After a year of constant cancellations of performances for students and faculty of Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s School of Music, one professor thought of a way to feature the school’s musicians.
Dr. Melinda Brou, School of Music Graduate Co-Coordinator and professor of voice and opera, said she noticed other schools had online events to show performances by students and wanted to bring that to Texas A&M-Kingsville.
For the month of April, the School of Music will upload a series of videos “Spring into Music” that include a variety of genres.
“I wanted to highlight the incredible diversity we have in our program,” Dr. Brou said. “Everything from orchestra, to opera, to mariachi, to jazz bands. My hope is that every musician in the department who is currently in an ensemble will be featured at some point during the month of April.”
Dr. Brou said the series includes performances that were filmed specifically for “Spring into Music” while others are taken from live streams that the school presents every week of its ensembles. Performances are being live-streamed due to social distancing requirements, but some live performances are taking place in Jones Auditorium.
“This is a way to connect our students to the campus, show our Kingsville community what we are doing, and also let the families and friends of our students see the music they have been working on during this semester. It was important to me that every performance that we are featuring was filmed during this semester,” Dr. Brou said. “Faculty and students have been enthusiastic about sharing their performances. It means a lot to see the music that they are creating getting positive comments, likes, and shares. For the past year, there has been quite a bit of isolation and cancellation of performances — this feels a bit like a celebration of bringing the music back.”
The School of Music is also working to promote its scholarship fund drive which all donations are used for music student scholarships. To donate, visit https://www.givecampus.com/schools/TexasAMUniversityKingsvilleFoundation/texas-a-m-kingsville-school-of-music#updates.
The Texas A&M-Kingsville’s School of Music YouTube page can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE4WSOHo-vAycFtN1mjo28Q.
