By Cory Lesniak
April 2, 2014
After years of students requesting for a marching band to be formed at Dominican, students next fall will finally have the opportunity to create a band and perform at the university.
On Wednesday, April 2, students will be able to start enrolling in the new Concert Band course scheduled to begin meeting in the fall. The course will introduce a few styles for rehearsing and performing, including popular, classical, 20th century and jazz music. Rehearsals will include exercises and work on the proper performance of the styles above.
However, before enrolling in the course, students must audition to see if they are compatible for the course.
Current adjunct faculty member and professor of piano courses Devvora Papatheodorou says that the audition is to ensure that students enrolling in Concert Band all have a similar understanding of what it takes to perform successfully at the concert band level. Traditionally, band courses at the high school and college level hold auditions prior to the beginning of enrollment.
“Pedagogically, it helps reinforce note reading, rhythm, dynamics, following a conductor, balance, voicing and learning how to listen to different parts,” Papatheodorou said.
Papatheodorou is excited to see the band provide for performance opportunities for students that were not previously available.
“DU is providing percussion instruments,” she added. “All other instruments have to be either owned by the student or rented by the student.”
The music department will make a deal with a local music store so that students enrolled in the course can rent instruments at reasonable prices instead of having to purchase them.
The Concert Band course will be seeking students who are able to perform on the bassoon, clarinet, flute, oboe, piccolo, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone and percussion.
The instructor for the course will be Anthony Svedja, who has 14 years of experience directing concert bands. Svedja comes to Dominican with a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in saxophone performance from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Svedja is a saxophone player and has studied both in classical and jazz music.
The Concert Band will meet on Tuesdays next fall from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building.