October 5, 2006 - 5:00pm
Beethoven didn’t blow the blues.
That’s why students seeking contemporary music careers need a degree based on 20th century North American sounds, not one which dissects baroque chartbusters.
Meeting this need is Malaspina’s new Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies degree, which opened this fall to an almost-full house. "The demand has been here for years," said Music Department chair Collin MacQuarrie. "We have students from all across the country."
Enrolment in the Jazz degree program was notably successful for a first year offering, with 21 of the 30 available seats taken.
Filling one of those seats is singer and songwriter Andrea Smith, who moved from Kamloops to Nanaimo to enrol in Malaspina’s Jazz Diploma program in 2003. She has now expanded her goal from diploma to degree.
"It’s given me, performance-wise, an increase in my own skill level," she explained.
Prior to enrolling in the program, she had played in rock and country bands, done musical theatre, and begun composing.
"I’ve always played music, although I didn’t start song-writing until I was 30," she said. She started piano lessons at five. Her mother and grandmother played piano and a brother played trumpet. Her great-grandfather, Wesley Llewellyn, played banjo and fiddle on Mississippi riverboats.
In addition to performing, Smith tackled many jobs: registered massage therapist, certified guide-outfitter, and farrier. When the strain on her hands from massage therapy hampered her guitar playing, Smith chose music over massage.
The launch of the degree program, in development for at least a decade, was perfectly timed to meet Smith’s desire to hone her talent.
"I already had the country-bluesy influence," she said. "I’ve added jazz. There are harmonies you can build around those notes, different nuances and timing, depth and breadth of sound. It’s like having more colours in your palette to paint from."
In June 2005, Smith won first place in the song writing category of the Shuswap Lake International Writers Festival. She was also nominated for the Yamaha Award of Excellence at the B.C. Festival of the Arts.
This past summer she released her second CD, Sweet Embrace, which combines blues, jazz, country and soft rock sounds. "Occasionally I’m fortunate enough to do gigs with two of the greatest jazz musicians on the Island, Pat Coleman and Ken Lister," Smith said. Both are also Malaspina instructors.
The Jazz degree program incorporates all forms of popular music, including blues, country and rock, MacQuarrie said. "When you look at the North American art form, it’s all intertwined."
Students enrolled in the program range in age from recent high school graduates to retirees pursuing their love of music. "For them, it’s for the love of it and to learn more about the art form," MacQuarrie said, adding that there are more career opportunities in popular music than in classical. For more information on Malaspina’s music programs, visit www.viu.ca.
Smith plans to earn her degree and then study to teach music, in addition to performing and composing.
"I’d like to get established artists playing and performing my music," she said.
She is currently promoting her CD and performing with her band, Quench – including an upcoming show at the Wheatsheaf Pub in Cedar on October 28 – and learning more about her chosen art form.
"This program allows me to work and communicate with people whose level of musicianship is way beyond mine, so I get to keep learning."
Tags: In the Community
