College launches music expansion
Flathead Valley Community Colleges expanded its music program this fall with a new associate of music program drawing on the skills of six instructors with extensive musical training and experience.
Along with an associate degree, the program provides the first two years of a music major at Montana State University in Bozeman as well as the first year of study for a Bachelor of Arts in music or music education at The University of Montana in Missoula.
Karla West, music program adviser for the college, said the program presents a new outlet for people with a passion for music who would like to take elective courses or work toward degrees.
“This program is ideal for talented students in our area high schools or who are being home-schooled who are interested in pursuing a major in music but are not ready to leave the Flathead Valley,” West said.
Instructors for the new program include veteran college faculty member John Zoltek, who also serves as music director of Glacier Symphony and Chorale; local classical guitarist Steve Eckels; Jack Waller Quintet member Sky Thoreson; owner/operator of The Voice Studio Amy Chisholm; and award-winning husband and wife orchestral artists Wai and Idara Mizutani.
Eckels returns to the college this fall to teach beginning and intermediate guitar. Nationally certified through the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, he brings 27 years of teaching experience to the classroom.
He previously taught at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Northland College in Ashland, Wis., New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M., FVCC, MSU in Billings and at the high school level for Kalispell Public Schools. He has numerous published works on teaching classroom guitar, guitar essentials and ensembles, and finger-style guitar.
Thoreson teaches “Jazz Ensemble I” this fall, a course where students become part of a jazz ensemble. Growing up in a musical family in the Seattle area, Thoreson attended college at Whitworth University in Spokane, where he studied jazz and earned a bachelor’s degree in classical trombone performance.
As a student, Thoreson played lead trombone in the award-winning Whitworth University Jazz Ensemble. He studied and played with renowned jazz artists such as leading jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard and Grammy Award-winning musician Kenny Garrett.
Chisholm teaches “Keyboard Skills I” and “Keyboard Skills II” this fall. Before opening her voice studio in Whitefish, Chisholm taught music at various institutions such as Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore., Pima Community College in Tuscan, Ariz., and Gila County Community College and Payson High School in Payson, Ariz.
She is a former choir director for The PRIME School of Music in Tuscan and was a member of the Arizona Choir at the University of Arizona, president of the Chamber Chorale at UM, member of the University Singers at the University of Maine and a master class performer in Vienna, Austria. She plays piano, flute and saxophone.
Wai and Idara Mizutani teach the college’s new orchestra course, which allows students to perform in a string ensemble. Both bring extensive resumes awards and experiences.
A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and Manhattan School of Music, Wai taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in New York. He has performed as a soloist for various orchestras such as the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Sinfonietta in Taiwan, Puccini Sinfonietta in Italy, Moscow Chamber Orchestra and Manhattan Symphony Orchestra.
Wai performed at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall as well as won top honors for the Taiwan International Competition and Five Towns Violin Competition. He has played with other artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Arnold Steinhardt, Glenn Dicterow, Kurt Masur and Zubin Mehta.
Idara performed as a soloist and as a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, West Coast Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Chamber Sinfonietta. She has created more than 200 compositions and arrangements for solo, chamber and orchestral music.
She began teaching music at 13 and has taught at her private violin studio for 19 years. Idara has taught at prestigious institutions throughout British Columbia, Canada, such as the Western Conservatory of Music, Surrey Academy of Music and Whatcom Music Academy.
Along with performing in tours in Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, she is a five-time gold medalist of the Kiwanis Music Competition, a four-time first prize winner of the Canadian International String Competition, a two-time first prize winner of the American International String Competition and a three-time top honors recipient of the Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations.
Both “Jazz Ensemble I” and the orchestra class are open to people who can read music and supply their own instrument. For information about scholarships available for music students, contact the college foundation at 756-3963.
Registration for fall classes is under way. For the course schedule, visit www.fvcc.edu/schedules.html.