Studying Music with a Czech Accent

We've all heard the saying that music is the universal language. Well, eight IC students had a chance to experience that firsthand this summer, when they studied music in the Czech city of Brno for three and a half weeks. This was the first year of IC's Central European music program, a collaboration between Ithaca College and the Czech Republic's Masaryk University and Janácek Academy of Music, both located in Brno.

Designed for music educators, performers, composers, and musicologists, the program offers students the opportunity to study the music of Central European composers such as Janácek, Martinů, Bartók, and Kodály in the environment where their music was born. Students study the Czech language, Czech literature, and the cultural and political history of the region in addition to the music.

Cello professor Elizabeth Simkin helped international programs director Adrian Sherman initiate the program largely because, she says, "foreign study has been important to me, both personally and professionally." While studying as an undergraduate at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Simkin was chosen to participate in the American Soviet Youth Orchestra, a group composed primarily of American and Russian students, with one student from Latvia and one from Estonia. After an intensive rehearsal period at Oberlin, the students toured the United States and the Soviet Union. Throughout the tour the musicians learned about each other's cultures-and grew musically. "This experience gave me a belief in the importance and power of music to communicate, bring people together, and tell unique stories," says Simkin.

She also credits this experience with influencing some of the choices she's made in her subsequent professional development: "I am sure that, somehow, this international experience led to my decision to study with Janos Starker [world-renowned Hungarian cellist, who visited IC this September, thanks largely to Simkin's efforts]. It also led to my selection in 1996 as an American artistic ambassador to play a six-week recital tour in Eastern Europe" she says.

Cello student Katie Pritt '00 was excited to be among the first students to participate in this study-abroad program. "I had never been abroad," she says. "It was very different from America and what I expected, which was a good thing."

Janácek Academy professors coached the students in chamber ensemble. Pritt, along with violist Heather Wallace '01 and violinist Cheryl Cory '00, was joined by Czech violin student Robert Blaušek in a string quartet that concentrated on the repertoire from Central European composers. Their coach was Janácek professor Bohumil Smejkal. At times there were challenges in communication between the professor and his American students. "Professor Smejkal knew just enough English, and we knew just enough Czech, to understand each other," says Pritt, "but this is where music helped us bridge the communication gap. It was fun, because we sharpened our ears and communicated through watching the other players' movements."

In addition to formal classes, the students enjoyed the cultural activity of Brno, attending concerts by the State Philharmonic and performances of Smetana's Bartered Bride and Martinu's Greek Passion. There were also weekend trips to Vienna, Prague, and the town of Stáznice in southern Moravia.

The students themselves helped make this trip possible through fund-raising. Pritt and her classmate Kate Jensik '00 coordinated the effort, which included a benefit concert last spring. Simkin hopes to garner support for the creation of an endowment to fund future students interested in this program.

Photo by Heather Wallace '01