So what are you taking?

Once the scary truth that I am a full time graduate student comes out, the same line of questions are fired at me - regardless of who I am talking to. It is the usual.

"Oh, that's nice. What are you studying?" Well that's easy...I'm getting a Master's Degree in Music Education with a concentration in Choral Music. Phew.

Then the next one is the killer.

"What classes are you taking?" I'm never really sure how to interpret this one. Most people don't really want to know. They don't really want me to launch into this 20 minute conversation about the four classes I'm taking...they just want titles, superficial information. What's the point?

Well I've decided to dedicate this post to answering those questions.

For those of you only looking for the superficial answer...here it goes...

MUE 549 Psychology of Music
MUE 548 Introduction to research (in Music Education)
MUP 553 University Choir
MHL 598 Music & Healing

For those of you who are genuinely interested, read on...

Psychology of Music meets on Monday nights from 4:40pm until 7pm. The class is really three mini classes in one. The semester is divided into three 5 week sessions, each taught by a different professor. Each session focuses on another area of the psychology of music and is taught by the expert in that area. We are at week #3 of the first session - taught by Dr. Sandra Stauffer. Dr. Stauffer is wonderful, she is also my advisor. She focuses on the cultural and social aspects of music psychology. So far we have had two classes - I'm not sure what to think. I am currently working on an Ethnography Project (which is the large project for her section of the class). I had to pick a music ensemble that was far away from my comfort zone - so I wasn't about to pick a choir - and I had to go and hang out with this ensemble and "figure out what's going on". Yep, that's my task. I had to go and check it out and try to answer some questions about what makes these people do what they are doing and why is it important, etc. So yesterday I went for the first time to immerse myself in ASU's African Drum Ensemble (a class I almost took last semester - FYI). I loved it! Unfortunately I didn't feel out of my comfort zone...but it wasn't something I was accustomed to doing so hopefully it will still work for my project. More on this later.

Well I thought that I had paid my dues last semseter with Foundations of Music Education. But Dr. Humphreys is back again! My Introduction to Research class is also a divided class taught by three different professors. The class is divided into the three main types of research - historical, quantatative and qualatative. The first section, of which I have had three weeks now, is historical and is taught by Dr. Jere Humphreys (yep that's right, not Jerry, but Jere). It's introduction to research, B-O-R-I-N-G, need I say more?

University Choir is my one credit class and as is always true with music degrees the class with the least amount of credits will somehow dominate your life. Yes, it's true. University Choir meets four times a week for 50 minutes each time (Monday through Thursday). The group is an auditioned group of 60 or so singers. The group is good. I'm not ashamed to admit, it's the best group I've sung with in my career. So not only do I sing in this group, but I am a graduate assistant to Dr. Gentry. I sing in the Alto I section, of which I am the section leader - woo hoo. I also take attendance each day, set the room up for rehearsal, make sure everyone has everything they need, run women's sectionals, measure all the women for their new dresses, do warm-ups occasionally and at some point will be conducting a piece in a concert. It's a great experience but it's a huge committment! Below is the program for our next concert, which is October 16th.
In the beginning of creation - Daniel Pinkham
Let all the people praise thee, O God - William Mathias
O sacrum convivicum! - Olivier Messiaen
"Alleluia" from Brazilian Psalm - Jean Berger
Sleep - Eric Whitacre
Reggel / Morning / Morgan - Ligeti
Past Life Melodies - Sarah Hopkins
There Will Be Rest - Frank Tichelli

So there are these history and theory requirements for my degree. Now there are pitfalls to each. History = lots of reading, lots of writing, exams. Theory = lots of time spent banging my head against the piano. So what did I do? Well I'm starting off easy. I am taking a new course being offered which is called Music & Healing. It is technically a history class, but in terms of music history classes, this one is pretty out of the box. It is taught my Dr. Norton who from what I can tell is a bit of a tough cookie. She is brilliant and expects a lot from us. However, the content of the class is great! We are taking a look at a number of different sources to examine how music has had a healing affect on people. Yesteryday's class we discussed the female heroine from Verdi's La Traviata, Violetta. The story is based on a Dumas book and is basically about a high class whore named Violetta who has consumption (tuberculosis) and becomes a heroine by giving up her life to heal others. Good stuff. No one makes drama like Verdi! Anyway...that class is something new and exciting each day...I really like it...we'll see how much I like it come term paper time!

So that it is. Whew....

I'm not sure if I am going to be able to keep up my 4.0 GPA with this load of courses, but I'll let you know!