Bring Applied Music Courses Viol-into the Core Curriculum

I could’ve avoided taking an excruciatingly long art history course last spring, but I wasn’t able to because four semesters of applied music courses in violin don’t count toward Loyola’s Core Curriculum. 

I began violin lessons my freshman year and have been taking them every semester since. Despite beginning lessons at 6 years old, I grew up in a town where the school district was severely underfunded and didn’t place much importance on the arts. If it weren’t for the efforts of my high school orchestra teacher, I wouldn’t have had any opportunity for one-on-one lessons. 

The Artistic Knowledge and Inquiry Core Area invites students to interact with art in all of its mediums. The courses available to Loyola students include formal studies of ancient Greek art, cinema, experiential dance and piano lessons. As part of Loyola’s Core Curriculum, the area emphasizes the acquisition of knowledge through creative processes and peer engagement. 

Despite meeting these expectations, the applied music courses seem to be an exception. These classes are one-on-one lessons with an instructor offered for a variety of instruments. Alongside the lessons, studio classes with other students or quartets under the same instructor will occasionally take place. Having taken lessons for almost five semesters, it’s beginning to feel somewhat exhausting. 

Although these weekly lessons are typically only 30 minutes, or 60 for music majors, there’s plenty of instruction happening within the lessons that should surely qualify them for a core requirement. Technique, expression, music theory and music history are all invoked upon while learning a new piece. 

Aside from weekly lessons, a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes of daily practice is crucial to succeeding. The practice rooms on the 10th floor of Mundelein hate to see these students coming. 

At the end of the semester, students must perform before a jury who will evaluate their performance based on skill and incorporation of their knowledge into the performance. 

Although applied music classes are only worth one credit, this doesn’t provide a valid explanation as to why students aren’t able to put their efforts in applied music courses toward completing their Core Curriculum. The academic catalog states an art course must be worth three credit hours to count toward fulfilling the Core requirement. Credit through applied music courses could only be accomplished through combining three 1-credit-hour classes. 

Since beginning applied music classes at Loyola, I feel I’ve improved more here than I did at home. Progress in any skill is slow — and, at times, hard to notice — so seeing tangible evidence of improvement is borderline euphoric. 

As part of the applied music course, studio classes provide an opportunity to receive feedback from all skill levels and further prepare students for their performances. Through them, I’ve witnessed growth in other students taking lessons who started with no previous experience. 

Studio classes have been the greatest form of exposure therapy I could ask for. Performance anxiety has always been one of my biggest hindrances. No matter the mindset or preparation I have before a performance, my shaky hands eventually fail me, and the rest of the piece goes downhill. 

The opportunity to play before a group of students — who are incredibly talented musicians themselves — is insanely nerve-wracking. But there’s comfort in hearing them admit to their own fears, and knowing we’re really all in the same boat. Over the course of four semesters, studio classes have slowly become easier to stomach. 

The instructors are also deserving of all the appreciation in the world. The opportunity to learn from incredibly talented and internationally recognized musicians shouldn’t be taken for granted. 

The exclusion of applied music courses from the art core is a severe disservice to the effort put in by students and instructors. Students are putting in just as much work into these classes as they would any course that qualifies for completion of the art core. 

Although the experience and instruction they’re receiving is intrinsically valuable, students deserve to be further compensated for the skills they’re honing. Adding applied music courses as part of the Artistic Knowledge and Inquiry curriculum is the least the university could do.