TheSchool ofMusic has started its 2 month-long spring semester performances. Five Departments – Keyboard Instruments, Orchestral Instruments, Voice, Composition and Korean Music – will take turns in filling up the campus with musical cords till May 25. All admissions are free.
Each department selects its players through careful auditions. “We pick the best of the best,” said Choi Eun-bin, an assistant instructor of Orchestral Instruments. The professors determine the musical pieces under different themes, and conduct it themselves.
TheSchool ofMusic holds 2-months worth of musical performances each semester. Some are conducted solely by each department, and some held in conjunction such as the case where a pianist from Keyboard Instruments plays along to an orchestra performance from Orchestral Instruments. Attendance is mandatory for all students of each department, in order to give students a chance to learn and analyze music. “The main purpose of these performances is to let students experience real live performances onstage and to teach them the importance of practicing,” said Choi. “Such field experiences blend the students into professionals.”
For each performance, the students practice 2-3 hours a week with their professors during designated class times. The professors make sure the performances are meaningful and educational to each student. The pieces played at each performance never overlap with those assigned to students for the mid-term or final exams. “Students are able to taste a wide range of music this way,” said Choi. The same professors conduct the same students in the next semester performances, enabling continuous feedback and through analysis of the students’ strengths and weaknesses.
The performances are fruitful to the viewers also. According to the assistant instructors of each department, viewers from other departments or people from outside of Ewha take up a small but fixed percentage at every performance. “Friends and families also come to enjoy a relaxed but well-practiced performance for free,” said Choi.
According to Dean Lee Taek-joo, the unique beginning and long history of musical education at Ewha has now been built up to today’sSchool ofMusic of the finest level. Music first started off at Ewha in May, 1886 by Mary Scranton, founder of Ewha, when she taught the verses and cords of a hymn to a student. TheSchool ofMusic first began in 1925 as the first organized and professional institution to teach Western Music. As Lee wrote on the officialCollege ofArts homepage, it boasts a well-structured team of world renowned professors, and state-of-the-art musical halls found nowhere else in other universities. Details for the 2009 spring semester performances and recent news of musical awards, can be found on the officialCollege ofArts Web Site .
