Category Archives: extra credit

Extra Credit Opportunity: Washington Garcia, piano

October 28, 2011

Born in Quito, Ecuador, Washington García holds a bachelor of music degree from the National Conservatory of Music in Ecuador, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He has been an active recitalist, soloist, and lecturer in prestigious venues in Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Hungary, Canada, Israel, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore, and the United States.
Dr. García served in the faculty of the Peabody Preparatory Department of the Johns Hopkins University and is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Texas State University-San Marcos, where he is the chair of the piano department and Founder and Director of the Texas State International Piano Festival. He also teaches at the Austin Chamber Music Festival.
Upcoming engagements include performances in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, Canada, Ecuador, and Taiwan.

All performances will be at 7:30 p.m. in McCray Recital Hall on the PSU campus.
Tickets are available at no charge to full-time PSU students with valid student ID.

Extra Credit Opportunity: Gilmar Goulart, Marimba recital

Mon, October 24 2011 07:35 PM – 08:35 PM, McCray Hall. Free Event.

The Pittsburg State University Department of Music will be hosting Dr. Gilmar Goulart, marimbist for a guest recital performance Monday evening, October 24th.  The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in McCray Recital Hall.  The performance is free and open to the public.
Dr. Goulart is being hosted on the PSU campus by the Department of Music percussion instructor Dr. James Clanton, and APEX Percussion, the student percussion organization on the PSU campus.  During his visit Dr. Goulart will be working with percussion and music students in private lesson and master classes sponsored by Sabian cymbals.
Gilmar Goulart is head of the Percussion Department at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. He finished his DMA in 2001 at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with Douglas Walter; studied with Ian Wright at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England; and Ney Rosauro in Santa Maria.
At the RNCM he became the first marimbist to be awarded the Professional Performance Diploma with Distinction. He also presented the British premiere of David Maslanka’s “Concerto for Marimba and Winds”, with the RNCM Wind Orchestra.  Goulart has recorded two CDs: “The World of Marimba”, (1998), and “The Moods of Marimba” (2006).
He has presented many Brazilian premieres and first recordings of important composers for percussion such as Christopher Deane, Eric Ewazen, James Ure. He has also commissioned works for solo marimba to composers from Brazil, USA, and Europe.  As a clinician, he has taught courses and seminars in Brazil and Argentina; and is commonly invited as a guest member in search committees and Master’s examinations in universities in Brazil.

Extra Credit Opportunity: Joe Alessi, Trombone

The name of Joseph Alessi is synonymous with excellence in matters related to trombone performance, and it is our great privilege to present this internationallyacclaimed artist on the Series. Mr. Alessi was appointed Principal Trombone of the New York Philharmonic in 1985. He has performed as a soloist with the Philharmonic, as well as with orchestral ensembles throughout the world. A distinguished pedagogue, he is on the faculty of the The Juilliard School, and his students now occupy posts with many major symphony orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.
Mr. Alessi’s discography includes many releases on the Summit record label, including the recent Trombonastics. His recording on the Bridge record label as soloist in George Crumb’s Starchild won a Grammy Award for 1999-2000. Other recordings featuring Mr. Alessi are with the Canadian Brass on Sony Classical and Philips Records

Sun, October 9 2011

7:30 p.m. in McCray Recital Hall on the PSU campus.
Tickets are available at no charge to full-time PSU students with valid student ID.

Test 1 Results

Here is the overall distribution of grades for the test as a whole. The high raw score in the class was a 94, so that was used as the 100% mark, and extra credit was added after the adjusted score was calculated. (Most people who did the extra credit got 2 points or more, by the way)

Level % of class
A 10%
B 14%
C 34%
D 28%
F 14%

Note: Now that I’ve given back the tests, if you weren’t in class (or took a make-up test today), you’ll have to come get your test from me. I won’t use additional class time tracking people down. I will bring the tests to class for the next day or two, to make it easier, though.
Another Note: I know that my handwriting isn’t always clear; I’m happy to translate if necessary. Sorry.

Extra Credit Opportunity: Jazz Ensembles

PSU Jazz Ensembles One and Two, Overman Student Center, Crimson & Gold Ballroom, You’ll hear music by Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, Tom Kubis, Oliver Nelson and more. There will be standards like Straight No Chaser, spin offs like Which Craft?, and arrangements of traditional works like Andalusia, Down By the Riverside and America. Mon, October 3 2011 07:30 PM – 08:30 PM. Free.

Extra Credit Opportunity: Mad Scientists in Literature

The 18th Annual Victor J. Emmett Memorial Lecture is scheduled for September 29, at 8 pm, in 409 Russ Hall on the Pittsburg State University campus.

This year’s lecturer is Janice Law Trecker, mystery writer, painter, and recently retired lecturer in English at the University of Connecticut. Her lecture topic will be “How Mad Scientists Created Monsters and Saved the Soul,” and will deal with the popular novels Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and others. A brief award ceremony and reception will follow the lecture.

The Emmett Memorial Lecture is named in memory of the late Dr. Victor J. Emmett, Jr., who from 1967 to 1990 was a Professor of English at Pittsburg State University. During that time he also served as Interim Dean of Graduate Studies, Editor-in-Chief of “The Midwest Quarterly,” and Chair of the English Department. The Emmett Lecture is sponsored by the Emmett family, the PSU English Department, and “The Midwest Quarterly.”

Additional information about Ms. Trecker, particularly about the mystery novels and stories she writes and publishes, can be found at her web site, www.janicelaw.com.

Extra Credit Opportunity: Notes and Notetakers

I haven’t gotten any volunteers yet to share class notes — one of your colleagues needs note-taking assistance — so I thought I would sweeten the pot a little bit with extra credit. I need both notes from the first portion of the course to date, and a reliable volunteer going forward. Those don’t have to be the same person: if you are willing to share your lecture notes so far, but don’t want to commit to the rest of the semester, fine; if you are willing to take notes from here forward, but don’t want to have to do the work of putting your previous notes in a shareable form, that’s fine, too. Contact me, soon: the first test is coming up and we need notes!

Extra Credit Opportunity: So Percussion – Solo and Chamber Music Series

Since 1999, So Percussion has been creating music that explores all the extremes of emotion and musical possibility. It has not been an easy music to define. Called an   “experimental powerhouse” by The Village Voice, “astonishing and entrancing” by Billboard  Magazine, and “brilliant” by The New York Times, the Brooklyn-based quartet’s  innovative work with today’s most exciting composers and their own original music has quickly helped them forge a unique and diverse career.
Although the drum is one of humanity’s most ancient instruments, Europe and America have only recently begun to explore its full potential, aided by explosions of influence and experimentation from around the world. In the 20th Century, musical innovators like Edgard Varèse, John Cage, Steve Reich, and Iannis Xenakis brought these instruments out from behind the traditional orchestra and gave them new voice. So Percussion has performed this unusual and exciting music all over the United States and on international tours. With an audience comprised of “both kinds of blue hair… elderly matron here, arty punk there” (as The Boston Globe described it), So Percussion makes a rare and wonderful breed of music that both instantly compels and offers rewards for engaged listening. Edgy (at least in the sense that little other music sounds like this) and ancient (in that people have been hitting objects for eons), perhaps it doesn’t need to be defined after all.

McCray Hall, Fri, September 16 2011 07:30 PM – 09:00 PM. Free to Full-time PSU Students with ID.