Guest euphonium masterclass with military musician
The Fine Arts Department frequently has masterclasses about different topics. Tuesday, the low brass studio participated in a masterclass with a military musician where students were able to ask questions and four students performed for feedback.
The director of athletic bands, Todd Cranson, asked Dr. Patrick Nyren to teach this masterclass over Zoom. Nyren has played the euphonium for 22 year, joined the United State Army Field Band in 2019 and previously served almost six years in the regional Army Bands.
Cranson said this masterclass is an opportunity for students to play for an expert besides himself and get a different point of view and feedback on their work. He also said this provides students insight to a different musical career path besides performing for education.
“There’s a lot more you can do and a military musician is one that not everybody always thinks about,” Cranson said. “And that’s not for everybody but it might be for some people who hadn’t thought of it.”
Nyren said he hopes students are able to learn from the mistakes of their peers and the feedback he provides. The skills and tips students learn during the masterclass can be applied to their future careers, whatever that may be, Nyren said.
“Hopefully all students in the class, performing or not, will be able to pull something away from the discussion that they can employ in their own practice sessions,” Nyren said. “On the flip side, I always come out of these classes learning a lot – getting to meet people/students/musicians from all different backgrounds provides me with experiences to shape future classes and be a more inclusive and empathetic teacher or mentor.”
Cranson said his career path has not been especially unusual and he would like to give students the resources they need after graduation. Since students are usually encouraged to be musical education majors, Cranson said there are enough resources for them while in school, but they aren’t given much guidance after.
“A lot of the students in the class are future educators, so for them, I would hope that they can take away some of the musical bits of wisdom and also tuck away the idea of being a musician in the military for use later in their career when a future student might approach them about that being a possibility,” Nyren said. “Not everyone needs to join the military, but understanding that it is a viable career option to share with someone else (student/mentee/etc) would be a great way for them to present a variety of options when their position calls for it.”
In the future, Cranson said he hopes to have a balanced combination of Zoom and in-person masterclasses featuring different careers to help broaden student’s options.
