From the Chair: The Power of Preparation |
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As we plunge toward the end of the semester I’ve been thinking about preparation, technique, skill and performance, and how intertwined and important they are to our success as musicians. We see this in every concert we participate in or attend, even though we may not be aware of it. In fact, it’s our job to make our performances look effortless; we don’t want the audience to know how hard we are working or have worked. Instead, we want them to enjoy our performance and be dazzled by our brilliance. I think about this with every recital or concert I attend.
For me, preparation is at the bottom of the pyramid-it’s the foundation of everything we do and it’s how we build our technique. With good technique we attain the skill needed to perform effortlessly and then, of course, we apply that skill to our performance. It sounds so simple and yet the complexity of the whole endeavor is what differentiates a good performance from a great one.
Our Music Department and Dance Program is staffed by tremendously talented faculty and staff members who are dedicated to helping our students learn their craft. We try to lead by example, and here’s the most recent instance of this happening. On the morning of the Elyse Mach Concerto Concert, our conductor called at 9:00 AM to say that he was indisposed. Our soloists were doing some very difficult music and we had to find a gifted conductor—fast! Fortunately, we have several in our department, and our Concert Specialist, Dr. Daniel Chetel, was able to step in and lead the concert that night. It was wonderfully successful and a perfect example of how his lifelong preparation gave him the technique and skill to lead a wildly successful performance. Bravi tutti to all the musicians who took part; their preparation gave them the skill to follow an unfamiliar conductor and perform a wonderful concert.
We are proud of every one of our students, faculty and staff. The way we have all pulled together over that last two years is a tribute to the collaborative nature of Music and to our collective spirit of camaraderie. Preparation, technique, skill, performance; keep those ideas in mind as you work to achieve your goals!
--Dr. Robert Heitzinger
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Program Spotlight: The NEIU Justice
Choir Shines the Spotlight on Today
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This spring, the NEIU Choral Program has taken a different approach to its curriculum than usual. Rather than focus on learning a large work of the historical canon (like Johannes Brahms's towering and mesmerizing Ein Deutsches Requiem), the choir chose to focus on smaller works, with an outsized impact. Quoting directly from www.justicechoir.org: "Justice Choir is a template to encourage more community singing for social and environmental justice. Designed around our Justice Choir Songbook, our goal is a grassroots movement to engage in the empathetic, collaborative, and collective power of singing together to create change. The Justice Choir Songbook is a powerful new collection of songs for the issues of our time, and includes 43 new and re-purposed songs selected from a national Call for Scores."
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This semester, the NEIU Justice Choir is holding two events at which attendees are invited to become participants, learning songs and joining in. NEIU choral students take the lead, introducing each song and sharing a bit about the message or composer (see photo above from the inaugural event on March 24). The final Justice Choir event of the semester took place on Tuesday, May 3 at 7:30pm in the Recital Hall. Visit www.justicechoir.org and learn how to start a Justice Choir of your own!
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An Exciting Year for the Jewel Box Series:
NEIU Faculty (and Alumnae!) Take Center Stage
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This was a big year for the NEIU Music faculty and our resident Jewel Box Concert Series! Dr. Susan Tang (piano), Dr. Jaime Gorgojo (violin), and Oleksander Mycyk (cello) performed in February as the Northeastern Trio, presenting a dynamic program of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Astor Piazzolla. In March, NEIU tuba instructor William Russell joined his Boston Brass colleagues for a delightful program of classic and new works for brass ensemble. April brought Camerata Chicago's wonderful Golden Age of the Baroque program featuring NEIU professor of trumpet Dr. Travis Heath in an exciting performance of Giuseppe Tartini's Trumpet Concerto in D. Finally, the 2021-2022 Jewel Box Series wraps up with Spanish guitarist David Chiriboga, an alum of the NEIU Department of Music, where he studied with Dr. Brian Torosian. We can't wait to see what next season has in store! Stay up to date at www.neiu.edu/jewelbox.
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Graduate Spotlight:
Mikayla Hyunkyung Jang, M.A. '22
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This spring, Mikayla Hyunkyung Jang is graduating with a Master of Arts in Applied Music Pedagogy! Her time at NEIU has included studies on piano (in the studio of Dr. Susan Tang) and violin (in the studio of Dr. Jaime Gorgojo) and she has recently presented her Graduate Lecture Recital titled: An Effective Instructional Method for Piano Education: A comparison of the pedagogical approaches between Faber, Irina Gorin, and Suzuki piano teaching methods for young beginner students. In addition, Mikayla was a winner of the 2022 Elyse J. Mach Awards Concerto Competition and performed Franz Liszt's dramatic Totentanz for piano and orchestra with the NEIU Orchestra on April 21. Click on the image on the left to learn more about Mikayla and what her experience in the NEIU Department of Music meant to her by reading Mikayla's profile for The Northeastern Music Difference.
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Program Spotlight: A Year of Dance and Persistence, Now Back on the Stage |
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The Dance Program celebrates its students and faculty through a return to in-person performances. Our students have continued to cultivate their artistic voices. Since the onset of COVID, we have adapted our rehearsals and performances while maintaining masking and safe distancing, we added cleaning protocols and deepened life-long relationships with our peers. In fall of 2020, we studied with Muntu Dance Theatre, our first West African dance residency on campus. That same semester the Dance Program premiered its fully remote Virtual Student Dance Concert. We gladly welcomed our audience back for the fall concert in 2021. Finally, this spring’s dance concert on April 15 and 16, PersisDance, applauded our NEIU dance students, past and present, for their commitment and energy to the art form. We are also delighted to share the news of recent technology enhancements made to the dance studio. Beginning through advanced dancers can join the Dance Program to earn credits towards graduation and can work toward a Dance Minor. For more information about dance courses and available dance scholarships, please contact Jamie Cage at JJ-Cage@neiu.edu.
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Program Feature: Summer in Fine Arts |
The pace might slow down in the summer but NEIU's Fine Arts Building is still an active place. In addition to classes, lessons, and ongoing personal practice, multiple summer programs take up residence at various points in the building. Early June sees the Community and Professional Education (CAPE) Summer Dance Program led by NEIU Dance Instructor Rachel Burton. A week of instruction and camaraderie is capped with a community performance on Saturday, June 18 in NEIU's Auditorium.
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Then, as we head into August, the Chicago Chamber Music Festival, led by NEIU Music Faculty Dr. Jaime Gorgojo and Dr. Susan Tang, moves in for an immersive week of piano and stringed instrument instruction as students work on solos and chamber music of many kinds. The annual Concerto Competition offers the opportunity for student participants to win the opportunity to perform with the NEIU Orchestra the following academic year. Applications are now open!
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Alumni Spotlight: Keith Bertrand, M.A. '05 |
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Originally from Matteson, IL, Keith Bertrand came to the NEIU Department of Music after completing a B.M in Music Education at Elmhurst College. In Keith's words:
"I chose to pursue my masters degree at NEIU so that I could study with Dr. Ronald Combs, and because the vocal pedagogy degree offered there was well respected. While I was studying at NEIU, I was working as a private voice and instrumental teacher, an active professional singer, and conductor. While there are many memorable moments from my time at NEIU, the most impactful was the preparation and presentation of my graduate voice recital. I had never worked harder or been more focused on my craft than I was during that time. My hard work with Dr. Combs and Dan Kane made the recital seem almost effortless. I was also so very fortunate to have all but one of the composers featured in the performance in the audience that night. A rare occurrence indeed.
Following my graduation, I found great satisfaction teaching private voice at various high schools in my area, as well as running a small private studio from my home. I continued teaching private voice and instrumental students at Music Makers of Western Springs and performing with The Lakeside Singers. In 2013, my first child was born. I spent the next few years teaching and being a stay at home dad. Around 2017, in an effort to spend evenings at home with the family, and less time running between studios, I put my teaching practice on hold and began working at a small handmade headphone company called ZMF Headphones, which is where I am today. At ZMF, I am part of the production team where I get to build and, in a very small way, help develop the sound of our headphones. It is very satisfying work, and gives me a creative outlet in a very different way. I am still an active performer with The Lakeside Singers, and the rest of my time goes to my wife and two beautiful children."
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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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