The AES Nashville Section recently presented the annual student mixing competition with students from area schools vying for the “Top Mixer” award. The students were given professionally recorded studio tracks and eight hours to create a stereo mix. A panel of judges comprising of John Jaszcz, Carl Tatz, Dick Williams, David Thoener, Randy Gardner, and Adam Smith evaluated the anonymously submitted mixes and will deliver their critique and scores.

Belmont students Shawn Gough, Kevin Freund and Tate Sablatura competed against peers from five other institutions, ultimately winning the coveted “Top Mixer” trophy from the event.

On Wed., March 16, Nashville Symphony employees Katie Conwell and Kelley Bell spoke with Belmont students regarding internships for academic credit.  Conwell and Bell discussed the ways students could be involved with various projects put on by the Nashville Symphony.

Conwell began the presentation by stressing the idea that all actions come back to the company’s mission statement: “The Nashville Symphony inspires, entertains and educates through excellence in musical performance.” The Nashville Symphony focuses heavily on providing an internship experience that consists of projects catered to student interests and develops the skills and work ethic necessary for being a part of the workforce post-graduation. Conwell explained, “[as an intern] you’re never coming in and sitting at a desk with nothing to do.” Bell continued by explaining the various programs that interns would be participating in if working in the Education and Community Engagement department.

Internship opportunities can be found in the areas of Education and Community Engagement, Human Resources, Marketing and Communications, Philanthropy Research (Development) and Operations. Internships through the Nashville Symphony require a minimum of 135 hours completed, the availability to work some evenings and select weekends during the season, and a detail-oriented work ethic. Various positions are available year round, with certain departments looking for interns in the fall versus the summer.

Conwell and Bell finished their presentation by informing students of part-time career opportunities with the Nashville Symphony. Career opportunities include ticket service specialists, stagehands and stewards.

In addition, the Nashville Symphony will be hosting a music business course (MBU 2895) specifically for Belmont students. The course available will be offered as a one-credit course outside of an internship in which students would be focusing on building a database to be used to make the contracting and licensing process easier. This class is scheduled to take place during Belmont’s first Summer Session.

Nashville songwriter Lance Carpenter joined Belmont students on Mon., March 28 and spoke on his experiences within the music industry, his success with country hit “Love Me Like You Mean It” and advice he would give to students wishing to pursue a career in songwriting.

“If you’re in this for the money, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons,” Carpenter explains.  He stressed the importance of building relationships within the industry and approaching songwriting with a relaxed attitude, “If you walk into it like a business meeting, it’s not going to be fun.  Why have a dream job, if it’s not going to be fun?”

When asked about the success found in “Love Me Like You Mean It,” Carpenter relayed the fact that when the song was written, they weren’t trying to write a hit song.  In fact, he and his cowriters didn’t even think it was going to be successful, but they enjoyed the writing process and thought it was catchy and conversational.

Carpenter’s advice to students was three basic principles:  patience, persistence and alligator skin.  Elaborating further, he advised writers to work on their craft every day and understand that improvement takes time. Persistence relates to doing whatever it takes to become good at your skill and using any and all resources available. Alligator skin, however, was one of his most important pieces of advice: “You’re going to hear a lot of No’s,” Carpenter said, “but every No is one step closer to a Yes.” He told students, “the secret of success in this business is showing up and giving yourself the chance to succeed.”