The DePauw University orchestra, directed by Orcenith Smith, rehearses for DePauwpalooza.
CHRISTA SCHROEDEL / THE DEPAUW
With the start of DePauw’s School of Music's 21st-Century Musician (21CM) Initiative program, students and faculty responded with mix-emotions.
21CM Initiative is a complete re-imagining of the skills, tools and experiences necessary to create musicians of the future.
“We are changing [the curriculum] because the world of classical music has changed radically in the past 100 years and musical schools haven’t changed at all,” said Mark McCoy, Dean of the School of Music.
After doubling last year's faculty meetings and close work with the faculty and students, curriculum changes are underway.
“The faculty has been willing to take on a huge curricular change and meet twice as often as they usually do so that we could fully vet these things and determine the best way to move forward,” McCoy said.
Several classes have been added to the list of courses required for the music programs, but no current class will be removed. It appears that students will take more classes incorporating business skills into their musical talents.
“What we have done is not just change the curriculum, but change the types of experiences that a student would have to best prepare them for the musical world,” said McCoy.
Roughly half of the additionally required classes will give the students credit for courses that they have already taken. Prior to the new initiative, these courses were not counted towards the grade point average shown on students' transcripts.
“The difference is now we are getting academic credit for the time we are putting into these things,” said sophomore music student Derrick Truby. “It’s almost like now you are getting credit for required extracurricular activities that fall outside of your major requirements.”
Changes include an additional three elective 21CM courses and three required 21st Century musicianship courses. However, some students have expressed concerns about taking classes outside of the School of Music with the new curricular changes.
“Minimizing the amount of CLA (College of Liberal Arts) classes that music students can take is a disservice to the liberal arts education DePauw as a whole stands for,” said sophomore Emma Walker.
Although some students are upset by the changes, according to McCoy, the freshmen are excited to start their scholastic journey with the 21CM movement. Unfortunately, upper classmen are not receiving some of the same opportunities.
“I came into the DePauw School of Music before the 21CM, so I am in the old degree program,” said junior Lisa Salazar. “Personally, because I’m not pursuing a degree in performance, I prefer the old curriculum, because it allows me to take more classes in the CLA.”
Despite limiting the amount of CLA classes music majors can take, McCoy assures that student's experiences under the 21CM initiative will be integral to their primary music education.
“What we have done is not just change the curriculum but change the types of experiences that a student would have to best prepare them for the musical world,” said McCoy. “Which give our students a holistic set of experiences after their four years here to make them very successful.”
Although the transition will be tough, Salazar thinks it will pay off in the future.
“20 years down the line the music school is going to be looking very different than today,” said Salazar. “There will be a higher level of musician and more performance driven musicians.”