Cheryl Carr, associate dean of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, was recently elected to the Association for Popular Music Education’s (APME) Board of Directors. APME exists to promote and advance popular music at all levels of education both in the classroom and beyond.
Carr Named to Association for Popular Music Education’s Board of Directors
Stewart Presents at International Service-Learning Symposium in Ireland
Tim Stewart, director of service-learning, recently presented on Transforming Service-Learning through Technology at the 7th International Symposium on Service-Learning in Galway, Ireland. The presentation was a follow-up on a presentation Stewart and Director of Social Entrepreneurship Dr. Bernard Turner gave at the 6th International Symposium in Indianapolis in 2015. More than 130 delegates from 47 institutions, 17 countries and 6 continents participated on the campus of the National University of Ireland, Galway campus.
Skeen Featured in Baptist News Global for Innovative Approach to Spiritual Formation
Professor of Religion Dr. Judy Skeen was recently the subject of a lengthy profile in Baptist News Global. The story highlighted Skeen’s personal and professional journey as well as her innovative approach to spiritual formation which frequently includes help from unusual partners: horses.
Fascinated by horses’ ability to read human emotions, Skeen created a First Year Seminar course years ago on the topic “Cross Species Communications: Through the Eyes of Other Creatures.” Subtitled “Learning about being human by encountering horses,” Skeen’s class allows students the opportunity to visit the professor’s Franklin, Tenn.-ranch where they interact with several horses on her seven-acre farm. The course was feature in the Fall 2013 issue of Belmont’s Circle Magazine (p. 18-19).
The Baptist News Global article goes into great depth on the inspiration behind Skeen’s work with horses in her classes as well as a spiritual director and retreat leader. The animals serve as partners in her quest to embrace stillness and presence. In the article Skeen notes, “I’ve spent a lifetime learning that being human isn’t the problem. The gift is becoming fully human. It pleases God when we live our lives fully. When I do the best I can to live fully, I’m automatically inviting others to become more alive.”
Click here to read the article in its entirety.
Student Musician Highlights Belmont on Magazine Instagram Takeover
Junior worship leadership major Hannah Kerr is making a name for herself in the music industry — and taking over Instagram as she goes. Singer songwriter and Christian music artist, Kerr recently ‘took over’ CCM Magazine’s instagram and walked viewers through a day in her shoes, highlighting Nashville and some of her favorite spots.
As a new artist, Kerr knows it’s important for fans to get to know her–showcasing her city through her eyes was the perfect opportunity. “As a newcomer, a lot of CCM’s followers don’t know much about me outside of my music,” Kerr said. “This was my chance to show them what’s important in my life in addition to music and show them where I spend my time when I’m home. I’m a big fan of CCM Magazine — so this was awesome!”
Among other locations around Nashville, Kerr specifically chose to highlight Belmont since she spends so much of her time on campus. “I’m a full time student, as well as a Christian artist, so school is a very important part of my life,” she said. “Belmont has been the place where I’ve grown as a student and matured in my relationship with the Lord, and it’s such a blessing to be a student there. I wanted people to see how beautiful the campus is and have a glimpse into this other huge part of my life.”
After graduation, Kerr hopes to be on staff at a church as a worship leader or youth minister, but she’s also interested in continuing her travels and performances on the road.
College of Visual and Performing Arts Hosts Music Camps
Belmont’s College of Visual and Performing Arts hosted two summer music camps this week. The 10th annual Piano Camp, directed by Dr. Kristian Klefstad, hosted 28 students for master classes, lessons and performances in Harton Recital Hall. The 8th annual Summer Winds Band Camp, directed by Dr. Barry Kraus, welcomed 56 students from around the country for a week of chamber music, jazz ensemble and wind ensemble rehearsals culminating in a performance in McAfee Concert Hall.
Belmont Faculty Members Present at Christian Scholars’ Conference
Belmont faculty members recently presented essays in a session about “C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings” at the Christian Scholars’ Conference. The Inklings were a group of Christian writers who gathered in the 1930s and 1940s in Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College, Oxford University or at the Eagle and Child public house to read and discuss their work. Tolkien described the name of the Inklings as “a pleasantly ingenious pun…suggesting people with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in ink.”
Don Cusic, professor of music business in the Curb College, presented on “Johnny Cash and C. S. Lewis.” Dr. Robbie Pinter, professor of English, presented “Fantasy Worlds in C. S. Lewis’s Narnia and George MacDonald’s Lilith: Thresholds, Portals and Crossovers.” Dr. Ann Coble of the College of Theology presented “Dorothy L. Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey.” Dr. Kenneth C. Hawley, professor of English at Lubbock Christian University, presented “Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the Consolation of a Happy Ending.” The session was organized by Director of the Honors Program Dr. Jonathan Thorndike, who will be teaching his Inklings course in the Belmont Month in London program starting in July at King’s College London.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Memory, Tradition and the Future of Faith.” The mission of the Christian Scholars’ Conference is to create and nurture an intellectual and Christian community that joins individuals and institutions to stimulate networks of scholarly dialogue and collaboration. The conference was created under the direction of Dr. Thomas H. Olbricht, distinguished professor emeritus, Pepperdine University and has since been hosted by several faith-based universities. The conference calls together scholars from a wide variety of disciplines in the liberal arts, sciences, business, law, education and medicine to develop their own academic research and to reflect on the integration of scholarship and faith.
Students are “Happy Together” on Summer Tour
A group of students recently hit the road to join their professor, musical legend and co-founding member of The Turtles Mark Volman for the East Coast run of the Happy Together Tour. Created as a summer course, the 10 participating students will spend time in their “classroom” for nearly three weeks in June–a tour bus, hotel rooms, stages and countless green rooms. Starting in Biloxi, Mississippi, the students will follow the tour through Florida and back up to Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania before ending in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.
Under the guidance of Volman, assistant professor of entertainment industry studies and staff adviser Lucas Boto, the students are working with touring artists and crew professionals in tour management, stage management, audio engineering, tour accounting and merchandise sales. Additionally, students will get hands-on experience each day as they participate in load-in, setup, tear-down and load-out. These hands-on educational avenues outside of the classroom provide networking opportunities with some of the industry’s finest while allowing students to gain an understanding of the revenue flow from music consumer to touring performer.
“The Happy Together Tour class gives students a chance to experience life on the road and see principles taught in the classroom put into action,” Boto said. “Without touring experience, it can be difficult to secure a job on the road, but this allows those interested in this line of work to try it. Touring long term is a lifestyle commitment, and that’s hard to convey without experiencing it. Getting to hear stories and learn from legendary ’60s artists like Mark Volman is icing on the cake.”
Junior audio engineering major and tour participant Kaitlin Barnett has been interested in a career in the music industry since she was kid and the opportunity to hop on the Happy Together Tour was a dream she’s had for years. “Before even coming to Belmont, I had my sights set on this tour, because I thought it would be the perfect way to know if the road life was really for me,” she said. “I was ready to give up my summer in a heartbeat for this amazing opportunity.”
Just days into the experience, Barnett has already worked with lights, merchandise, photography and stage managing. Daily, students are assigned a new position, giving them the chance to experience every part of life on the road. But it’s not just the opportunity to work on a tour that’s exciting. “My favorite part so far is waking up in a new city every day and learning about the industry all across America,” Barnett said. “The relationships I am forming with the crew, bands and my classmate are really rewarding.”
The 2017 Happy Together Tour is named for The Turtles’s 1967 chart-topping single. It unites several pop/rock artists of the ‘60s on stage, starring The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddie, The Association, Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night), The Box Tops, The Cowsills and The Archies starring Ron Dante. Students will work 15 shows on the tour including:
- June 9 Imperial Palace Biloxi, Mississippi
- June 10 Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater, Florida
- June 11 Florida Theatre Jacksonville, Florida
- June 13 Mayo Performing Arts Center Morristown, New Jersey
- June 14 State Theatre New Brunswick, New Jersey
- June 15 Calvin Theatre Northampton, Massachusetts
- June 16 Theatre @ Westbury Westbury, New York
- June 17 The Palace Theater Albany, New York
- June 18 Music Hall Tarrytown, New York
- June 20 Bergen PAC Englewood, New Jersey
- June 21 Keswick Theater Glenside, Pennsylvania
- June 22 Penn’s Peak Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
- June 23 Community Arts Center Williamsport, Pennsylvania
- June 24 American Arts Theatre Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- June 25 Hampton Beach Casino Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
For more information on tour details, click here.
Pharmacy Faculty, Students Attend Summer Institute on Health Policy
A group of eight Belmont Pharmacy faculty and students, the largest to-date, is participating this week in the Summer Institute on Health Policy, a yearly interdisciplinary educational event held at Meharry Medical College. The focus of the course is social epidemiology, and attendees are discussing underlying reasons and potential solutions to disparities in health care access and outcomes.
This year’s course is being taught by Dr. Amani Nuru-Jeter from the University of California Berkeley with assistance from Dr. Derek Griffith from Vanderbilt University.
Student Wins LaunchTN Pitch Competition
Belmont student and entrepreneurship major Sara Beth Perry recently participated in LaunchTN’s 36|86 Student Pitch Competition and won in her category, Technology Enabled, earning her $15,000. With the Band, Perry’s startup, is a platform that allows devoted fans, new artists, songwriters and established artists the opportunity to engage and connect in a collaborative way.
Belmont was also represented by two other teams including Annabelle Bright and Jacob Kissamiss, Bloom Brightly Paper Co., in the Consumer Goods/Services category and Alex Wieseler, a current MBA student, who pitched PATH EX in the Commercialized Technology category and won.
Last fall, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Elizabeth Gortmaker applied to become a LaunchTN University Venture Challenge partner and received the largest partnership amount from the organization which sponsored Belmont’s recent Business Plan Competition. As a UVC partner, the winners from Belmont’s competition could apply to pitch at 36|86, LaunchTN’s premiere technology event. With the Band and Bloom Brightly Paper Co. were both chosen to pitch at the event.
Gortmaker said, “LaunchTN’s 36/86 Conference is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to network and learn. We were thrilled to have four Belmont students selected to pitch their businesses this year. The students selected to pitch represented the best of the best from universities around the state, and having representation in three of the 13 selected businesses shows the fantastic work our students are doing.”
(Featured image L to R: Gortmaker and Perry pose with Perry’s check.)
Murray Included in Oxford University Press Virtual Anthology, Serves as Chawton House Library Visiting Fellow
In honor of the bicentennial of Jane Austen’s death, the Oxford University Press (OUP) has created a virtual anthology of recent work on Austen, including an essay by Professor of English Dr. Douglas Murray. All of the essays appeared in Review of English Studies, the OUP’s flagship journal of historical criticism.
The editor’s introduction to Murray essay said, “History for Austen also discloses more than her characters know. In ‘Donwell Abbey and Box Hill: Purity and Danger in Jane Austen’s Emma’, Douglas Murray re-reads Emma in light of techniques adopted from cultural and historical geography, with particular focus on Box Hill’s long-established identity as a site of social conflict and transgressive acts.”
To view the anthology, click here.
Additionally, during the month of June, Murray is serving as a Visiting Fellow at the Chawton House Library in Hampshire, England. The Chawton estate was owned by Austen’s brother Edward and she revised or drafted all six of her novels in a cottage in Chawton Village. During the last two decades, Edward’s manor house has become a preeminent center for the study of women’s writing from 1600-1830.
