Guitar New York
No. 3
Fall 1983
Fall, by natures reckoning,
is the time for endings. The days shorten, the
leaves turn Drown, nature prepares itself for rebirth
in the Spring. The winter months are desolate,
cold and dark, devoid of all life.
Man, always questing to cheat the
natural order, has devised a way to trick himself
into believing the exact opposite of what nature,
in its infinite wisdom, has planned for him. This
trick? The Academic life. The average college
educated person (Bachelors degree) has
spent sixteen years (formative ones, at that!) in
the educational system. This leads to a certain
amount of permanent academic conditioning. Among
other manifestations of this conditioning is the
feeling that the years natural cycle begins
in the Fall and ends in the Spring, leaving the
Summer as the lifeless void.
In my case, I spent seventeen out
of a total of twentysix years in the
academic world. No matter where I am, or what Im
doing, when August comes to an end, I get a
nagging sensation that Ive forgotten to
register for classes! As this will be appearing
in the Fall issue of Soundboard, this
should be the column in which I list and discuss
the colleges and universities in the New York
City area offering degree programs for
guitarists.
No matter where you may be
planning to attend college, there are a few
Points I think youll want to consider, and
some questions you must ask yourself and the
prospective college. (Most Soundboard
readers have already been through this. If you
have students who are thinking of majoring in
music, have them read this.) There is a
psychological prerequisite one must meet before
deciding to pursue a degree in music, regardless
of ones instrument. A very wise man, who
was most assuredly paraphrasing some other
equally wise man, once told me If anything
discourages you from making music your career,
let it. In other words, if you are bothered
by the prospect of sitting out a number (from one
to one hundred) of lean years, dont make
music your career. Many people are happier having
music as a hobby, becoming very proficient, I may
add, who majored in a more marketable field. In
this way they support themselves and their first
love music.
If you are considering music as a
career, there are two paths you may follow. Put
quite basically, these two paths are
performance and nonperformance. As an
instrumentalist, the only real nonperformance
field that allows for any hands on playing time
is teaching. The worlds greatest guitarist
without the proper credentials, will be barred
from the classroom. One will need a decree (or
degrees). Of course, this degree fixation protects
the students from the quacks with no knowledge
who would otherwise make their way into the
classroom. So, on the whole, its a useful
practice, this judging a man by the alphabet soup
after his name. If you decide to play the
teaching game, go by the rules.
For the recitalist, the degree
may help open doors, but a bad recital will close
them right up again. ~y the same token, a great
recitalist will eventually create his own demand
with or without a degree, but it will undoubtedly
take more time and ingenuity to get a break
without it. The prospective recitalist should ask
himself one supremely important question.: Do
I have sufficient talent ~ patience to take this
education and build a career that will feed and
cloth (not to mention shelter) me? If you
can look yourself in the eye (do use a mirror)
and truthfully answer yes (taking
into account the previously mentioned lean
years), by all means, go for it!
I had written a lengthy sermon on
the topic of who should pursue a degree and why,
however, many people might have asked who
does he think he is? Anyway, its all
been covered in these pages before in John Duartes
article Careers; A Handbook, found in
the Fall 1982 Soundboard (Vol. IX,
No. 3). Mr. Duarte does a much better job
of answering this question than I would have.
When choosing a college from your
list of maybes, one of the most important things
to do is visit the prospective institutions. (By
this time you will have found out who is teaching
at the college.) Dont make your only visit
to the college on an open House day. Lets
face it, theyre going to put on their best
suit and happiest face. Visit the school on a
regular business day. Talk to
students --lots of students. There is always one
crank, though. There must have been one fellow
aboard the Titanic who thought the cruise was
fun, so takeeverything you hear with a grain of
salt.
Find out who has graduated from
your prospective choice. Are these people
generally good ~musicians? Are they on the dole?
Did the college help them get where they are
today? Without any further procrastination, here
is a list of colleges and universities offering
degree programs for the classical guitarist.
Columbia University
Columbia College
212 Hami1ton Hall
N.Y., N.Y. 10027
Columbia offers degree courses
in both performance and teaching. The
Columbia University Bulletin does not list
courses by instrument, so I would suggest
contacting the Office of the Dean of
Studies, 202 Hamilton Hall, for information on
course and faculty availability.
Concordia College
171 White Plains Road
Bronxville, New York 10706
Located in the beautiful
residential setting of the Village of Bronxiille,
one of the most exclusive suburbs of New York
City, I included Concordia in my list of New York
City area colleges since it is one of the few, if
not the only, colleges in the area where one can
major in lute.
Concordia offers a B.A.
with an applied music emphasis for those who wish
to be performers and a B.A. degree program for
those who wish to become certified as music
teachers in elementary and secondary schools.
The Core Music Curriculum
includes Traditional Theory I, II, & III,
Contemporary Theory, History & Literature of
Music, Conducting and Music Seminar.
Richard Ullman teaches both
classical guitar arid lute. Remo Palmier teaches
jazz guitar.
Address all correspondence to:
Janet Jockwer, Director of Admissions, Concordia
College, 171 White Plains Road, Bronxville, New
York 10706. [Please note, Bronxville is in no way
connected with that part of N.Y.C. known as The Bronx.)
Hofstra University
Admissions Office
1000 Fulton Avenue
Hempstead, N.Y. 11550
Hofstra University offers a
Bachelor of Science in Music. 128 semester hours
are required, plus junior and senior year
recitals. Stanley Solow and Wi11iam Zito teach
guitar. Hofstra has dorm facilities for
interested students.
Hunter College
(City University of New York)
695 Park Avenue
N.Y., N.Y. 10021
Hunters Department of Music
offers four major programs to fit
individual interests and requirements. A 24
credit major is available for those students who
wish to study music~ in the context of a general
liberal arts education, but do not plan to pursue
music as a career. A Bachelor of Arts is awarded.
The 42 credit major also awards a
BA, however, this program is deigned for
students who will make professional careers in
music their goal. It is foundation for graduate
study in any specialized aspect of the field.
The Bachelor of Science is the
degree awarded for completion of the 59 credit
major. This program is geared towards the
student intending to teach music at the secondary
level. This program provides automatic
provisional certification: for teaching early
childhood and in elementary through secondary
schools in New York State.
Sixty credit Majors are the
performers. This program is for professional
performers or teachers of music performance. It
provides intensive instruction in the students
instrument as well as solid training in music
history and theory. One must pass an audition,
demonstrating a high level of skill in
performing, to be placed in this program.
Hunter students are allowed to
take elective music courses at the Mannes College
of Music.
Manhattan School of
Music
120 Claremont Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10027
The Manhattan School of
Music is one of four colleges one should
definitely consider if one is planning on coming
to New York to study guitar and pursue a degree.
Manhattan has a very distinguished faculty of
performers such as Manuel Barrueco and Sharon
Isbin.
The Mannes College Music
(Mannes is in the process of
relocating in a larger building on the West Side.
The flew address will be, as of January 1984:
150 West 85th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024.)
The Mannes College of Music
offers a four year Bachelor of Music program and
a five year Bachelor of Science program. A
Diploma course is also available, which deletes
Liberal Arts courses from the B.M. program. This
course DOES NOT award a degree. Two guitarists I
knew while I attended Marines were registered for
the Diploma course one already had a
Bachelors degree, the other continued for
an extra year after receiving the diploma to make
up the Liberal Arts courses necessary for the
Bachelors, so unless you already have a
degree, take the Liberal Arts courses and get the
degree.
Guitar Faculty members include
violinist Leonid Bolotine, Albert ValdesBlain,
guitarist and lutenist Roslyn Diugin, Fred Hand,
Michael Newman, and Bob Secrist.
Mannes Curriculum is what
is referred to as the Old European
Tradition. During ones first and
second years at the college, one takes exhaustive
credit loads of theory, eartraining, scorereading,
and other general music courses, In the third and
fourth year, the student finally settles down to
his or her instrument. Of course, this was my
experience; I graduated over three years ago. I
certainly feel I benefited from this curriculum
and would, to coin a phrase, do it all again.
Direct all correspondence to the
Office of the Registrar, The Mannes College of
Music, l57 E 74th St. N.Y, 10021, before January
1984.
Marymount Manhattan College
221 East 71st Street
New York, N.Y. 10021
Major Requirements in the music
concentration program are given through the
Marines College of Music. Applicants to this
program are required to take placement exams and
will audition before the appropriate juries at
Marines. There is an additional charge for the
private lessons required as part of the program.
There is a Special Interest
Sequence in Music, which is a less
intensive program than the Concentration
program. It is intended for those who wish to
minor in music. Address all correspondence to:
Director of Admissions, Marymount Manhattan
College, 221 East 71st St., N.Y., N.Y. 10021
Mercy College
555 Broadway
Dobbs Ferry, New York 10522
Mercy College offers a Major
Concentration program in music in cooperation
with the Westchester Conservatory of Music. Full
time students who are music majors are required
to take a minimum of ten credits per year at the
Westchester Conservatory.
Applicants must pass basic
competency requirements in music theory and in
his or her Area of Specialization
(instrument or voice).
Guitar faculty includes James
Lorusso, Robert Mamary, and Jamie Williams.
Direct all correspondence to:
Andrew G. Nelson, Dean for Admissions, Mercy
College, 555 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, New York
10522 ~ Doris Davidson, Assistant to the
Director, Westchester Conservatory of Music, 20
Soundview Avenue, White Plains, New York 10606.
Harry Pellegrin
Soundboard
Magazine Fall 1983
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