3397; David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu
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