Buffalo State Music Department

There is a competition at Buffalo State to write NEW LYRICS for the ALMA MATER to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Buffalo State! The winner of the competition will receive a $2500 award and be recognized at the opening ceremony in September 2021. Please see this website for contest rules and eligibility. https://buffalostate.co1.qualtrics.com//form/SV_aVLc6SQKoy

Alumni news ~ New Year’s Eve edition: Kristen Stadelmaier (BME/Oboe-English horn ’17, MME/SUNY Fredonia ’20) received the Master in Music Education degree in August 2020 -- her graduation recital from SUNY Fredonia’s Rosch Recital Hall may be heard on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teIb1rqOofk. She served as a full-time substitute teacher at Transit Middle School in Williamsville (2019-2020), and currently leads the orchestra as long-term sub at Frontier Middle School, Hamburg. A continuing member of the BSC Philharmonia, she also holds the Oboe 3/English horn chair in the Orchard Park Symphony and maintains a private teaching studio. Congratulations Kristen!

Alumni news ~ New Year’s Eve edition: Evan Courtin (BA/Violin ’16) is Director of Education and composer-in-residence for the contemporary Liminal Space Ensemble, and premiered the multimedia piece "fab" at their most recent virtual concert. He also performs with the new music collective Wooden Cities, whose WORK/PLAY/REST trilogy album project includes his composition "Good Form" (set to poetry of Marina Blitshteyn), and with Evolution of the Arm, whose debut album featuring two of his works is scheduled for Spring 2021 release. He continues his extensive string pedagogy at Buffalo String Works and Suzuki Violinists of WNY, in addition to maintaining a private studio. Congratulations Evan!

Associate Professor and Coordinator of Voice, Holly Bewlay will be featured tonight (December 28) on WNED PBS for On Stage with Buffalo Opera Unlimited. The weekly series also features our Staff Accompanist, Ivan Docenko. More information may be found at the following link: https://www.wned.org//on-stage-with-buffalo-opera-unlimi/

Each year, the students in MUS 345 Elementary Methods engage in a friendly competition known as Bulletin Board Wars. Due to our remote learning environment and the current prevalence of virtual teaching in PK-12 settings, we have modified the competition this year to Bitmoji Classroom Wars! Thanks to Music Department students and faculty who voted for the "Most Engaging Bitmoji Classroom." Congratulations to our winner, Molly Secord! You can check out Molly’s virtual classroom here: https://drive.google.com//1a0AhUvf8TfA-0aV7F165CDBZS/view

We are so grateful for the opportunity for Buffalo State Music students to participate in this project, and spread some holiday joy. https://president.buffalostate.edu/happyholidays

We're off to a great start! Introduction to Music Studies and Careers students are ready to roar this semester!

Music Ed Graduates: Persell Middle School in Jamestown NY seeks a choir/general music teacher. Apply here: http://jpsny.org/

16 music majors contributed presentations to Buffalo State’s 22nd annual Student Research and Creativity Conference ~ Digital SRCC 2020, viewable online at https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/srcc-sp20/: Alyssa Agro, Felicity Barnes, Mason Battle, Mackenna Beattie, Alison Cleary, Julianna Ellis, Cassidy Faddis, Elsie Herold, Harold Jacob, Tanner McMullen, Amanda Ruiz, Katherine Santoro, Molly Secord, Nicholas Stanford, Yamilla Tate, and Sydney Williams. Congratulations to all!

Tracy Clark (BA/Voice-Bassoon) has won a Buffalo State Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship for her project Harlem Renaissance Man: Towards a Comprehensive Biography of Actor-Singer Frank H. Wilson. Congratulations Tracy!

Emily Barger (BA/Voice-BA/English) has been named one of the Buffalo State Career Development Center’s Interns of the Year, for her work with the Amherst Chamber Ensembles under the direction of Dr. Thomas Witakowski, @ https://cdc.buffalostate.edu//Inter/intern_of_the_year.php. Congratulations Emily!

Buff State Alumnus Sarah Strohmeier (Tripi) graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Master of Music in Music Education. She is currently the middle school choir director in Orchard Park. Here are some of her students from the BSharps singing Show Yourself which they were preparing to sing at Darien Lake this week. We are so proud of her and her students! Bravissimo! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsQMN_PubY&feature=youtu.be

A fun, socially-distant, musical performance from some of our young Buffalo State violinists! https://youtu.be/zULFbKMeYVs

Congratulations to the Arts and Humanities Dean’s Award winner for Arts and Letters, Raphael Bloomberg! The Arts and Letters Dean’s Award is presented to a student for exceptional academic performance and contributions to the campus. Raised in Williamsville, NY, Raphael Bloomberg is a graduating senior at Buffalo State College, State University of New York in the Class of 2020. His academic major is Arts & Letters and his minor is Digital Music Production. He is a rock music composer, audio engineer and multi-instrumentalist. Raphael is also a member of the Audio Engineering Society, and he recently participated in the AES national conference in New York City. A Dean’s List student, Raphael also is employed on the Buffalo State campus in the Events Management Office

Congratulations to the Paul and Kathryn Homer Award Winner, Leonardo Bartholomew. The Paul and Kathryn Homer award is presented to a sophomore music major for excellence in musical performance. Leonardo Bartholomew, from The Bronx, New York, started his musical journey when he joined his elementary school band and chorus. From there he knew that he wanted to pursue a career that involves music! He performed in productions such as RENT (UASPA), A Chorus Line (Harlem All-Sta...rs Theatre Group), and various Shakespeare plays that were remixed but still kept some of the original text with Epic Theatre Ensemble. In June 2018, he received an award from the NYC Department of Education and was named to the Chancellor's Honor Roll for Vocal Arts, and in October 2019, he placed in his category at the National Association of Teachers of Singing regional competition. During his time at Buffalo State College, he has participated in ensembles including the Buffalo State Chamber Choir, the Buffalo State College Chorale, and the Buffalo State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Outside of the music department he is also a part of a student organization called S.P.i.R.i.T Gospel Choir and was elected as executive board treasurer for both the 2019 - 2021 & 2020-2021 school year.

Congratulations to Arts and Humanities Deans Award Winner Tanner McMullen. The Dean's Award is presented to a graduating senior with exceptional musical, academic, and community engaged performance. Tanner McMullen is a graduating senior in the class of 2020 pursuing a degree in music education. Tanner is a student in the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program which provided him the opportunity to take many challenging and engaging courses. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, ...Tanner studied double bass and participated in a variety of ensembles on campus. He played in Philharmonia Orchestra, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Chamber String Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and played in the pit for Buck Boogie Bop and Beyond, a musical review of the contributions of African diaspora artists on the broadway musical. Tanner accompanied the Buffalo State Chorale, and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble at the Buffalo State Vocal Jazz Festival. He also performed in the orchestra for Dido and Aeneas, which was the first opera to be performed at the college. Along with playing the bass, Tanner played the baritone saxophone in the Jazz Ensemble, and sang bass in the Chamber Choir. As a future music educator, he volunteered weekly at the Buffalo State Child Care Center as lead music teacher for the four year old preschool class. Tanner is a strong believer in creating a welcoming and challenging environment for all students so they can develop a strong foundation for lifelong music participation and learning. Tanner also volunteered at the Buffalo State Early Childhood Music and Movement program on Saturday mornings, where he helped facilitate lessons for students. He took his passion for teaching abroad by participating in an IPDS experience in Torremaggiore, Italy where he taught music and literacy to students aged Pre-K-fifth grade. Tanner also served as the President of the Buffalo State student chapter of the National Association for Music Education. In the future, Tanner hopes to become an elementary general music teacher so that he can help provide the foundations of lifelong music learning. McMullen plans on continuing his education in Fall 2020 at the University of Delaware where he will pursue a M.M. in Music education. See more

Congratulations to Lenore Rollett Wright Award Winner Peter Karda! The Lenore Rollett Wright Award is presented to a graduating senior from the Buffalo State Music Department for outstanding musical performance. Trombonist Peter Karda grew up in Clarence, New York where he attended public school. He became enthused with this instrument when he was younger because his father played trombone when he was in school so he decided to choose that when he was given the option to. T...he first professional recording of trombone Peter heard was on a cassette tape of Christian Lindberg playing Blue Bells of Scotland. This started a fire with a desire to learn to play this instrument. Peter began in the fourth grade, when in high school he first began taking lessons privately. His first teacher was Pim Liebmann a freelancing trombonist in the Buffalo area. The beginning lessons taught him fundamentals and the beginnings of musicality in performance. His second major teacher was the second/principal trombonist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the late Scott Parkinson. While studying with him he worked more in depth on technical and legato styles of performance. Scott also taught breathing techniques such as being relaxed when playing and the alexander technique. At Buffalo State Lon Gormley was his primary teacher. She went in depth to further refine his playing, as to have him sing a song whenever he picks up his instrument. Rick Fleming further instilled this practice of singing while working with him on Borgdoni etudes over breaks. Since then he has had a few other teachers so he can get more ideas and lessons to incorporate those into his playing. Jonathan Lombardo, Timothy Smith, Ricky Fleming, Louis Vitello, William Eicher and were teachers who also greatly influenced his playing. As a performer he played trombone and euphonium with the Buffalo Brass Choir, and bass trombone with the Southern Tier Symphony, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Silver Band, Orchard Park Symphony, American Legion Band of the Tonawanda’s, substitute trombone with Erie Philharmonic, and the Chautauqua Symphony. As a soloist with the Buffalo Silver Band and the American Legion Band he has performed many works or Arthur Pryor, Herbert Clarke, and Gardell Simmons. In a few groups he had been asked to be guest soloist. In the Buffalo Niagara Concert Band he had the opportunity to play the virtuosic piece T-Bone Concerto by Johan de Meij. He had the opportunity to be the guest soloist with the Clarence Central Schools music department playing Arthur Pryor’s Blue Bells of Scotland. Peter maintains a small private studio of students in Clarence, NY he has earned a BA in music with a concentration in music performance from Buffalo State and is planning to go to Florida State University for graduate degree in performance. See more

Current music education student Daniel Fronckowiak created this beautiful video as part of his coursework for Technology Applications in Music Education (and yes, that is him singing). https://youtu.be/EJZ4p0jK2vA

Joe Chesliak graduated Buffalo State in May 2013, and went on to work as an instrument technician at Twin Village Music, where he is also the primary trombone instructor. Joe was an active and valued member of both the Buffalo State Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensembles and Chamber Choir. He is also now the choir director at a church in West Seneca and regularly plays gigs with both the Buffalo Jazz Repertory Ensemble and funk band Tiger Chung Lee.

This week in Staying Home and Staying Creative, a Buffalo State sophomore in the Childhood Education program, flutist Brianna Smith covers Lizzo's cover of a Falloutboy tune. Fun fact, Lizzo studied classical flute at the University of Houston, so perhaps Brianna will get her wish and duet with Lizzo some day!