News stories tagged with "crane-school-of-music"

(05/25/12) New York City has always held a special place in the American imagination. For generations, it has inspired more than its fair share of musical dreams.

Musician Christopher Battles is hoping to make his mark as an acoustic singer/songwriter. He graduated from the Crane School of Music last spring and moved from his upstate hometown -- Oswego -- to New York City. He studied percussion and music education at Crane, and when he's not busking at a subway stop or on stage at a coffee house, he's a substitute band teacher.

Next Saturday, he'll release his first solo EP recording, titled Miles upon Miles. Not quite a single and not quite an album, EPs are usually an artist's debut recording and contain just a few musical tracks.

In the coming months, Christopher Battles has agreed to share his musical journey via audio postcards. We'll hear occasional stories of his new life -- the pressures, emotional highs and lows and what it's like for an upstate troubadour in the big city.

(02/10/12) Crane School of Music tenor Donald George tells Todd Moe why he chose to record a second volume of music by Boston composer Margaret Lang, who was the first woman to have had her music performed by a major American orchestra. She wrote more than 130 songs during the early 20th century. Though much of her music was popular during her lifetime, Lang was her own toughest critic, sometimes destroying pieces she didn't like.

Donald George and pianist Lucy Mauro have spent the last few years researching Lang's life. They produced a first volume of Lang's music last winter. With this second recording, New Love Must Rise, released this month, the two musicians continue to revive an interest in her nearly forgotten music.

(09/07/11) The State University of New York surprised the Canton-Potsdam communities last month with the news that it will put one president in charge of SUNY Canton and Potsdam colleges as part of a new initiative to share services. The plan is for SUNY Canton president Joe Kennedy to resign at the end of the academic year, with Potsdam President Jon Schwaller presumably holding the new office.

Canton leaders were dismayed that Kennedy, who's led an 18 year resurgence of the former Ag and tech school, was forced out. At a stormy meeting in early August, college council members at both schools challenged the decision, and SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher's authority to merge the presidencies.

There's been push-back from local and state politicians. A week ago the SUNY Canton chapter of the United University Professions organized a public protest that drew some 200 people in support of Kennedy.

Martha Foley sat down with Kennedy recently to talk about the new plan. He said it's hard to see how the shared presidency will work. And he said the news took him by surprise, too. more

(03/09/11) A world-renowned jazz pianist with a strong North Country connection returns this weekend to give workshops in Keene, Canton and Potsdam as well as three live performances. Joel Hurd has a preview.

(12/09/10) SUNY Potsdam will bestow an honorary degree on jazz legend Wynton Marsalis this week. He thought it would be nice to have some company at the event, so Marsalis invited five jazz students from the Crane School of Music to play in New York City on Friday at the gathering.

The students and professor Bret Zvacek, director of Crane's Jazz Studies program, will perform as part of a ceremony to award an honorary Doctorate of Music to Marsalis. They hope to play at least one song with the internationally known trumpet player. Todd Moe has more.

(11/10/10) Love and adventure in Manhattan in the 1940s comes to the Snell Music Theatre at SUNY Potsdam this weekend. More than 70 drama, dance and music students are part of the collaborative production of On the Town. The show opens Thursday night (7:30 pm) and continues through Saturday night.

On the Town premiered on Broadway in 1944 and features the music of Leonard Bernstein. It includes numerous dance numbers and memorable songs like "New York, New York" and "I Can Cook Too." Todd Moe spoke with the show's musical director, choreographer and five members of the cast who are from the North Country.

(09/24/10) Broadway and opera star Lisa Vroman returns to her musical roots in Potsdam on Saturday night. Perhaps best known for her role as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera during it's record breaking run in San Francisco, Vroman is a versatile performer with symphonies, Broadway and opera. She grew up in Adams, NY and majored in music education at the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam. Community Performance Series presents her concert, "How Can I Keep from Singing" Saturday night (7:30 pm) in Potsdam's Hosmer Hall. Todd Moe spoke with her about the music industry, her career and returning to the North Country.

(04/14/10) The Crane School of Music's Opera Ensemble presents Maurice Ravel's classic fantasy opera, L'Enfant et les Sortileges, or The Child and the Enchanted Ones this weekend. The opera opens tomorrow morning with a special education outreach performance for children and families, and continues Friday and Saturday night. The fantasy opera includes fairy tale characters, furniture and little animals which come to life to chastise a child who has been tormenting them. Todd Moe spoke with some of the cast and Crane Opera Ensemble director Carleen Graham who says Ravel's opera is the fable of a rude child who finds that the objects and animals of his childhood have their own lessons to teach.

(04/09/10) Months before the opening night of any theatrical production, the drama starts backstage with the set, lighting and costume designs. Props, makeup and clothing are created by folks you won't see in front of the curtain, but by a crew of hidden artists.

For today's "Heard Up North," we step behind the scenes. Julia Ferreri is the costume shop manager at SUNY Potsdam. She's designing the costumes for next week's opera production of Ravel's The Child and the Enchanted Ones - the story of a rude child whose toys and furniture one day retaliate as they come to life. The designer draws inspiration from the story, the characters and the director. In between is a lot of common sense and creativity. And it's more of a challenge when the characters are chairs, a teacup or a grandfather clock.

(03/26/10) No doubt, we've all tried making rhythms and sound effects using the mouth and voice, at one time or another. Some people have made vocal percussion into an art-form. It's entered the music world in the form of "beat box", the art of making drum beats, cymbal crashes and other sound effects using one's mouth, lips, tongue and voice. "Beat boxing" is an element of "hip hop" that originated in the early 80's. Today, it's making a comeback in college and professional a cappella groups to accompany their pop music. One of the vocal percussionists with SUNY-Potsdam's all male group, the "Pointercounts", is today's Heard up North.