
If you build it, they will learn
How do you learn to play an instrument comprised of 50 bells that lives at the top of a library tower? Practice, practice, practice. A student team has finished building a new digital carillon that will allow students to learn to play tough pieces while hearing real carillon sounds.

Going out with a bang
Students on River Campus celebrate the last day of classes with a performance by the chamber orchestra, conducted by David Harman, of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture on the steps of Rush Rhees Library. The performance marked the final conducting appearance by Harman, who is retiring this semester. Richard Feldman, who is also retiring this year as dean of the college, performed the cannon solo.

David Harman: A legacy of teaching music
The longtime faculty member in the College’s music department—and champion for its programs—will retire as director of orchestral activities at the close of the spring semester.

University jumps to No. 18 worldwide for performing arts
According to the 2017 QS World University Rankings released on March 8, eleven U.S. universities ranked in the top 25, with the University of Rochester No. 8 among them.

6 stops on Bob Dylan’s rise to the top
His first album was a flop. He was loved in the United Kingdom before the United States. As people around the world start to celebrate Bob Dylan’s 75th birthday, rock historian John Covach, director of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music, identifies six stops along the artist’s turbulent rise to the top in the 1960s.

The Monkees’ 50th anniversary: Interview with John Covach
John Covach talks with Nick Bruno in the studio about the Monkees, their influence on pop culture, and how their music ended up taking on a life of its own, in the premiere episode of UR Quad-Cast.

Class, symposium explore ‘New Approaches to Poetry and Song’
In music professor Matthew BaileyShea’s class, students share lyrics from favorite songs, then work to uncover complexities in the text. An upcoming Humanities Center symposium organized by BaileyShea will further explore new ideas about text-music interaction.

Hey, hey: Covach says Monkees stand the test of time
In 1967, the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined, and remain the only band with four No. 1 albums in a 12-month period. “Their music stands up,” says John Covach, director of the University’s Institute for Popular Music.

Fanfare for the Common Semester
Honey Meconi, chair of the Department of Music, leads an all-woman ensemble of student musicians in a performance of Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” from the balcony of Rush Rhees Library to mark the beginning of classes on Wednesday morning. (University photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Institute for Popular Music pays tribute to progressive rock
The 2015-2016 “In Performance” concert series continues on Saturday, Feb. 6, with a concert celebrating a genre that Institute for Popular Music director John Covach describes as “often overlooked by rock ‘n’ roll establishments like the Hall of Fame.”