(c) 2008, McNally Smith College of Music. All rights reserved. The latest college news postings from McNally Smith College of Music McNally Smith College of Music continues its Faculty Artist Performance Series with an intense night of acoustic music introducing the new band Mississippi Peace. The group features McNally Smith faculty member Christopher Cunningham (a/k/a Neverwas, on guitars, fretted stringed instruments and voice) along with Michelle Kinney (cello), Melissa Matthews (violin) and Graham O&rsquo;Brien (drums). Mississippi Peace will perform on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at 7:00 PM at the McNally Smith Auditorium, 19 E. Exchange St. in St. Paul. Admission is free and open to the public and the concert will be followed by a reception. <br /><br />Mississippi Peace is a string-driven, urban acoustic, primarily instrumental ensemble dedicated to pushing deep into unexplored rhythmic, virtuosic, and stylistic territories - while having as much fun as possible in the process. The group describes itself as being &ldquo;designed for the post-national realities of the coming world crunch. Mississippi Peace can run on rechargeable batteries, solar power, or caffeine.&rdquo;<br /><br />Christopher Cunningham (a/k/a Neverwas) launched himself into the early 1980&rsquo;s No Wave and downtown punk-funk scenes of both American coasts. His lead guitar gig with James Chance (James White) and The Contortions (Blacks) began a twenty-five year period of global wandering, involving a multitude of subsequent groupings, pairings, and breakups. In New York and beyond, Cunningham has collaborated on stages and in studios with the likes of Marianne Faithfull, The Lounge Lizards, Gavin Friday, Boukman Eksperyans, Omar Farouk Tekbilek, Katell Keineg, The Golden Palominos, Marshall Crenshaw, Richie Havens, and The Saqqara Dogs. Cellist Michelle Kinney is known locally for her group Jelloslave, and has worked with artists ranging from John Zorn to Paul Westerberg to Sheryl Crow. Violinist Melissa Matthews is a Louisiana native who relocated to the Twin Cities. She is an active freelance musician and is Executive Director of the Tapestry Folkdance Center. Graham O&rsquo;Brien (alumni) is a St. Paul-based drummer who is a member of the hip-hop group Abzorbr and other Twin Cities groups.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <object width="425" height="344"><param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wdqiCJt32f4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" name="movie" /><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><param value="always" name="allowscriptaccess" /><embed width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wdqiCJt32f4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></embed></object><p>Above: Recent Faculty Performance with Harry Chalmiers and guest Melissa Matthews (of Mississippi Peace).</p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=107 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-11-18T00:00:00 The McNally Smith Contemporary Vocal Ensemble consists of a quartet of student singers directed by Jennifer Parker. True to the tradition of vocal jazz, the singers will interpret a number of songs originally recorded by instrumental artists, as well as interpretations of vocal pop music. Their performance will include &ldquo;Sugar,&rdquo; written by saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, Paul Simon&rsquo;s &ldquo;Loves Me Like A Rock,&rdquo; Charlie Chaplin&rsquo;s &ldquo;Smile&rdquo; and &ldquo;Oops&rdquo; by Mike Maineri. A terrific faculty rhythm section, featuring Kristin Sponcia (piano), Michael Pilhofer (drums) and Travis Shilling (bass) will join the singers on &ldquo;Oops,&rdquo; originally recorded by the group Steps Ahead.<br /><br />Also performing is the McNally Smith Jazz Orchestra, an 11-piece ensemble led by saxophonist Pete Whitman. This orchestra will perform a broad range of repertoire including standards like Jimmy Van Heusen&rsquo;s &ldquo;Like Someone In Love&rdquo; (arranged by Rob McConnell) and Richard Rodgers&rsquo; &ldquo;Spring Is Here&rdquo; (arranged by Dave Hagedorn), jazz standards such as &ldquo;El Gaucho&rdquo; by Wayne Shorter and original compositions by Pete Whitman, Jeff Rinear and more! Judi Donaghy will join the ensemble for several selections such as &ldquo;No Moon at All&rdquo; by Red Evans, &ldquo;The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines&rdquo; by Charles Mingus and Joni Mitchell, and a version of &ldquo;Lady Be Good&rdquo; inspired by Ella Fitzgerald.<br /><br />Vocalist Judi Donaghy has worked in opera, musical theater, jazz, folk, country, gospel, pop, and R&amp;B. She currently works with such distinguished groups as Voicestra (Bobby McFerrin), Urbanstride, The Girls, the Wolverine's Classic Jazz Orchestra, JazzMN Big Band, and Judi, Cliff 'n' Daves. Other credits include award-winning singer/songwriter (JAZZIZ Magazine), on-air talent, jingle singer/writer/producer, and vocal jazz clinician. Judi has sung on more than 30 CDs to date, two of which are her own productions: Sink or Swing, and Ballads and Bossas.<br /><br> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zy1zaD7AFgU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zy1zaD7AFgU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=101 Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-11-08T00:00:00 <span class="greenhdr"> Attention McNally Smith students and parents!</span></p><p>We would like to clear up any possible confusion that may exist as to the date and time of the Fall 2008 graduation ceremony.&nbsp;&nbsp; The ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 20, at 11:00 a.m. at McNally Smith College.</p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=104 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-11-07T00:00:00 McNally Smith and Rock the Vote collaborated this election season to not only register a record number of McNally Smith students, but also to create volunteer opportunities. On Saturday, November 1st, McNally Smith students manned the volunteer positions at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium for the Rock the Vote Action Fund&rsquo;s Get Out &amp; Vote 2008 concert. This national tour was launched to encourage all voters to become educated about the candidates, and to make their voices heard. The non-partisan show featured the Beastie Boys, Tenacious D and Ben Harper. McNally Smith students provided event attendees with information on the presidential and local senatorial candidates, to promote an informed youth vote. To thank the student volunteers for their contribution, Rock the Vote provided them with free admission to the concert.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><img width="400" height="288" src="/userfiles/image/mcnallysmith_rockthevote.gif" alt="" /></p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=106 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-11-04T00:00:00 McNally Smith College of Music is the subject of a four-page feature spread in the November 2008 edition of Twin Cities Business magazine. The profile, written by Megan Wiley, provides an insightful look at McNally Smith&rsquo;s past, present and future, and features interviews with McNally Smith insiders.&nbsp; President Harry Chalmiers features prominently in discussing the school&rsquo;s origins, the progress that has been made over the years, and the future vision for continued growth.&nbsp; Weaving in recent events, such as the school hosting The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, with nuggets from the Music Tech days, the writer paints a picture of the school&rsquo;s impressive trajectory.&nbsp; Debbie Sandridge and Chris Osgood eloquently address the importance of relationships in the music industry at large, as well as the local music community, in promoting McNally Smith&rsquo;s many virtues.&nbsp; Above all, the article shines a light on what separates McNally Smith from &ldquo;traditional&rdquo; music schools, capturing McNally&rsquo;s focus on contemporary music and the crucial attention to the realities of the music business in the 2000s.&nbsp; Jack McNally, Doug Smith and several other McNally Smith personalities are also quoted or discussed in the article. All that plus a photo of Harry Chalmiers and Chris Osgood that&rsquo;s suitable for framing make this article highly recommended reading. </p><p><a href="http://www.tcbmag.com/industriestrends/education/106306p1.aspx" target="_blank">Read it here. </a></p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=105 Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-11-01T00:00:00 McNally Smith College of Music has announced the second installment of its Faculty Artist Performance Series with a concert featuring the new group Story City, a collection of standouts from the Twin Cities jazz scene. Story City, which explores the music of guitar icon Pat Metheny as well as the late saxophone great Michael Brecker, includes McNally Smith faculty members Steve Faison (percussion, guitar, vocals) and Terry Burns (bass). The group also includes Andrew Schwandt (saxophone), Fred Goetz (keyboards), Karl Koopman (guitar), and group founder Steve Jennings (drums). Story City will perform on Wednesday, November 12 at 7:00 PM at the McNally Smith Auditorium, 19 E. Exchange St. in St. Paul. Admission is free and open to the public. <br /><br />Story City is drawn to the musical careers of Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker because the music is accessible, creative, dramatic, and unique. As a vehicle for improvisation, the compositions are second to none. Story City strives to paint a varied musical landscape for listeners, musicians, and fans. The group spent months preparing for live performance prior to their first show in Faribault in September. The McNally Smith concert will be their first Twin Cities performance. Story City will also perform some of Terry Burns&rsquo; original compositions.<br /><br />Steve Faison is one of the Twin Cities most versatile performers. This singer and multi-instrumentalist has performed throughout the world and is well known in the Twin Cities for his work with groups including Moore By Four and Samoa. Faison teaches voice and serves as assistant department head for ensembles and as Director of Outreach at McNally Smith. Bassist / composer Terry Burns lived and worked in New York and L.A. prior to moving to the Twin Cities. His credits include work with everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Dewey Redman to Jane Monheit. Burns heads up the bass department at McNally Smith. Group founder and drummer Steve Jennings has performed with everyone from Moore By Four to The Drifters to the electric bluegrass Over &amp; Back Band to blues great Ron Thompson.<br />&nbsp;</p> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zy1zaD7AFgU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zy1zaD7AFgU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=102 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-10-28T00:00:00 <object width="425" height="344"><param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4UUc8VhGYOI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" name="movie" /><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><embed width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4UUc8VhGYOI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></embed></object></p><p><span class="green">Housing</span></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/admissions/housing.aspx">Student Housing</a></p><p><span class="green">Admissions</span></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/Admissions/Request.aspx">Request Information</a></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/admissions/default.aspx">Admissions Office</a></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/admissions/procedures.aspx">Application Procedures</a></p><p><span class="green">Financial Aid</span></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/financial/">General Information</a></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/financial/grantsloans.aspx">Student Loan &amp; Grant Information</a></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/financial/scholarships.aspx">Music Scholarships</a></p><p><span class="green">Academics</span></p><p><a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/userFiles/file/resources/MSCM_0809_CourseCat.pdf">Course Catalog</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=98 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-10-19T00:00:00 McNally Smith College of Music launched its new Faculty Artist Performance Series with a concert featuring the school&rsquo;s president Harry Chalmiers, a highly accomplished guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter. Chalmiers&rsquo; performance included a classical guitar segment, an &ldquo;unplugged&rdquo; set and an electric set, with Chalmiers sharing vocals with guest musicians. From growing up playing rock guitar in Louisiana to performing as a soloist with symphony orchestras, Chalmiers&rsquo; many interests on guitar was reflected in a set that included original compositions and music by J.S. Bach, Fernando Sor, Luis Milan, John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Chalmiers was joined by McNally Smith faculty members and special guest Melissa Matthews on violin. The first McNally Smith Faculty Artist Performance Series concert, featuring Harry Chalmiers, was Wednesday, October 22 at 7:00 PM at the McNally Smith Auditorium, 19 E. Exchange St. in St. Paul. Admission was free and open to the public, and the concert was followed by a wine and cheese reception.<br /><br />McNally Smith&rsquo;s faculty roster includes a number of elite musicians from the Twin Cities music scene, many of whom are known nationally and internationally for their work. The college plans to make the Faculty Artist Performance Series a fixture, with six or so concerts per year. For the debut concert, Chalmiers performed solo and with McNally Smith faculty members including Judi Donaghy (vocals), Lori Dokken (keyboards / vocals), Charles Fletcher (bass) and Dave Schmalenberger (drums). Special guest Melissa Matthews is an outstanding classical and improvisational violinist based in the Twin Cities.<br /><br />Harry Chalmiers became President of McNally Smith in August 2007. Prior to joining McNally Smith, Mr. Chalmiers spent eight years as the Vice President for Academic Affairs / Provost at Berklee College of Music in Boston. From 1994 to 1998, Chalmiers was Executive Director of MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis. In addition to performances with symphony orchestras, Chalmiers has performed numerous solo and chamber music concerts throughout his career. He has composed piano music, orchestral music, electronic pieces and guitar music in a wide range of styles, and his compositions for classical guitar are published by Clear Note Publications.&nbsp; </p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2fD-8ekIbNw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2fD-8ekIbNw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=99 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-10-07T00:00:00 Saxophone Day, presented by MacPhail Center for Music and McNally Smith College of Music, was your chance to come and try out some of the finest saxophones and accessories as provided by Tenor Madness, Groth Music, Schmitt Music, Eckroth Music, JW Pepper, Midwest Musical Imports and others.&nbsp; This event took place in the McNallly Smith College of Music Auditorium and foyer.</p><p><span class="red">Features include:</span><br />&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Denis DeBlasio &ndash; Baritone Sax soloist and former musical director with Maynard Ferguson<br />&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;The Hornheads &ndash; All-Star Horn Section that has performed with Prince, Chaka Kahn and others<br />&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Dr. David Milne &ndash; Outstanding classical artist on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin/River Falls<br />&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Andy Blanco &ndash; Clinician for Vandoren Reeds and Mouthpieces<br />&nbsp;</p><object width="425" height="344"><param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TzdJP2o4gG0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" name="movie" /><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><embed width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TzdJP2o4gG0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></embed></object> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=96 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-09-23T00:00:00 Five of McNally Smith&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/academics/recordingtech.aspx">Tech Department</a> instructors recently attended a week-long training session with Digidesign&rsquo;s top trainers.&nbsp; Christopher Blood, Scott Malchow, Sheldon Kessel, and Chopper Black studied from Saturday to Friday, while Ricardo Ehramjian joined the group on the last two days.&nbsp; &ldquo;The training will bring three more of our instructors to ProTools certification level and four instructors to Icon certification level&rdquo; commented Bryan Forrester, Chair of Music Technology.&nbsp; Having more certified instructors will allow McNally Smith to expand its ProTools training and certification courses. &nbsp;</p><p>Digidesign&rsquo;s ProTools is the industry-standard digital audio workstation used by more audio professionals than<img width="300" vspace="3" hspace="3" height="224" align="right" alt="" src="/userfiles/image/Malchow,-Ehramjian,-Campbell,-Kessel,-Blood.jpg" /> any other solution.&nbsp; The Icon worksurfaces are one of Digidesign&rsquo;s newest products and help ease workflow by placing all the most used computer commands right at your fingertips, in addition to making automated mixing more convenient by providing faders to control volumes rather than using a mouse. &nbsp;</p><p>Digidesign provided two of its top trainers for this special session, Frank Cook and Rob Campbell.&nbsp; This was an especially unique opportunity, as it turns out, because both Frank and Rob were the authors of the textbooks used for the coursework.&nbsp; &ldquo;These guys really know their stuff&rdquo;, said Christopher Blood, a long time ProTools user.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m amazed at how much more there is to ProTools than I ever knew and I&rsquo;ve been using it forever!&rdquo; &nbsp;</p><p>The rigors of the course began to take its toll after a few days.&nbsp; Because of schedule restrictions, a course that could sometimes take a few weeks to complete was compacted into just seven days of very intense study.&nbsp; The students were even required to do homework on most evenings to be able to keep up the frantic pace. &quot;It's always great to discover new features and see new ways to work in Pro Tools. &nbsp;</p><p>There is always something new to learn!&rdquo; said Scott Malchow.&nbsp; Scott has been using ProTools since its creation back in the 1980&rsquo;s and still found the training challenging and worthwhile. &nbsp;</p><p>Sheldon Kessel is McNally Smith&rsquo;s primary MIDI instructor &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always found ProTools a little clunky for creative work beyond recording and mixing audio, so I&rsquo;m very excited about the path Digidesign is taking to make it<br />friendlier to producers.&rdquo;&nbsp; Sheldon is a DJ in his other life and has typically been using other platforms for his music creations.&nbsp; The decision was made to incorporate ProTools in McNally Smith&rsquo;s entry-level MIDI and Intro to Technology courses. &nbsp;</p><p>Ricardo Ehramjian, previously certified in ProTools, joined the group for the Icon level training.&nbsp; &ldquo;The training helped confirm that we are indeed teaching our students the right stuff about the Icons&rdquo;, said Ricardo.&nbsp; All of McNally Smith&rsquo;s Production and Technology students spend a semester learning how to use the worksurfaces in Mix Lab II.</p><p>Chopper Black became a certified ProTools user over two years ago when another large group of instructors took a similar class.&nbsp; &ldquo;This is so much deeper than before&rdquo; claimed Chopper, &ldquo;either that or I forgot most of it&rdquo;, he said with that big grin of his.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so glad I decided to audit this course again because now I rock on ProTools!&rdquo;<strong><br /></strong></p> http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/default.aspx?newsid=97 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT 2008-09-23T00:00:00 http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/rss/collegenews.ashx 30 Tuesday, November 18, 2008