Connecting you with the University of Missouri’s innovative research and creative activityMusic
Labor of Love
An interview with Peter Miyamoto, Professor of MusicPeter Miyamoto characterizes his career as a classical concert pianist as "moonlighting." Although modest, this MU professor of Music has played extensively throughout the United States and the world and is widely renowned for his solo work. Performing classical music becomes by necessity a re-creative art, Miyamoto explains. Making "a bunch of black dots on the page" come to life isn’t easy.
Bringing Music to Life
An interview with Leslie Perna, Associate Professor, School of MusicBetween teaching viola individually and in groups, directing the Missouri String Project, and playing professionally with several internationally renowned chamber music groups, music professor Leslie Perna keeps very busy. Yet you have the distinct impression in listening to her talk that all of her work is thoroughly enjoyable.
Writing Music that Speaks to the Human Spirit
An interview with Thomas McKenney, Professor, Composition and Music Theory“There’s nothing quite like the high of hearing one of your own pieces played,” MU Professor of Music W. Thomas McKenney admits, “but to me the most important thing is the active, creative process itself.” Having internalized his teacher’s advice that music must be a balance of emotion and intellect, and that if you have too much of either one “things get out of whack,” McKenney focuses on both levels. His goal is to assure that “structurally and formally, a piece is going to work.”
“Lovely to the Ears”
An interview with Eva Szekely , Professor, School of MusicFifth-year senior Mitchell Drury stands upright with his violin resting on his shoulder. He zeroes in on a sheet of music and begins playing the notes, carefully gliding his bow across the violin’s strings. His teacher, MU violin and chamber music professor Eva Szekely, hums to her student’s rhythmic tranquility. “The note before is the one you want to emphasize. Sustain without rushing,” Szekely instructs her intrepid pupil. “That’s beautiful.” Drury plays a work by renowned nineteenth-century violinist/composer Niccolò Paganini, one of Szekely’s favorite composers.
All Things Jazz
An interview with Arthur White, Assistant Professor, School of MusicFrom blues and punk to rock and roll, Arthur White has at one point in his life played in nearly every kind of band, but now he believes he has finally found “the perfect gig.” As the director of MU’s Jazz Performance Studies program and Assistant Professor in the School of Music, White now handles all things jazz at MU.
