Tag: College Career

The very first annual Jack and Pat Fariss Endowed Scholarship for Music Education has been awarded for the 2020-21 academic year by the School of Music scholarships committee at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. — It’s very exciting to think about how much this will do to support a student through their college career. In the music field, a “college career” involves the achieving of a high musical level in participation with one’s peers. The degree program that students follow includes not just high level music making, but also sharing in reaching out to public school students with performances and student teaching. What a college career does is generate a level of excitement and knowledge that college musicians will hold in their experience and then transmit to younger students as they start their own teaching career. Students gain knowledge about the art form itself through their various academics. Teaching skills are learned through instrumental methods class where students learn, hands on, how to play the other instruments which are not their own, and the newest techniques and music for school music programs. They take conducting techniques classes and get hands on experience conducting in front of musicians. The college experience for musicians is a rich one, and students look forward to giving their own future students as rich an experience as possible — An experience that many of us have had in our younger days, and that were, in many profound and many subtle ways, life changing. The arts matter, music matters… they matter in that they change us as people. They teach us that abstract thinking, emotional thinking and team effort are irreplaceable traits. We are honored that we, as donors to this scholarship, and in the name of two wonderful teachers, can keep these rich experiences going forward for others. Music school graduates will share their excitement and knowledge with hundreds or thousands of future students each, and will teach those students how to reach common goals together. ~ Steve D. Matchett (M. Mus. SHSU ‘94 – PHS class of 1975