The opening of fall 2021 classes in the Department of Music allows for a bit of reflection and a look ahead.
This past summer, Ashley Conway, director of ensembles and coordinator of music education, was a speaker at the American Choral Directors Association conference, a combined virtual event for participants in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware and Virginia. She and colleague Emily Williams Burch of Savannah offered a new look at current technologies for teachers to use in the classroom with their presentation Using Technology to Spark Passion in the Classroom Post-Pandemic: Keeping your Technology L.I.T.
Conway said the presentation used “the analogy of building a fire from a spark, exploring a variety of platforms, projects and democratically designed assignments that focus on student leadership, reflection and discovery, while building opportunities for transferring knowledge and creating meaningful collaborations in and out of the music room.” They have already been engaged for ACDA presentations in South Carolina and North Carolina for spring 2022.
Also over the summer, junior music major Elaina “Lainie” Ewers won the Georgia Symphony Orchestra’s Virtual to Center Stage talent competition. As part of her prize for winning the contest, she will perform with the GSO during its Holiday Pops concert on Dec. 4 at the Marietta Performing Arts Center. Ewers’ video submissions for the contest included performances of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Le Violette and Handel’s Care Selve. In addition to her music studies at Brenau, Ewers is minoring in psychology and also maintains a 4.0 GPA!
Barbara Steinhaus, department chair and coordinator of applied voice, has been elected president of the National Organization for Arts in Health. Her work with NOAH includes her initiation of arts in health care curriculum at Brenau University, where she brings the history, theory and application of the arts as an assist to clinical medical care, self-care and public health and well-being.
On Sept. 9, as a part of Brenau University’s Patriot Day commemoration, applied brass instructor Wayne Bennett performed a solo trumpet rendition of Taps and the Vocal Chamber Ensemble, directed by Conway, performed an arrangement of Lift Thine Eyes, a women’s trio from Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah.
