November 28, 2007

Performance Faculty Practice What They Teach

While the performance faculty in Ohio Wesleyan’s Music Department do practice what they teach, they are practicing for a reason. They are all well respected professional performers who also have the qualifications and skills that make them wonderful teachers.

“In addition to teaching at OWU, our performance faculty members are represented in all the professional musical organizations in Central Ohio, whether in smaller chamber ensembles or in major ensembles including the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Opera Columbus, and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra,” says Cameron Bennett, chair of the Music Department. “And many also perform nationally and internationally.

Bennett thinks it is incredibly important that performance faculty members are actively engaged in their respective fields.

“As a teacher and professional performer you are sharing with students the skills and expertise that you continually build over time, and you bring those day-to-day performance experiences to applied lessons,” he says. “This adds an entirely different aspect to the lesson. In addition to learning about the business of performing, students see the passion and effort it takes to perform professionally.”

Part-time faculty members are often full-time members of professional musical organizations such as the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. The rehearsal time required by full-time members of professional music organizations would make it impossible to be full-time instructors. Full-time faculty tend to perform professionally in smaller ensembles, or will have special engagements or perform as substitutes with larger organizations.

“Many of the full-time performance faculty perform quite a bit in the summer months when faculty members in other academic departments are doing their research,” Bennett says. “Teaching is always the top priority at Ohio Wesleyan, but research is still important. And while faculty members in other academic areas are evaluated on where their research was presented or published, as performance faculty, we are evaluated based on factors such as where we played, what ensemble we performed with, where we’ve been invited to perform, or whether we performed as an accompanist or soloist.”

Bennett says it is a huge benefit to have teachers who perform professionally. It provides students with exceptional teachers who are continually honing their skills as professional musicians.

– Christopher Federer