Music Business students responsible for oversight of event activities
On Mon., Feb. 9, country music superstar Wynonna held a concert and CD release party at Belmont University around her seventh studio album Sing. This event was the first of its kind for the university. The festivities began with a taping of the “Insider’s View,” Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business signature interview series, and concluded with a performance of Wynonna’s new album material.
Harry Chapman, Belmont’s director of Development & Major Gifts, hosts each of the sessions of “Insider’s View” held throughout the academic year. “The thing that really stood out in the ‘Insider’s View’ Interview in my mind was how Wynonna really reached out to the students. Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, she was very open about her life and career, not afraid to share her insecurities and how she has been able to overcome those insecurities to become a superstar in the music world… comfortable with her own voice.”
Wynonna tore through many of the songs on her new CD in the hour-long performance with a full band that followed the interview. Recorded in Nashville and released Feb. 3 (Curb Records), Sing captures a multitude of sounds: country, soul, blues and rock. Throughout the concert, Wynonna showed off her vocal prowess and entertained the crowd with a captivating combination of humor, sass and hard-earned wisdom.
Admonishing students to “pick one thing and do it well,” she went on to explain her thoughts behind her latest CD release. “When you reach my age, you get to a place where you’re not worried as much anymore about proving yourself as you are about enjoying yourself. When I was in my 20s, I wasted a lot of time worrying about what everyone thought. In my 30s, I tried really hard to beat out all the expectations and win all the awards… [Now] this album is me saying, ‘Good morning, God. I know I’m loved, and I know I am somebody so I’m just going to decide to enjoy myself today and not try so dang hard to make everybody happy.’”
Curb College Professor Sarita Stewart worked closely with Wynonna’s manager Kerry Hansen to provide her Record Company Operations class with an opportunity to oversee, promote and execute the concert and CD release party.
Stewart said, “As an educator, I believe it is vital to incorporate real-world experiences into the theoretical world of the classroom. Our class partnership with Wynonna and her management team gives my students an extraordinary opportunity to work directly with a legendary recording artist.”
Hansen noted, “We have been thinking of ways, traditional and non-traditional, to engage the younger demographic for Wynonna’s new album, and it occurred to us that teaming up with Belmont for this one-of-a-kind event would be not only ideal for us, but also exciting for the students. We challenged the Record Company Operations class to formulate and produce the event plan as well as see it through to final execution. They received first-hand experience, while working alongside our management and touring team, on how to successfully manage a major launch event for an industry superstar and will be graded on their performance.”
For more information on Wynonna’s Sing, visit www.wynonna.com. For more information on the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University visit www.belmont.edu/cemb.
About the Insider’s View:
Presented by The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, the Insider’s View seminar series merges educational application with real world experience. Guests from the entertainment industry present topics relevant to their field in a conversational setting. The program is produced and set-up by Belmont students, giving them hands-on experience in the business.
