I’m willing to bet that most of us have spent countless hours of our college careers playing Guitar Hero on a dirty blue Georgetown-issue couch.
But thanks to a push from the university community, it’s easier than ever to use the skills you and your friends havehoned playing rock band in the basement or singing karaoke at Café Japone. At Georgetown University, careers in music are no longer taking a backseat.
In the past four years, Georgetown has made tremendous strides in advancing arts education and career opportunities for students. With the addition of music and theatre majors, courses in arts, journalism and costume design and, now, a seminar focusing on the music industry, Georgetown is keeping the Hilltop alive with the sound of music. Music Industry Seminar (MUSC-251) is the newest addition to the music department’s course catalog. The uniqueness of the class — which is full and boasts a long waitlist — didn’t go unnoticed by students.
Future performers, producers and managers will follow the teachings of Walter Egan (CAS ’70) a songwriter now living in Nashville whose 1978 hit “Magnet and Steel” was featured in the film Boogie Nights. No stranger to his alma mater, Egan performed in the GEMA Rocks concert held on campus last fall. Students will discuss all facets of working in the industry, from building a band to creating an album and navigating the legal lingo of contracts, copyrights, agents and publicity along the way.
A substantial part of the course includes putting the books aside in favor of in-class performances with coaching and critique from the professor and students. The last day of class will be a concert open to the public.
The course is designed to work with Georgetown’s Guild of Bands, which was developed in fall 2007 to assist student musicians who had formed bands but lacked adequate rehearsal space and performance opportunities. Georgetown’s famed History of Rock professor, Patrick Warfield, heads the Guild, which is linked with the Program in Performing Arts. Since students have to audition as a band to be admitted, the Music Industry Seminar aims to give students the opportunity to meet and team up before jamming. So far a handful of bands belong to the Guild, which is capped at 10. The next Guild auditions will be held in the beginning of the fall semester.
When the Taishoff Family Foundation (which has interests in music criticism and the industry) heard about Georgetown’s addition of a music major, it donated a substantial gift to build a new recording studio in New North’s Studio D. This newest undertaking goes hand-in-hand with the soundproof room that was also built in Studio D over the summer. Plans are to link the two for use by the guild, the seminar and the music department’s Sound Editing course. A new drum set was also purchased for the room.
According to Performing Arts Chair and Music Program Director Anna Celenza (who will guest lecture), the goal of the music industry seminar is to weave together the music classes and performance opportunities already available on campus, while providing outlets for students interested in the other facets of the industry. And if professor Patrick Warfield’s perennially overbooked History of Rock class, professor Sanjay Mishra’s popular sound editing class, or the wealth of students who participate in music ensembles year-round are any indication, the Hilltop is nowhere near short on interest or talent. In fact, the course draws musicians, business majors and a host of SFS students, though all are required to be able to play an instrument and read music. It’s no surprise that the course is full with a waitlist, or that the garage-band appeal drew mostly a male crowd.
So dust off that guitar you’ve been hauling around since freshman year. Set the books aside for a study break that’s a little healthier than Late Night at Leo’s.
Georgetown has always provided us a great academic education, and it’s about time the university realized that our musical talents and studies deserve to be taken seriously. Georgetown will always be internationally recognized for its academic prowess, but no one will ever forget that Bill Clinton played a mean sax.
Erin Delmore is a senior in the College. She can be reached at delmore@thehoya.com. The Rules of 8-track-tion appears every other Friday in The Guide.