Articles tagged with: faculty of humanities

• Brock events to explore science behind what draws people to music

  Wednesday, September 06, 2023 | By gminaker

  

  Caption: Susan Rogers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Music Production and Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music, will be presenting The Music of Listening at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, Oct. 24. (Photo credit: Sharona Jacobs)

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 06, 2023 | by Jocelyn Titone

  Whether its rhythm causes an unconscious sway or its lyrics evoke a swell of emotion, a song can strike a different chord from one set of ears to another.

  A series of upcoming Brock University academic and general interest talks aim to unpack the science behind what drives people to love and connect with the music that they do.

  Susan Rogers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience in the Music Production and Engineering Department at Berklee College of Music, will discuss music cognition and perception, and why individuals are attracted to the types of music they listen to.

  In addition to sharing her academic knowledge of neuroscience and how it relates to listening to music, Rogers will share her experiences as an accomplished sound engineer and record producer for musicians such as Prince, David Byrne and Barenaked Ladies.

  Three events are set to take place next month, presented by Brock’s Faculty of Mathematics and Science and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in collaboration with the FirstOntario Performing Art Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

  The largest event, The Music of Listening, will take place Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Open to the Brock and wider community, it will include a book signing for Rogers’ latest book, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, co-authored with Ogi Ogas. Tickets for the event are available through the art centre’s website and are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $20.

  In her talk, Rogers will discuss the seven dimensions of musical listening, and how people’s brains develop over a lifetime of listening to music.

  “Your listening brain is different from everyone else’s, which gives you a unique response to any given record,” she says.

  Rogers explains that a person might like a certain song because they love dancing to its rhythm or they get emotional listening to the lyrics. Another song might resonate with someone because they find the sound design exciting or it ignites their imagination.

  The event will also feature a live music ‘record pull’ with local recording artist Mark Lalama. Rogers and Lalama will take turns playing snippets of music and explaining the features of each song that excite them.

  “I’m hoping listeners will come away with a sense of their own listener profile and a better vocabulary for describing their musical taste,” she says.

  The event will conclude with live music by Grammy nominee, producer, composer and pianist Larry Edoff, who will perform a Prince medley.

  Complementing The Music of Listening event will be a film screening of Purple Rain on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are $9.50 for the general public or $7.50 for Film House members.

  Rogers will also be presenting free lectures for the Brock community.

  A Neuroaesthetics of Music Perception lecture will take place Monday, Oct. 23 from 10 to 11 a.m. in Plaza 600F. All Brock University students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend and are encouraged to RSVP via ExperienceBU.

  Rogers will discuss how neural processes contribute to music preference and how the brain is involved with hypercreativity.

  “Neuroaesthetics is a hot topic right now in neuroscience,” she says. “How do we get a reaction of art appreciation from works of art?”

  A Music and Neuroscience lecture will take place Monday, Oct. 23 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Recital Hall, as part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts Walker Cultural Leader Series. Students and faculty from Brock’s downtown arts school are welcome to attend.

  The lecture will focus on how students can apply neuroscience-related findings about music listeners to their own writing, recording and producing of music.

   

  Tags: faculty of humanities, faculty of mathematics and science, humanities, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Mathematics and Science, MIWSFPA, music, neuroscience
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• Local arts awards give nods to Brock faculty

  Friday, November 11, 2022 | By ckim2

  

  Established Artist Nominee and Department of Visual Arts Associate Professor Donna Szoke engages with a class in her Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games exhibition space.

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  Originally published in The Brock News | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2022 | by Charles Kim

  The nominees for this year’s St. Catharines Arts Awards include some familiar faces from the Brock community.

  Associate Professors Rachel Rensink-Hoff, from Brock’s Department of Music, and Amy Friend and Donna Szoke, from the Department of Visual Arts, have each been recognized for their contributions to the arts.

  Rensink-Hoff, who conducts the Brock University Choir and Sora Singers, and is the Artistic Director of the Avanti Chamber Singers, was nominated for the Art in Education Award. The past Vice-President of Programming for Choral Canada and past President of Choirs Ontario, she maintains an active career as an adjudicator, workshop clinician and juror both locally and across Canada.

  

  Art in Education Award Nominee and Associate Professor Rachel Rensink-Hoff.

  Friend and Szoke were each nominated in the Established Artist Award category.

  Friend, Chair of Brock’s Department of Visual Arts, has exhibited in a generous roster of national and international exhibitions, including the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize Exhibition (U.K.), Gexto Photofestival (Spain), DongGang Photography Museum (Korea) and many more. Her work has also been featured in numerous publications such as California Sunday Magazine (U.S.), Archeology of Photography – Lux (Poland), Musée Magazine (U.S.) and Wired (U.S.).

  Szoke is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been shown in public art, interactive video installation, outdoor site-specific installation, publications, film festivals and galleries in Canada, the U.S., France, Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Croatia, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea. She has received numerous research awards and grants for her work, including from the Canada Council for the Arts, B.C. Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In 2017, she was awarded the Brock Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity.

  

  Established Artist Nominee and Department of Visual Arts

  Chair Amy Friend works on cameraless images in the field.

  Friend and Szoke recently collaborated for a shared exhibition this past summer in conjunction with the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. Small Movements showcased their two projects, both funded by Brock’s VPR Canada Games Grants.

  City of St. Catharines Cultural Co-ordinator Ashley Judd-Rifkin says the awards celebrate the best of the local artistic community. “The outstanding individuals and organizations that have been nominated for the arts awards are all very deserving. Their commitment, creativity and contributions have made St. Catharines a more beautiful, vibrant and exciting place to live.”

  The St. Catharines Arts Awards will be livestreamed from Partridge Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 29 starting at 6:30 p.m. Details for the livestream will be shared through the City’s social media channels closer to the event.

  A full list of nominees is available on the City of St. Catharines website.

  Tags: amy friend, Department of Music, Department of Visual Arts, donna szoke, faculty of humanities, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, music, Rachel Rensink-Hoff, St. Catharines Arts Awards, visual arts
  Categories: Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, Media Releases, News

• Music majors to make an impact in Niagara with new Practicum course

  Tuesday, September 18, 2018 | By Brock University

  

  A group of Music majors are taking their learning into the real world this fall as they complete the new Music Practicum course. Led by Music Chair Matthew Royal (back left) and Course Co-ordinator Tim Stacey (back right), this year’s students include (front, from left) Jesse Day, Shaniqua Goodridge, Brielle Kaminsky, Sarah Hollick, Ryan Baxter and Gavino Oresta.
  

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  (From The Brock News, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2018 | by Sarah Moore)

  A group of Brock Music majors will put their classroom learning into practice this fall as the first students enrolled in the new Music Practicum course.

  The multi-year conjunction course allows students to complete for-credit volunteer placements in either music education, music health/therapy, music administration or music in the community.

  Music Chair Matthew Royal said the course is unique because it provides real-world learning experiences while also giving students course credit and volunteer hours that are often required for those applying to Faculties of Education down the road.

  “The idea is to introduce students to real-world settings that might line up with their future career goals and to have them apply the skills and knowledge they’ve learned from their courses in those settings,” he explained.

  It also helps students discover what they are interested in career-wise and how they can achieve their long-term goals, added Koreen McCullough, Experiential Education Co-ordinator, Faculty of Humanities.

  “Learning what you don’t like is just as valuable as learning what you do like,” she said. “Students are not only getting the valuable placement experience through this course but are also being taught up front to set their own goals. At the end of term, they will have a chance to reflect on challenges and achievements, access resume coaching and really apply what they’ve learned to help achieve their future career goals.”

  Six Music majors signed up to work in schools and community organizations around the Niagara region this year.

  Course Co-ordinator Tim Stacey (BA ’15) said the students have already shown themselves to be extremely dedicated and enthusiastic.

  “They’ve worked on these placements over the summer, made connections and did their own research to find them,” said Stacey, who has worked for community choirs as well as the Niagara Symphony and Youth Orchestras since graduating from Brock’s Music program. “They didn’t get to just pick a selection from a list. They had to find the placement themselves, so it’s evident how engaged they are.”

  Gavino Oresta, a fourth-year Music student, will be completing his placement working with music classes at Saint Michael Catholic High School in Niagara Falls, alongside his former high school music teacher, coincidentally.
  With plans to become a music teacher himself, Oresta is looking forward to the challenge of leading his own lessons with the high school students this year.
  “For anyone interested in teaching, it’s a great environment,” he said. “It’s also good to get different perspectives on how teachers go about their lesson structure because every school goes about their music program a bit differently.”

  Learning about different teaching styles was what piqued the interest of second-year student Brielle Kaminsky, who will be working with extracurricular music ensembles, such as the choir, jazz band and string ensemble, at Ridley College in St. Catharines.

  “I’m going to be working with students from all over the world in my placement and it’s really cool seeing how different cultures practice music,” she said. “Not only am I learning in the classroom myself, but I also get to go out and teach what I’m learning in the class to students, too.”

  Adds Oresta: “Plus, you’re hanging around in a music class, which is just fun and exciting to me on its own.”For the first few weeks of the course, students will engage in workshops that will identify their learning outcomes for the term and outline the benefits of experiential learning. They will begin their work placements in late September, with the aim of completing 50 volunteer hours by April.

  The course is open to all Music majors in second year and above and can be taken consecutively year after year. Applications for next year’s practicum course will open in the spring and anyone interested in applying is encouraged to  contact Matthew Royal or Tim Stacey.

  Tags: Brielle Kaminsky, Department of Music, experiential education, faculty of education, faculty of humanities, Gavino Oresta, Koreen McCullough, matthew royal, music, music practicum, niagara falls, ridley college, Saint Michael Catholic High School, st.catharines, tim stacey
  Categories: Current Students, News

• Student completes music degree started 18 years ago in Mexico

  Thursday, June 07, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  Mexico’s Luis Gerardo Molina will graduate from Brock Friday with a degree in Music.

  (from The Brock News,  Tuesday, June 05, 2018 | by Dan Dakin)

  For 20 years, Luis Gerardo Molina worked his way up the corporate ladder of a growing computer software firm in his home country of Mexico.

  After high school, he had made what he viewed as a responsible decision to choose a stable career in technology over a fragile one as a classical pianist, but his love of music kept pulling at him like a magnet.

  Eventually, he gave in, and on Friday, June 8, at the age of 48, his career change will be official when he graduates from Brock University with a degree in Music.

  “It means everything,” said Molina. “That was a dream that I always wanted to make happen and I really struggled to get it.”

  Born into a family of talented musicians, Molina grew up around choirs and instruments, and by the age of six it was obvious he had a gift. At nine, he started working with a piano teacher and for eight years he attended a specialized school of music that turned his hobby into a craft.

  “I finished my high school and I had that dilemma many people face — should I devote my life to music? Is that a safe path for the rest of my life?” Molina said. “I decided to follow an alternative career. I always really liked the maths, so I decided to choose engineering.”

  A literal flip of a coin at the age of 17 made Molina choose computer engineering over civil engineering, and that set in motion a software career that lasted 20 years.

  But while his career progressed to the point of becoming a manager, so did his ongoing love of music. Having never truly given up his dream of being a professional pianist, Molina went back to the University of the Americas part time in 2000, completing two years of a four-year degree before realizing the workload wasn’t sustainable.

  

  Luis Molina’s music career has taken him to competitions and performances around the world.

  “It was just too much,” he said.

  But an invitation to an international piano competition in Paris in 2003 ramped up his duelling interests. After beating out nearly 100 competitors from 35 countries to win the contest, he was invited to more international performances and competitions, leading to the production of his first album of live recordings.

  “I got very good support from the company I was working for. The owner was a kind guy who was also involved in music and he always felt proud to tell them he had an employee with this background in competition and music,” said Molina, who traveled to the U.S., Germany, Russia, Poland and elsewhere over the years.

  “After doing all that, I decided the music is calling me more and more,” he said. “The company I was working for was growing and every day it was getting more complicated to do both things together.”

  Finally in 2015, the door opened to make music his full-time endeavour. He was hired as a pianist with a philharmonic orchestra in Mexico and went back to university for his third year of music school.

  Then, in 2017, a trip to Canada to visit friends in Niagara led to another big change.

  “I loved the Niagara region so I thought, if I’m going for my passion in music, I found the perfect place to do it,” he said.

  A tour of Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts and a meeting with Associate Professor of Music Karin Di Bella confirmed that Brock was where Molina would finish his degree.

  “I fell in love with what I found here. And now that I’m almost done, I feel very lucky to have had this great opportunity in this great country and at this great University,” he said.

  Di Bella called Molina “the real deal.”

  “He possesses a rare combination of drive, discipline, musical maturity, technical facility, innate musicality and a true flair for performance,” she said. “Despite his many accomplishments, he is very humble and always eager to learn, making him a true joy to work with.”

  After graduating Friday in the final day of Brock’s Spring Convocation, Molina will move on to do his master’s in musical literature and performance at Western University.

  From there, a PhD and potentially a teaching career are in his sights.

  “I’ve been performing for more than 30 years and I want to continue doing that, but I’d like to share my perspectives and teach others,” he said.

  Molina credits his wife, Marcela Lagunas Burgos, herself a talented musician who plays the cello, as playing a major role in his career success.

  “We’re definitely on the same frequency. She has supported me with everything and all the decisions.”

  Tags: Department of Music, faculty of humanities, Karin Di Bella, Luis Gerardo Molina, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, spring convocation
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Future Students, In the Media, News