What Do You Do?

Since starting my job this fall, I've repeatedly heard two questions.

• How do you like living in Texas?
• What exactly do you do?

I feel pretty confident that I have answered the first question. So let me give you -- especially my extended family and friends who know very little about musical training -- some insight into my work.

 

My official title is Assistant Professor of Piano at Wayland Baptist University. As you might guess, I spend the majority of my day sitting on a piano bench, but I switch hats throughout the day.

 

My primary teaching responsibility is the class piano sequence. Every student who studies music -- regardless of their principle instrument -- needs to develop basic keyboard skills. That's where my class comes in. Every non-pianist in the music program takes a 4-semester sequence that meets twice each week to build their piano skills. Much of our time is spent learning scales and chord progressions as we explore late elementary and early intermediate piano repertoire. After students complete the 4th semester of class piano, they take a benchmark exam to demonstrate their level of proficiency. The exam addresses solo performance as well as skills such as sight reading, transposition, and score reading. For many of our students, the proficiency exam is a major hurdle before they begin the upper division coursework in the field.

 

In addition to class piano, I currently teach applied piano lessons to one freshman woman. She is a early intermediate student who is not afraid of a challenge. We've had a lot of fun this semester, made some significant progress, and have already begun to plan our repertoire choices for the spring. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to do more private teaching as the piano program at WBU grows.

 

The rest of my week is filled with a lot of playing in rehearsals and lessons of all types. I currently work with eleven vocalists as well as the students enrolled in class voice. As the semester begins to wind down, instrumentalists are beginning to seek me out for accompaniments for their jury exams. At this point, I have received music from five of them. Monday and Wednesday afternoons find me spending 90 minutes with the men and women of Wayland Singers -- the department's non-auditioned choir. This week brings the end of the university's opera offering; we're mounting a production of The Mikado. Those who have known me the longest will be surprised to hear that my time in opera workshop is some of my favorite times of the week.

 

Then there's all the work that comes outside of the classroom and rehearsal studio. Thankfully, I was not assigned to any standing committees during my first semester of work. That has allowed me some time to do some recruiting (phone calls and emails take more time than you would ever expect). I'm working on a new course that will be offered in the spring. I could go on and on about student recitals, NATS competitions, LMTA meetings, master classes, and student rehearsals....but I think you get the picture. I've found myself very busy and very fulfilled.

 

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