Music Department to adopt more performance-based approach

Penn’s Department of Music may be cranking out more Grammys than Ph.D.’s with a series of curriculum changes for the fall semester.

According to undergraduate department chair and music composition professor James Primosch, the Music Department will be adding more performance-based courses in the fall as part of an effort to emphasize the value of performance among music majors.

For example, new courses like “Performance, Analysis, History” will require an audition to place into, and will feature components like an end-of-semester final performance.

Many current courses will also be adjusting their syllabi in order to include more structured performance components, Primosch added.

Currently, the only performance requirement for music majors is to participate in a University performance group — such as the University Orchestra or University Choir — for four semesters.

According to department Director of Performance Michael Ketner, these changes have been in the works steadily over the last 10 years.

“Incoming students have continued to come with increasing talent levels, which makes us want to increase the number of performance opportunities we have for them,” Ketner said.

Many of these students may have considered applying to music conservatories, but ultimately chose Penn for a stronger, broader education.

College and Engineering junior and music major Isaac Wenger feels the Music Department has provided him with a solid, comprehensive music education that has prepared him to study at a conservatory post-graduation.

“I am developing a strong background for performance here,” Wenger said, adding that the department has also given him valuable advice and resources for career planning. “I’m not doing it by myself.”

The goal of the department, according to Ketner, will be to produce “scholar-performers,” because performers need a good academic background, and students need a good understanding of what it takes to put it all together.

“Penn will not be a conservatory,” Ketner added. “It will provide the performance experience in a liberal arts setting and students will learn to perform with a deeper understanding of music.”

Students and faculty alike are looking forward to these new curricular changes.

“They’re really expanding the performance idea into all areas of study,” College sophomore and music major Davis Butner said. “There’s a lot of potential and efficiency to come with this.”

Primosch agreed, adding that “as a faculty composer, I am happy to welcome a greater emphasis on performance in our courses because it grounds our teaching in the physical realities of music making.”

Along with this expanded inclusion of performance components, the entire department curriculum is being revised to be more “streamlined,” Department Chair Emma Dillon said.

With specific concentrations that students can select to fulfill individual musical interests, Dillon said the department is looking to implement a curriculum that “represents a more broad range of musical traditions and diversifications of the kinds of methods of the study of music.”

“I am excited for all these changes and this time in the Music Department,” Butner added. “These changes add to the breadth of the curriculum, allow for direction but not detraction, and create a more culminating experience.”

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