admittance question

CoachC
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:58:49 +0000

At UM, the MT students who are interested in compostion (and also those who are interested in music direction) often arrange independent study with faculty people who themselves are music directors and composers. There have been a few such students in each BFA MT class over the past 5 years or so, and each has gone on to professional success either as a composer or music director, often while also achieving professional success as a performer! For example, Nick Blaemire, who is Abe in the national tour of ALTAR BOYZ, also wrote a show called ASS BACKWARDS that has received readings at the Kennedy Center and Signature Theatre and a concert production at Joe’s Pub in NYC (as well as being performed at UM a few years ago). The very specific mentoring of the independent studies has allowed each student to focus on his specific composition education needs while still learning the craft of MT writing from the “inside out” - from the perspective of the performer! One of the great things about doing this type of work at UM is that the alumni are very supportive of it - Jeff Marx, one of the 2 writers of AVENUE Q and a UM alum, became personal mentor to a few of the composers.