Greenwood School of Music expands prep academy for pre college students

Greenwood School of Music expands prep-academy for pre-college students

Friday, October 25, 2024

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | [email protected]

Oklahoma State University's Greenwood School of Music Preparatory Academy introduced two new offerings this fall: a satellite program providing private music instruction in Stillwater Public Schools and the GSM Prep Rock Academy that equips pre-college students with the chance to form bands.

Building on its well-established community outreach and extension efforts, the GSM Preparatory Academy partnered with a Stillwater Public Schools music instructor to organize the new satellite program. GSM students provide affordable music instruction to middle and high school students at SPS facilities, making it a win-win for all involved.

"We believe the program serves two purposes: letting [GSM] students gain teaching experience in a real-world setting in the schools and giving [SPS] students an opportunity to benefit from real and shared lessons from the students at Greenwood School of Music," said Dr. Bradley Genevro, OSU director of bands and GSM professor of conducting. "Providing resources for the community is important to us."

Flutist Hannah Hartwig and trumpeter Jonathan Hall are both OSU students who currently teach middle school students as part of the satellite program.

"It's an interesting twist on the student-teacher relationship," Hartwig said. "We can really connect with them because we are students as well. Seeing their exponential growth is my favorite part. It is especially special to share what we have learned and watch them connect well with music in the way that we do."

The one-on-one training provided by GSM students is intended to accelerate the progress of young musicians by tailoring curriculum to the specific needs of each instructee.

"I always tell the students that my goal with the lessons is to get you as good as I can and for you to see improvement," Hall said. "I want them to walk away and still love music, graduate high school and believe that music is special. Instilling the love and appreciation of classical and orchestrated music might increase support for a local symphony or musician."

The GSM Preparatory Academy's newly established Rock Academy is giving students another type of music appreciation by allowing them to form bands, learn instruments and rehearse with fellow musicians on OSU campus.

According to Dr. Mark Perry, the Rock Academy creates better musicians and directly impacts students' improvement outside of music, making for greater success at school and at home.

"I share the same hopes for GSM Prep Rock Academy as with one of its founders, Jesse Tabish of Other Lives, to give back to the community and to develop the local music talent of Stillwater and its surrounding area," said Perry, a GSM associate professor and director of OSU's music industry program. "We also plan to have concerts at local Stillwater music venues throughout the year as well as performances at the annual summer Stillwater festival Dancing Turtle."

The Greenwood School of Music plans to expand both the GSM Preparatory Academy satellite program and the Rock Academy during the spring 2025 semester, engaging more students and teachers and adding more instruments to band lessons.

"It's rewarding to share how music has impacted our lives and that we have chosen to pursue it as a career," Hartwig said. "It is important to continue music education so other people can be exposed to what we have. We owe it to the world to pass on the knowledge, history and traditions of our instruments."

Story By: Adeola Favour, CAS graduate assistant | [email protected]

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