This weekend, prospective students and families have the chance to experience the Arts at Rhodes too. The admissions office as well as the departments of Music, Art, and Theatre have recognized that many students are looking for what I found at Rhodes and have designed a weekend for students interested in the Arts to come and experience Rhodes first-hand.

This weekend, the Rhodes Theatre department opens “The Elephant Man” at the McCoy Theatre (on campus). Here is the description you will find on the Rhodes website:

“The play is based on the life of Englishman Joseph Merrick who lived in the late 1800s and is known for the extreme deformity of his body. Surgeon Dr. Frederick Treves rescues Merrick from a freak show and takes him to a London hospital. Medical curiosity quickly evolves into human compassion as the doctor discovers the beautiful soul hidden behind Merrick’s physical appearance and isolation.

McCoy’s production of “The Elephant Man” is directed by Leigh Ann Evans, a 1989 alumna of Rhodes. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students from the community, $7 for senior citizens, and $2 for Rhodes students.”

Additionally, the Music Department is showcasing various ensembles on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. On Friday at 7:30 PM, chamber ensembles made up of Rhodes students, as well as a few solo performances, can be heard in Tuthill Performance Hall–the Music Department’s own intimate performing space located in the heart of Hassell Hall. Selections will include works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi, and Sondheim. This will be a great concert, performed and rehearsed by students, that represents the interests of a wide range of musicians at Rhodes College.

On Saturday at 1:30 PM in Hardie Auditorium (Palmer Hall) the Rhodes Singers, Rhodes Orchestra, and Rhodes Jazz Ensemble will perform  a full concert featuring works from the standard repertoire.

We would love to see you come out to all of the theatre and music performances this weekend! Additionally, there will be luncheons and panels throughout the weekend for any prospective student who is interested in studying music, art, or theatre at Rhodes. 

To register for the program, you can click here: http://connect.rhodes.edu/tour/more-stuff/programs/fall-semester To see the full schedule for the weekend you can click here: http://www.rhodes.edu/admissionsprograms/FineArts_Program.pdf

As always, if you have any questions, especially about the Arts at Rhodes, feel free to ask in the comments section!

Hope to see you this weekend!!

Tyler

The full photo set can be found here.

This picture shows one large shift in the campus climate. This spot is shown in some other pictures as a common relaxation spot; but today, the “outdoor hangout spot” has shifted from the academic quad to the new Barret Library green.

The Burrow Library is now the Burrow Center for Student Opportunity.  If you currently attend Rhodes, you will notice that one of the portraits on the wall in this photo can be found in the new library on the 2nd floor.

This photo strikes me because I know this particular bass drum very well. This drum was a surviving heirloom until the beginning of this academic year. It was used by our orchestral program as a concert bass drum but was replaced this year for a professional drum to accommodate the needs of our growing orchestra.

Current students might be confused by this picture. You are looking towards the Physics tower from Townsend. The vans are traveling on the road between Townsend and Clough. In this picture, you’re missing the new Library, a few trees that now fill out some of the open space in the photo, and the music building.

The Rhodes Singers still wear similar robes to those worn by the Southwestern Singers in the 70s. Rhodes has always had a strong musical tradition and we continue to excel in this area today. This picture is of opening convocation, probably in 1973, and shows the Southwestern Singers and concert band playing the alma mater.

I think it’s pretty cool to look back and see how Rhodes has both changed and stayed the same throughout the years. I hope you have enjoyed the blog! If you have any other comments/insights, feel free to leave them as comments.

Peace,

Tyler

I used this piece in my English class this summer to demonstrate characterization and how it extends far past literature into music, art, and social constructions. I remember prefacing the music by saying, “Now, this is a ‘classical’ piece of music. But, don’t be too quick to judge. Give it a shot and you might enjoy it.” These were simply words out of my mouth: I knew that they would moan and groan as soon as the piece began.

But, middle school students always have surprises up their sleeves! As the piece played, I helped them understand the German text by pointing out how the vocalist changes his voice to portray the scared son, the unbelieving father, and the creepy Erlkonig. When the piece ended, the students weren’t bored. Rather, they were excited about “how cool” the piece of music was. One of my students even gave me a blank CD later in the week because she wanted me to burn her a copy to listen to the piece on her own time.

This may seem medial to some…but for me, this was magic. Seeing my student’s faces light up at music that wasn’t familiar to them and seeing them apply this interest to the subject matter at hand gave me confidence in the classroom that I didn’t have before. I had found another way to connect with students…another way to build a community of teachers and learners for the greater good.

After this experience, I began incorporating music on a daily basis. We used the different themes in Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” to foster a discussion of themes in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. I played rap beats in the background during individual work time. We discussed symbolism by looking at the music of Stephen Sondheim. I used Renaissance polyphony to help the students imagine what culture and life was like in Shakespearean England.

Hearing any of the pieces I used in class this summer puts me right back into the summer with Breakthrough Manchester. I miss my students and fellow faculty members, but these memories help me reflect on my experience and remember the inspiration that the summer offered me.

Although conducting abroad is going to be an amazing opportunity for me, it also comes with its share of anxieties. Since overseas mail is rather inefficient to the  availability of email, most of my correspondence with the program has been via email. This lack of paper has really worried me, especially since “official correspondence” in the US is mostly through paper. Additionally, I’ve had to put faith in passport agencies, flight bookings, hotel bookings, and car rentals: faith that they will all be in order when I arrive on October 1st.  Thus, I’m excited, but nervous and anxious at the same time.

I had some revealations about my fear last night while watching the movie Talladega Nights. Jean Girard, the character that serves as an enemy to star race-car driver Ricky Bobby, diagnoses his fear by saying, “Like the frightened baby chipmunk, you are scared by anything that is different.” Although this sounds silly upfront, he is speaking the truth. The fear of animals can be simply defined as fear of anything that is different. As humans, we are able to fear things at a higher intellectual level. We can fear death, poverty, religion, etc.. but all of these things also relate back to the animal instinct of being scared by anything new or different. We as humans, though, also posses the ability to run straight into this fear by evaluating its consequences.

In my case, will I benefit more from fearing the different or embracing it? Will I have more fun by fear or by preparation? Will I learn more by fearing the new or by owning it and letting myself absorb any and all knowledge that I am offered? I will embrace this fear and let it guide me through this amazing opportunity with confidence. I’m going to try and document my trip to the best of my ability and share it with you all. Wish me luck!

I’m mostly nervous about not taking classes in my comfort zone. I do not know anything about Calculus or French…but both are on my plate this semester. I know it’s crazy, but grad school is looming in the near future as well. Additionally, I just put my concert dates for Rhodes Singers and Rhodes Orchestra into my planner and it looks like we have a booked semester! I’m not sure how I’m going to balance everything out, but I’ll definitely make use of all of my resources on campus to help me out.

I have started to miss New Hampshire, Manchester, and Breakthrough. My last blog talked about my experiences in student teaching this summer–I’m really starting to miss my kids, the school, and the other faculty members. My summer at Breakthrough was one of the best experiences of my life and in some ways I wish I could spend my year teaching rather than attending classes, but I know this will change as soon as classes start on Wednesday. The experience showed me that teaching doesn’t have to be a “fallback option” for me. I learned that teaching is a fulfilling, rewarding, and meaningful profession. Below I’ve posted a few pictures of my students hard at work…I miss you guys!

I’m also really excited to work with this year’s first-year students as an RA. I am the RA on the first floor of Williford this year. My guys have been great so far–full of questions, ideas, cares, and concerns. We have had one hall meeting and program so far and I have had the chance to talk to a lot of my residents one-on-one. It really seems like this year will be great in terms of building a strong community both in the Residence Halls and throughout campus. Good luck c/o 2013!

In many ways, Breakthrough Manchester is like a normal school. Breakfast and lunch are served everyday and students attend four classes each day as well as participate in an extracurricular activity. This program, however, is very unique in many ways as well. I like to describe Breakthrough as being “the model school.” The golden ratio is in effect: there are about 3 students to every 1 teacher. We have an “all school meeting” every day to allow students to display what they are learning and other special talents they possess. Teachers are encouraged to call home often and are required to call home if one of their advisees is absent. Parents are encouraged to attend Parent Conferences as well as events such as Back to School Night and Celebration. Additionally, we encourage every student and faculty member to learn every other person’s first and last name in the community. Each morning we open school with a greeting and attendance that includes cheers and fun activities. In many ways, Breakthrough strives to create a symbiosis between its students, teachers, family, and community. According to Dr. Smith, Professor of Education at Rhodes College, this web of connectivity between the school, students, family, and community must be present for any educational process to succeed.

I have included a few videos that talk about the lives of Breakthrough teachers and about parts of our day at Breakthrough Manchester. Throughout the summer, I hope to give you all more updates (when I find time!). For now, enjoy these little tidbits into a summer at Breakthrough! “Go teach and learn!!”

Every morning we greet students as they get off the buses. About 40 teachers welcome approximately 100 students each morning to the program. Many teachers have been at school for about an hour beforehand turning in lessons to mentor teachers and preparing to teach during the day ahead.

After greeting, we accompany students into breakfast. During this time, the entire school participates in attendance. Every name of every student and faculty member gets called in a 20-or-so minute period. Students and teachers can respond with a cheer, a fun fact, or simply…”Good morning, Breakthrough!” After all names have been called, our directors send us off by saying, “Go teach and learn!” Truly, both sides apply for teachers and students. Although I’m in the formal teaching role, I have learned so much from my students.

The golden ratio is also an important part of Breakthrough. In everything we do, we strive to keep faculty and student interaction as close to 3 to 1 as possible. In attendance, lunch, snack, greeting, and all school meeting, we are encouraged to disperse ourselves evenly to make sure we are communicating with all students in our school. Additionally, our class sizes are smaller than most normal classrooms. My B-period class has six students and my C-period class has five. This gives me a great opportunity to work individually with each student and give timely feedback on assignments. The small classes also allow for individualized assessments for each student.

At the end of each day, we see the students off much in the same way we welcome them. We stand outside and wave to the buses as students travel home with no less than 20 minutes of homework in each class. But the faculty’s day is not over! We stay for a few more hours for daily faculty meetings, department meetings, committee meetings, and for extra planning.

After our performances in North and South Carolina, we drove the 10 hours back to Memphis, slept, then drove the 7 hours to Oklahoma City (OKC), the hometown of Laura McLain. We made some…interesting…stops along the way and were greeted with a warm welcome by Laura’s fam. We arrived on a Friday afternoon with our two performances scheduled for Sunday morning and Monday night. Sunday morning we performed at Nichols Hills United Methodist, Laura’s home congregation. I was particularly inspired by the organist for the church, Dr. Godding. It was refreshing to hear the quality of music that Dr. Godding produces from hymns, preludes, postludes, etc… We also got the chance to see some familiar “Rhodents” at the church service. Dr. Sharp (the former head of the music department at Rhodes) and his family were all present for the service. It was great to see a familiar face in the congregation and get to catch up with him about things going on in all of our lives. We presented our full concert on Monday night at an assisted living facility in OKC. The concert went well and was well received by the audience. After the concert we talked with the audience members and were startled to see how many Rhodes/Southwestern connections there were. Rhodes graduates were a part of at least two families in the audience and there were even more Memphis connections.

So if we came in on Friday and left the following Friday, what all did we do in between?! OKC is an amazing city with a thriving culture built around diversity, creativity, family, values, and a welcoming attitude. Laura’s fam was a perfect representation of this. They did an amazing job showing us the sites, taking us to local eateries, preparing amazing meals, and encouraging us to get out and explore on our own. We did so many things that carry so many stories, so I will briefly list some of our major activities and let you imagine just how fun they were!

We went to the Red Earth Festival, a celebration of Native American heritage and culture (video below). We climbed rocks at the Rocktown Climbing Gym. We walked the canal and rode a random haunted roller coaster-thing. We gambled (very legally) at an 18+ casino. We went to art museums, the bombing memorial, and antique stores. We ate at all the local places, including a great burger joint! We played Yahtzee….often. We took plane rides with Laura’s sister, Mary. We went to see The Drowsy Chaperon at the local theater. We listened to live music in the park, went shopping, and learned to navigate OKC. Nicole took a ride on Stuart’s (Laura’s brother) motorcycle. We played with Foxy (Laura’s dog) a lot. We ate at the famous Nichols Hills drug store for breakfast.

I’m sure there are many things I’ve left out, but I think I covered the big ones. However, that list just shows how much fun we had while in OKC. After our performances and leisure time with the McLains, we said a farewell or two and headed back to Memphis to prepare for our final performance in Belfast, TN. What a way to end our tour! The hospitality shown to us by the Thomas family and their church was amazing. They fed us very well and provided us great accommodations and support. Our performance in Belfast was much different from anything else we had done on tour thus far. Since the church musicians were out of town, our ensemble led worship for the small congregation as well as offered a small concert after Pastor Thomas’ sermon. Like at all of our other performance venues, we felt the love in Belfast! The congregation received our music very well and really seemed to appreciate our presence. One major surprise for us is that the Thomas family is also Rhodes affiliated! Both Pastor Thomas and his daughter attended Rhodes. When we drove up to the church on Sunday morning…guess what we saw tacked to the front door:

We felt right at home eating and visiting with the Thomas family and participating in their worship service. As with any of the performance locations, we would gladly do it again! After the service, we all said our goodbyes in a parking lot and went our separate ways. Nicole drove back to North Carolina and is preparing for her semester abroad (have fun…take lots of pictures and SEND POSTCARDS!!) Laura and I drove back to Memphis. Laura is back in OKC and I’m currently sitting in an attic with 3 other college students in Manchester, New Hampshire. I will be participating in an educational program called Breakthrough Collaborative and Laura will be searching for a summer job.

All in all, this has been an amazing opportunity for all of us. We have learned so much about ourselves, others, music, performing, travel, money, fundraising, communication, professionalism, improvisation, other religions, other cultures, and so much more. We did this for more than ourselves, though. This tour was also about every single person that heard our music. Music is our passion, but it means much less to us unless we are sharing it with other people. We are so grateful for everyone who came out to the 13 or 14 performances we had over the month we were on the road. We truly hope you enjoyed the music and found something inspirational inside our performances. Finally, we hope that we represented Rhodes and our fabulous music department well. Everywhere we went, we tried our best to spread a little bit of Rhodes around. Hopefully we will have inspired someone to take interest in our pretty amazing liberal arts school in Memphis, Tennessee where “our ivy is in a league of its own.” Nonetheless, I think I speak for us all when I say that something special happened over the past month between the three of us. We formed a close bond with each other through music that reached farther than we had ever imagined on that night we brought the idea of a tour up at a late night study party in Hassell Hall.

I hope you have enjoyed reading our blog over the past few weeks and I hope you will ask us plenty of questions when we return to Rhodes or over the summer through email, phone calls, or through the blog! Many thanks and appreciations!

Our first performance in Kannapolis was in the church that Mr. Baker pastors, Bethpage Presbyterian. We played the special music for both services and had a great time taking part in worship with the members of the congregation. Our first “heart warming moment” happened after our second performance at Bethpage. A member of the church approached us after the service and told us how much our music meant to her. She held each of our hands as if she didn’t want to let go. Although simple, it was an uplifting reminder of why we chose to take our music on the road to share with others.

As we pulled up to the church for the first time, we all got really excited about what we saw on the marquee…

Our name was up in lights! The actual evening concert at Bethpage was not until Wednesday night. Our first concert was on Sunday night at Grace Presbyterian Church in South Carolina. When we arrived, we were all amazed at the level of advertisement that was up for our concert. At every corner we turned at Grace Presbyterian, there were our faces! We played for an audience of 35-40 people who really seemed to enjoy the music. The concert went very well and was well received by the audience. There were some balance issues with the piano at times, but this challenge gave us another goal to achieve in our upcoming performances. After the concert, we stuck around and talked to a few members of the audience about the performance. I think we have all come to agree that this is the best part; hearing how our passion for music makes others happy gives us the energy, strength, and motivation to keep doing it. The picture of us below is right before our concert in South Carolina.

We didn’t just perform and practice all week, though. We had lots of fun in the Kannapolis area as well. We made sure to stop by the Dale Earnhardt Memorial Statue in the heart of Kannapolis. We played a few games of bowling (Laura wiped the floor with Nicole and me). We watched the original Star Wars trilogy (I had never seen it). We played a round of putt-putt golf at this cool course that is half under ground. We went to the skating rink and made fools of ourselves (see the video below). But…the highlight of our off time was our trip to Carowinds. Carowinds is a big amusement park on the border of North and South Carolina. We rode the roller coasters from the time they opened in the morning until about an hour before the park closed. We went on a Tuesday, before school was out for the summer in the area. Weekday + school= NO LINES! We rode some of our favorite coasters 5 or 6 times before the day was over. The best part of the Carowinds trip, however, was our “celebrity sighting”. After we got off of one of the coasters, a lady stopped us and starting giving us hand shakes and hugs. We had absolutely no idea who this was until she said, “I loved your music the other night. I was at the concert at Grace Presbyterian!” We all felt like celebrities!

Wednesday night was our final performance in Kannapolis. We performed an evening concert for our host church, Bethpage Presbyterian. The concert was well attended: we put out 50 or so seats and they were close to being filled. This is due, in no small part, to the fabulous advertising by the Bakers! At one point during the week, we walked into a Starbucks and saw the poster advertising our concert attached to the bulletin board! After our performance, we spent almost an hour at the reception chatting with the audience. It felt great, once again, to hear how our performance made others happy. Every time we shook a hand or received a hug, someone told us how much they enjoyed listening to the concert. I think I speak for all of us when I say that the open hearts of the audience made us extremely happy to have gotten the opportunity to share our passion with the community. The performance had its share of bumps and bruises, but the concert went very well overall. A few things about the concert stuck out that I want to quickly share.

An audience member approached us at both the intermission and after the concert to tell us how much he appreciated our passion for music. His encouragement will never be forgotten and will be used to encourage ourselves along whatever path our music leads us. A group of audience members that knew Nicole and her family personally made a special 2-hour trip to be at the concert. This was a very special token of appreciation to us and made the concert even more special. Other audience members offered the simplest compliments that meant the world to us: hearing someone confess that they had chills during a piece of music is one of the greatest compliments a musician can receive. We loved hearing all of the stories from the community members who came out to listen on Wednesday night. It was a very special concert that left us in a comfortable state of mind. All of the concerts throughout this tour have shown us just how powerful music can be.

Once again, we want to thank all the churches in North and South Carolina for their hospitality and open hearts. Also, another big thank you needs to go out to the CODA program at Rhodes College. Without your generous support, none of this could have been possible. Next week we will be in Oklahoma City for a worship service and concert, then we will finish our tour next Sunday in Tennessee. Stay tuned for more updates!

Ouch. All three of us are tired from moving our stuff across campus… I never realize how much stuff I can cram into a dorm room until I have to pack it up and move it out. Note to self: don’t step foot into the Pottery Barn outlet or Garden Ridge at all next year.

This week we played in Franklin, TN and Memphis. We had to do a lot of soul searching for our trip to Franklin. We are having to keep a close watch on our CODA grant funds to make sure we will have enough money to travel to North Carolina, Oklahoma, and pay for our housing. When we got asked to play at New Hope Academy and NHC Healthcare of Franklin, we had to ask ourselves what was more important…the money or the music? Ultimately, we decided to take the day trip to Franklin and share our passion with others…no matter what the financial consequence. Laura always makes me smile when she speaks in front of our audiences. She always thanks them for coming, but more importantly, thanks them for letting us share our passion for music with them. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

The trip to New Hope Academy was, interesting, to say the least…

This was our first school, so we had to create an educational program to go along with it. We talked about music from a few different angles including languages, emotions, history, and the design of our instruments. It was amazing to see how intelligent the students were about music! It was also very encouraging to hear their music teacher talk about the thriving music program in a time where many music and arts programs no longer exist. The school itself was unique: it was a very diverse mix of students from many racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. The entire school was well behaved and seemed to enjoy every minute of the program.

After we performed at the school, we took a short drive over to NHC Healthcare (a nursing facility). We did a shorter program for a much smaller audience, but one experience we had there really stood out to me. My back was facing the audience (the piano was against the wall) and during “At the River” I heard some of the residents singing the familiar tune with Laura.

The next day, we performed for a large and very alert crowd at Trezevant Manor, an assisted living facility in Memphis. I think we would all agree that this was a true highlight of our summer. The residents were so receptive to us, gave us so many compliments, and asked us to come back numerous times. It was special that many of these things were coming from people who had studied music in college or are still musicians themselves. After our performance every person in the audience came up to us, shook our hands, and told us how much they enjoyed our concert. One man told us that we “lifted him to a place he has never been before”. Others talked about how we comforted their hearts, gave them a happy nostalgic feeling, or made this a “perfect day”. All three of us walked away from the concert with a little more spring in our steps and a little more happiness in our hearts.

Instead of being around Rhodes this weekend for Rites of Spring (two nights of awesome concerts), some vocalists from Rhodes went to the regional National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) auditions. This is basically a competition held on the local and regional level for vocalists. You are split into divisions and compete with those who have had comparable high school, collegiate, or post-collegiate vocal training.

All of the Rhodes competitors did very well in the Memphis auditions which were held earlier in the year. Many of us also took a Road trip to Kentucky this weekend to compete in the regional auditions, which consists of vocalists from Tennessee and Kentucky. Needless to say, Rhodes students shined again doing very well throughout the competition.

The host school was the awesome University of Louisville School of Music. Their performance spaces were incredible, the music library was awesome, and the hosting faculty and staff went out of their way to help all of us. After our initial auditions on Friday, a lot of us hung out around the hotel and had a really good time getting to know each other better. Those who advanced to the semi-final round on Saturday had to wake up early and sing their repertoire again for new judges. Saturday afternoon, we all went to hear the finals stage of the competition which consisted of the best vocalists in the region all competing for placement in their respective divisions.

This opportunity is very helpful for singers. It gives us the opportunity to hear other people with the same amount of vocal training as ourselves and learn what we can do to help ourselves by observing their artistry, whether we find it good or bad. Furthermore, it gives us all a chance to bond as vocalists and become a closer knit music department.

I promise some videos soon (as soon as my computer starts cooperating!)

Peace!

7:00 1st alarm goes off
7:10 2nd alarm goes off
7:15 3rd alarm goes off…finally wake up

7:15-9:00 Get ready/Watch CNN/Homework

Somedays, this time gets turned into “hit the snooze button until my first class”.

9:00-11:00 Practice Piano/Voice

Being a music major, practice is a big part of my day. I try to do this in the mornings on Tuesdays. On Thursdays, I have my voice lesson at this time. I forgot to take a cool picture of me practicing, so I just used a cool Google image.

11:00- Music Theory!!!!

This picture epitomizes two important ideas of a Rhodes education: small student/faculty ratio and great faculty and student relationships! If you look closely, you can see my piano professor, Dr. Bryant, in the hallway.

12:15-3:30- Volunteer at ArtsMemphis

My project the past few weeks has been to update an old database (notice the huge Excel spreadsheet on the computer screen). I’m actually multitasking here…talking on the phone and stuffing envelopes.

3:30-5:00- Rhodes Singers

We have a great choir this year…we have a concert in December and are going on a tour in the Spring. Rhodes.edu/music for more information!!!

5:00-6:30 Dinner at the Rat

Usually I eat some soup, pizza, and whatever other good food they cook up.

6:30-????? Practice/Homework/Rehearsals, etc….

On this day, I did homework and laundry. Sometimes I have other rehearsals, sometimes I practice, sometimes I hangout with friends…it all just depends on the day.

Somewhere between 10 PM-3 AM….Bed!

Hope you guys enjoyed that little glimpse into my Tuesdays. I will do more “days in the life” in future blogs.

Have a great day!