Jacobs School of Music students learn from nation's best

The IU Jacobs School of Music is one of the best music schools in the nation, competing with Juilliard and other private conservatories around the world, said Gwyn Richards, dean of the Jacobs School of Music.

While music schools haven’t been ranked recently, the Jacobs School of Music has been ranked first in the nation in the past by Change magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education and U.S. News & World Report, said Alain Barker, director of Marketing and Publicity for the school.

“Arguably, we’re number one; we’re working to become unarguably number one,” he said.

Richards said it is the caliber of the students and faculty that make the school prestigious. The Jacobs School of Music has students from all 50 states and 55 different countries, he said.

Vasiliki Tsouva, from Greece, is in her third year of the doctoral program for choral conducting. Tsouva began studying piano when she was three years old and completed undergraduate work in flute performance and music pedagogy.

Before coming to IU, Tsouva studied in Greece, Hungary and Austria. She said she chose IU because of the large conducting department, the diverse opportunities and the music library.

“I spend several hours (a week) in the library to listen and research different recordings and different versions (of songs),” she said.

Tsouva has directed several ensembles as a student, including the opera choruses for La Boheme and Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Tsouva said these opportunities are vital to her degree.

“For conducting you need other things than just one good professor,” she said.
Richards said it is the combination of performance, pedagogy and academia that enables the Jacobs School of Music students to participate in such a variety of ensembles. He said these opportunities are not always possible at conservatories. While most schools have one or two orchestras, IU has six, he said. Richards also said the music school has one of the most active summer collegiate programs. This year 40 students are coming from South Korea and five from Haiti, he said.

There are also a variety of ensembles and classes that non-music majors can participate in, he said.

“The school is here for non-majors to personally interact with by taking a class, joining an ensemble or attending a performance,” he said. “A big part of our mission is for non-majors.”

Junior Nathan Howell is a cello performance major. Although Howell lived in Bloomington for most of his life, he said he chose the Jacobs School of Music because it is one of the best music schools in the country.

Howell started playing cello when he was three years old, and by the time he was 13, he knew he wanted to be a professional performer, he said. For 10 years, he participated in the school’s pre-college program, which includes both individual lessons and group classes.

Howell said he practices about five hours each day, while juggling a double major in cello and meteorology. While he said he thinks IU is preparing him for a career as a performer, he also said finding a job is very difficult and involves a lot of luck.
“I personally think everybody should have a back-up plan,” he said. “Anything can happen, like if your finger gets cut off or you get tendonitis.”

Piano performance Master’s student Tina Chong said she realizes it is challenging to find a job as a performer, but the joy she finds in performing has motivated her to persevere. After completing her undergraduate work in Oberlin, Canada, Chong came to IU to study under Arnaldo Cohen, an IU professor of music who has won awards internationally playing piano.

“(The Jacobs School of Music) is an inspiring place to be,” Chong said. “One can be extremely inspired by many different venues. The campus is beautiful, and I didn’t want to be in the big city yet – it seemed like a good in-between.”