BA in Music Archives - ��ý��Ƶ

Lucy Croasdale’s jazz composition continues long Conservatory tradition

Communications — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:20:27 +0000

It’s easy to think of composers as faraway figures, but sometimes they’re just “Down the Hall” from us, as is the case with Lucy Croasdale, a ��ý��Ƶ senior from Madison. A saxophone performance major with a jazz emphasis, Croasdale has shown outstanding promise and prowess in jazz composition.

Croasdale was one of the commissioned composers for the recent Fred Sturm Jazz Celebration Weekend, a ��ý��Ƶ tradition dating back to 1981. The festival invited high school and middle school jazz ensembles to learn from faculty and visiting clinicians in a non-competitive program. Visitors and members of the ��ý��Ƶ community alike were welcomed to attend performances featuring visiting artists Samara Joy and Liam Teague, as well as Conservatory students and faculty.

Lucy Croasdale plays the saxophone during a jazz clinic in Cloak Theater that was part of the 2022 Fred Sturm Jazz Celebration Weekend.

Croasdale’s piece, Down the Hall (From Us), is part of another Jazz Weekend tradition of featuring student composers. Her piece was released to participating schools as a testament to Sturm’s belief that jazz should be collaborative and accessible.

Sturm was instrumental—literally and figuratively—in the creation of ��ý��Ƶ’s Jazz Studies Department. During his sophomore year at ��ý��Ƶ, he created the Conservatory’s first jazz ensemble. Later, he returned to serve 26 years on the Conservatory faculty, during which he established Jazz Weekend, which was renamed to honor him posthumously in 2015. Today, ��ý��Ƶ’s jazz program has grown to include the ��ý��Ƶ Jazz Ensemble (LUJE), the LU Jazz Band, and several small group ensembles. Croasdale performed as a member of LUJE, LU Jazz Band, and a jazz combo.

Down the Hall (From Us) is Croasdale’s most involved piece to date. Though she has experience composing for jazz combo, this big band composition was a much more extensive project. But after seeing Croasdale’s work in her composition class, Patty Darling, Croasdale’s professor and LUJE director, approached her about the project. With Darling’s guidance, Croasdale worked through the summer to create the pop-inspired piece that was played by some of the bands during Jazz Weekend.

“The chart she created, Down the Hall (from Us), is beautifully designed for middle and high school bands,” Darling said. “It is challenging to write jazz music for younger ensembles that teach fundamental concepts and motivate students to practice, and Lucy did an awesome job with this Jazz Weekend chart. The piece is catchy, easy, and fun to play, with limited material presented in interesting ways.”

Croasdale spent much of her time brainstorming different ideas. Whether on saxophone, piano, or her voice alone, she would search for melodies that fit through experimentation—similar to her improvisation process.

“Improvising is just composing on the spot,” Croasdale said. “When I play something, and I like it, I’ll just keep trying to work with that, and if I don’t, I’ll move on.”

Be part of one of the nation’s best undergraduate jazz programs. Hone and challenge skills with an array of solo, chamber, and ensemble experiences.

Croasdale’s composition aims to be fun for its players. The piece features saxophone melodies in their lower registers, something she loves playing herself. Though she had heard LUJE’s performance of the piece, she hadn’t seen a learning group play it until Jazz Weekend.

“It’s nice to hear it to have in mind what seemed easy for them, what was more difficult, because you definitely get a little out of touch being at a Conservatory,” Croasdale said. “I hope they like it.”

Croasdale got the opportunity to listen to two bands perform the piece, and even got the chance to play with one of them on bari sax. She said she was both happy and relieved to see the students enjoying the piece.

Though Croasdale now considers music to be about having fun, she didn’t start to enjoy jazz until she became comfortable with the style.

“Because my mom is a jazz musician—she plays bass—I was dragged along to a lot of events,” she said. “I was like, ‘this is really boring and don’t like it.’”

But that all changed in high school when a band director convinced her to join jazz band. She soon fell in love with it.

Croasdale loves the fun and exciting saxophone parts in jazz music. It has brought her unique experiences and thrilling travel opportunities. Croasdale began her higher education by studying jazz at ��ý��Ƶ, and she intends to continue her jazz studies in graduate school.

Croasdale has enjoyed the jazz opportunities at ��ý��Ƶ, especially the LUJE concert with Liam Teague during Jazz Celebration Weekend.

“It’s always fun to have a guest artist with the band because we’ve been playing these same pieces over and over for a few weeks,” she said. “It’s all of a sudden very different when the music gets ‘filled in.’ It’s always interesting to hear someone’s perspective on the music we’re playing.”

Lucy Croasdale

Class Year: 2023

Major: Saxophone performance with a jazz emphasis

Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin

Activities: Music

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Reframing of a music major adds greater flexibility for ��ý��Ƶ students

Communications — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 21:55:07 +0000

Brian Pertl calls it a “true liberal arts music major.”

��ý��Ƶ has reframed its major to make it more open-ended in a student’s pursuit of whatever slice of the music world that interests them, a change the dean of the Conservatory sees as liberating.

“No big deal, just the coolest, most flexible B.A. music major on earth,” Pertl said.

The newly retooled B.A.Music major differs from the bachelor of music, bachelor of musical arts, and five-year double degree options in its flexibility. It is no longer centered around Western classical music and no longer requires an audition on a Western classical instrument.

“Anyone who is serious about any aspect of music or any genre of music could pursue this major,” Pertl said.

Not only is there no audition requirement, there are only three courses that are required—an intro course, a musicology course, and a Senior Experience��ǳܰ��.

“Each student then designs their own unique musical pathway, with close consultation with a faculty advisor,” Pertl said.

This is the second significant addition to ��ý��Ƶ’s musical offerings in the past three years. In 2019, the was launched, focused on jazz and contemporary improvisation. It also widened the musical path into the Conservatory and has since drawn students interested in everything from ��ٴ��ٴ��.

Here are the varied ways you can pursue an education in music at ��ý��Ƶ:

B.Mus: A pre-professional music degree, it allows students to major in performance, music education, theory, or composition. There also is a jazz emphasis in performance or composition. ��ý��Ƶ two-thirds of the courses are in music.

B.M.A.: This also is a pre-professional music degree, but it is focused on jazz and contemporary improvisation. It allows for more genre flexibility beyond the classical Western canon and leans into musical fluency needed for life as a 21st century musician. ��ý��Ƶ 50% of the coursework is in music, the other half in the liberal arts.

B.A.Music: This is a liberal arts music major, with one-third of the required coursework in music, the other two-thirds in fields of the student’s choosing.

Five-Year Double Degree: This is a five-year program that allows the student to combine a bachelor of arts degree in the college and a bachelor of music degree in the Conservatory. It’s one of the benefits of attending a university that features both a world-class Conservatory and nationally ranked liberal arts college.

Expanding the opportunities within the B.A.Music program offers a more varied path into ��ý��Ƶ for music-minded students and a chance to build toward a wider array of careers within the world of music. That’s a win for ��ý��Ƶ and a win for prospective students, Pertl said.

“A student still could be focused on classical music performance but it isn’t required,” he said. “Instead, they might be a singer-songwriter, a music producer or recording engineer, an aspiring composer, musicologist, ethnomusicologist, or music theorist. They might be interested in dance, arts management, music therapy, or music and entrepreneurship. They might play fiddle, or sitar, or modular synthesizers.”

Opening that door just a little wider to all musical experiences is what the Conservatory of Music is all about, Pertl said.

Another benefit, he said, is that the B.A.Music major brings new flexibility around ensemble requirements. That’s huge for student-athletes who also are interested in music. They can now craft a course schedule that doesn’t restrict their opportunities to participate in athletics.

Pertl applauded Associate Professor of Music Julie McQuinn and a team of Conservatory faculty for leading the effort to reshape the major.

“The beauty of this major is that it welcomes a much broader variety of music and music makers into the Conservatory, and that’s great news and more great music for everyone,” Pertl said.

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Student Snapshot: Jonathan Bass finds his groove studying piano, French

Communications — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 18:36:35 +0000

Jonathan Bass

Jonathan Bass knew he wanted to major in music in college, but he also knew he wanted a broad academic experience. He found what he was looking for at ��ý��Ƶ, where he opted for the liberal arts college’s five-year double degree program. He’s pursuing a bachelor of music degree in music performance (piano) and a bachelor of arts degree in French.

“I’ve really, really enjoyed the journey so far,” said Bass, a junior who developed a passion for music while growing up in Door County. “I appreciate the wide range of opportunities that are available to me at the ��ý��Ƶ Conservatory –I have taken lessons in both classical and jazz piano, played in multiple chamber music settings, played in a jazz combo, sang in choir, and competed in multiple solo piano competitions.

He recently settled on French as a second major.

“Fluency in the language would of course give me greater facility in my study of the French piano repertoire and, at some point, I would love to do a study abroad program in France,” he said.

As a high school student in search of a college, Bass said he was drawn to ��ý��Ƶ in part because of the glowing recommendations he heard from Conservatory alumni. He also connected with a ��ý��Ƶ music professor who gave him a vision of what the ��ý��Ƶ experience might look like.

“I would occasionally run into alumni in Door County who would invariably praise their time at LU,” Bass said. “I had several friends from Birch Creek Music Performance Center, a summer music program in Door County that I attended for several years, who went on to study music at ��ý��Ƶ. My piano teacher senior year of high school, Michael Coonrod at the Interlochen Arts Academy, spoke very highly of the ��ý��Ƶ Conservatory and felt that it would be a good place for me.

“Perhaps most importantly, I had the opportunity in October of my senior year to play in a masterclass for Professor Michael Mizrahi, who is now my teacher. I had been advised countless times that in order to successfully major in music, I needed to find a teacher I could work well with. Playing in that masterclass made me think, ‘I could definitely see myself studying with this professor for the next few years.’”

Quick Facts

Name: Jonathan Bass Class: 2023 Area(s) of study: Music performance (piano) and French Hometown: Washington Island, Wisconsin

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