Shorter Music Winners
Vocal Studies
Thank you for your interest in Keyboard Studies at Shorter College! Shorter College has a long tradition of excellence in producing pianists and organists. Our graduates can be found across the United States in college teaching positions, as church organists and choir directors, as professional collaborative artists (accompanists) and as first-rate private instructors of piano and organ. As a pianist or organist at Shorter College, you will benefit from excellent one-on-one teaching by professors of piano and organ, not graduate assistants. As a keyboardist at Shorter College, you will have ample opportunity to perform as a soloist and as a collaborative artist, accompanying our nationally-recognized voice students, Chorale, Chorus, and/or Musical Theatre program. There are several degree programs to choose from…we can help you decide which program is best-suited for you. Questions regarding piano study may be directed to Dr. David Oliver at doliver@shorter.edu. Questions regarding organ study may be directed to Dr. Peter DeWitt at pdewitt@shorter.edu. Currently, we offer the following degree programs:
Available in 2007-2008 are two new programs:
The Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance is a degree for pianists interested in taking their pianism to the highest level possible. Pianists achieving a BM in Performance often continue as Master’s and Doctoral level students, with a goal to teach at the collegiate level. Others continue by taking graduate studies in Collaborative Piano or Piano Pedagogy. The degree allows for the maximum number of credit hours in piano study, leaving room in the schedule for practice time. The capstone projects are a half-hour recital as a Junior, and a full-hour recital as a senior. The Bachelor’s of Music in Piano Pedagogy is a degree geared for pianists interested in teaching other pianists to teach. It is a degree that delves deeper into learning theory and teaching techniques. However, at Shorter College, pianists seeking this degree are required to perform nearly as much as the performance majors. This is not the national trend, but at Shorter College, we believe it is important to perform as a pianist in order to teach other pianists to teach and perform. The capstone performing events in this degree plan are a 15-minute Junior recital, and a 30-minute Senior recital. Accompanying at Shorter College is very serious business. As our vocal and musical theatre area are extremely strong, pianists are always in high demand to collaborate with them. Entering pianists take an accompanying placement exam and are then placed into Beginning Accompanying or Advanced Accompanying based on their proficiency. Upon completion of the Advanced Accompanying year-long course, pianists have the opportunity to become paid accompanists. Accompanists are paid to play for the following: voice lessons, seminars, and exams; musical theatre classes and audition techniques classes; Chorus and Chorale concert choirs; major musical productions such as Opera and Musicals produced by Shorter College. Many of our keyboardists have church jobs as choir directors, pianists or organists. In addition to the Accompanying courses, we have a professional Coach/Accompanist who works with vocalists and keyboardists. As a result, many of our keyboardists emerge with valuable skill sets as accompanists. In recent years, several of our pianists have continued in the collaborative arts and excelled. Degrees The Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance is an intensive program in performance preparing the student for continuing graduate work in performance at prestigious graduate schools. Students are prepared to succeed in competitive venues for scholarships and awards. While at Shorter, all organ majors have held organ positions in local churches. Recent graduates have completed doctoral work at the University of Indiana and Southwestern Theological Seminary and Masters programs at these schools and Emory University. Organists may also pursue an organ major in the Bachelor of Music in Church Music degree. Some students have elected to pursue both majors simultaneously. The pipe organ in Brookes Chapel was designed and built in a classic American design by Walter Holtkamp, a prominent American builder, in the mid 50’s. It was enlarged in the late 80’s by Michael Proscia (stops marked with *). It is an electric-action, 33-stop, 39-rank instrument with three manuals and pedalboard and contains over 1400 pipes. Brookes Chapel, in which it resides, seats 350 maximum, including a small balcony. Its 32’ tall ceiling makes for a relatively dry space. The organ is suitable for the space, excepting the Trumpet en Chamade, which is as loud as the rest of the instrument. Shorter also owns a 6-stop two-manual tracker organ built by the prominent North German Rudolph von Beckerath which resides in the Organ/Gamelan studio. Holtkamp Specification:
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