Alive with the sound of music

January 25, 2024

As we begin 2024, music is flowing through the Xavier campus! New clubs, new courses, and new musical ensembles reflect an invigorated spirit in the university’s music community. The past several years were marked by rebirth and rebuilding, as we worked to overcome the many challenges presented by the pandemic—Playing the fight song on Zoom? Singing in a mask? Difficult, at best! Undaunted, faculty and students have revitalized our musical culture, defining a new artistic landscape at Xavier.
 
Here are just a few recent highlights of students and faculty in the Music Program:

• This January, more than 100 high school musicians from across the tri-state travelled to campus to join university students for Youth Voices United, a celebration of singing led by Xavier’s own Dr. Matthew Swanson.
• In 2023, CFI Innovation Fellows Azaria Lewis (BSA), Jared Montgomery (The Hip Hop Collective), and Dr. Ben Chamberlain (Music & Theatre), collaborated to bring hip-hop artists from Minneapolis to Cincinnati for a series of workshops, DJ lessons, and performances.
• Music Education students in Xavier’s Summer Research Program created and curated AI resources for application in the music classroom.
• Sophomore Music major Michael Nicht was recently accepted to the internationally renowned Mostly Modern Music Festival composition program.

I encourage you, my colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences, to let your students know about music opportunities at Xavier that they (and you) might not know much about. Xavier offers a wealth of opportunities for beginner through advanced students, including MUSC 266, where students can join the Reggae Ensemble or Rock Band (led by local celebrity and faculty member Jess Lamb), String Quartet, or Jazz Combo. Class Guitar and Class Piano are comfortable introductory music courses for beginners. For students interested in joining the tradition of excellent performing ensembles at Xavier, we offer Concert Choir and Women’s Chorus, Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Jazz, and Chamber Music. Our ensembles perform compelling contemporary and traditional repertoire, providing a rich experience for music majors and non-majors alike. These university ensembles have performed on stages throughout the United States and Europe and will return to music touring in 2025, thanks to new external grant funding!
 
Xavier students also have a breadth of options to pursue their individual music interests.  In MUSC 369: The Album Project, students masterfully study and perform a classic album from top to bottom. Specific music genres receive attention in “Hip Hop: Music and Culture,” “Music in Film” and “Music and Video Games.” The “Women in Music” class features a historical survey of music by or involving women from medieval period to the present; and “Taylor Swift in Context” examines the music of Swift in the stylistic and cultural context of her career. I hope that as you advise students and offer Creative Perspectives options, you’re reminded of these great courses, helping them discover (and renew and continue to explore) their musical passions.

Dr. Benjamin Chamberlain
Chair, Department of Music & Theatre