From the Chair: Music Makes an Impact |
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Face-to-Face; no wait, Remote Learning; no Face-to-Face. If you, like me, are starting to feel like a ping pong ball, who could blame you? This has been the most unusual two years in our lives. We can only hope that nothing like this happens again.
Everything has been disrupted, from our sense of community to the way we learn and teach to the way we even think of, and about, music. Obviously, I can only speak for myself, but I find that the way I approach music is different. I’m more aware of ensemble, of placement, of accuracy and of the impact that music can have.
We all know how hard our students work to keep a sense of normalcy in their lives and to work on their education and career. To that end, please see the Dean’s List of students later in our newsletter; our heartfelt congratulations to all of them!
Finally, let me encourage all of us to be kind. I know this can sound trite, but now, more than ever, we need to be aware of the impact we have on others. As musicians, we have the unique capability to change the tenor (pun intended) of what happens around us. We should use our special gifts to help others be aware of the power each of us has to change the world. I sincerely believe this and hope you do, too!
Sing on! Play on!
--Dr. Robert Heitzinger
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Program Spotlight: New Energies in Jazz Practice |
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From NEIU Director of Jazz Studies Steve Duncan: The NEIU Jazz program is undergoing a number of substantial projects to recatalogue the big band library and get the most out of our new jazz practice room. In the practice room we have an amp, keyboard, and soon-to-be-set-up electronic drum kit. It is designed to facilitate jazz students easily getting together to practice tunes and jam with each other, and nurture a culture of improvisation and experimentation within our music department and on any instrument. A well-rounded educator/performer must have at least some familiarity and comfort with the basics of improvisation to be marketable in the current teaching scene, and I hope the jazz practice room is a first step in enticing our students toward that goal. The big band library is also going through a process of digitization to make our holdings even more accessible to students and faculty, and to make it easier to search by genre, composer, arranger, era, or instrumentation. We are excited to continue to grow both our combo and big band offerings for our students and look forward to a great semester of performances to share the talents of our student performers. The picture above shows the Varsity Big Band alongside guest artist Mike Smith, who joined the band in November, 2021 for a great gig!
You can check out the Combo this spring on March 3 and March 31 at 3:05pm an the Varsity Big Band on April 25 at 7:30pm.
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2022 Elyse J. Mach Awards Concerto Competition |
On Thursday, February 3, NEIU music students competed for the opportunity to perform solo or concerto movements with the NEIU Orchestra later this spring semester. The Department is thrilled to announce that our panel of esteemed judges have selected the following three winners:
Isabella Anderson, soprano
MOZART “In uomini, in Soldati” from Così fan tutte
Mikayla Hyunkyung Jang, piano
LISZT Totentanz, Paraphrase upon “Dies Irae” S. 126
Diego Tapia, piano
SHOSTAKOVICH I. Allegro from Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 102
Congratulations to our winners, and look out for their performances with the NEIU Orchestra on Thursday, April 21!
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Student Spotlight: How Mohammad
Abdelrahman Prepares for his Junior Recital
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"At the NEIU Music Department, piano performance majors like myself have to fulfill both a Junior and Senior year degree recital. This Spring semester of 2022 I will be giving my Junior Recital, and preparing for this has been challenging yet rewarding. I have been working on the pieces for this upcoming concert for a little less than a year now with both Dr. Susan Tang and, in the case of the repertoire from Spring of 2021, Dr. Kay Kim. The pieces that I have chosen with the help of Dr. Tang consist of selections from the likes of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. All three of these great composers have written much music that I love, and so choosing repertoire for this recital was of little complication to me. The real difficult issue in preparation for any performance I must give is building the stamina, mental fortitude, and most of all, confidence in the work that I am to showcase as a performer. Nevertheless, it has been a great pleasure and experience working with the wonderful professors here at NEIU, and I look forward to the chaos of doing this all again for my Senior Recital sometime next year."
Hear Mohammad's recital of Beethoven's Appassionata Piano Sonata, Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C minor, and Brahms's Rhapsody in B minor on Monday, February 28 at 7:30pm in the Recital Hall.
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Faculty Recital: Kathy Cowan, mezzo-soprano and Friends "From Ireland"
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NEIU voice faculty member Kathy Cowan presents an evening program alongside Jesse Langen on guitar and Sean Cleland on fiddle, entitled "From Ireland." The program will include traditional Irish songs, old and new folk songs, music hall songs, work songs, and narratives that tell the story of the experience of an immigrant.
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A Busy February in the Jewel Box Series:
Apollo5 & The Northeastern Trio
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Apollo5 | February 18 at 7:30pm
The international award-winning British vocal ensemble Apollo5 delights audiences with versatile and engaging performances on the concert platform, singing repertoire ranging from renaissance, classical and contemporary choral music to folk, jazz and pop.
Northeastern Trio | February 25 at 7:30pm [rescheduled from January 21]
The Northeastern Trio is comprised of Northeastern Illinois University faculty members Jaime Gorgojo (violin), Oleksander Mycyk (cello), and Susan Tang (piano). The Trio's program will include Astor Piazzolla's Seasons and Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2.
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Music Majors on the Dean's List!
Congratulations to the Music Majors who earned a place on the Dean's List for the Fall 2021 Semester!
Mohammad Abdelrahman — Gerardo Albarran — Evelyn Antolino
Melanie Budreck — Gabby Kupryjanczuk — Anokyewaa Oppong
Leticia Ortega — Tiffany Pagani — Quinten Santucci
Anthony Sobun — Jin Hyun Yang — Ather Yokany
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Keep up to date with Music and Dance events on NEIU's University Event Calendar or follow us on Facebook where there is an event for every concert. Catch anything you might have missed on the department's YouTube page. Videos are typically posted within 1-2 weeks of the live performance.
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