OCC Music Department

Happy Pride from all of us at the OCC Music Department!

We couldn't be prouder of how our music-department community has adapted to the challenges of the 2020-21 school year. Enjoy these highlights from the spring 2021 semester from the students and faculty of the Orange Coast College Music Department! Also viewable at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKq5R9_oCPM.

Tonight, tonight.... We've got SO MUCH great music for you in our 2021 spring program, to be posted tonight at 7:00 p.m.! Watch this page for the video and enjoy it at your leisure!

This Wednesday, May 26, at 7:00 p.m., we'll be releasing our OCC Music Department Virtual Spring Concert! It's a showcase of talent and ingenuity, featuring performances from our ensembles, our beginning classes, and our advanced soloists. Watch this page on Wednesday! (This is not a live event---you can enjoy the music at any time, and it'll be a great backdrop during finals week or a great reward after you've officially survived this extremely tough year!)

Don't miss our third and final Coast Musical Encounters event of the year tonight---Wednesday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. PDT! Composer and singer Jonathan Woody will be speaking about Microaggressions in the Music World: Racial Reckonings for Musicians. Jonathan is an incredible performer who recently made waves with his composition "Nigra Sum Sed Formosa: A Fantasia on Microaggressions," which combines Monteverdi-esque music with traditional Latin text and a collection of remarks people have made to Jonathan and some of his colleagues of color. Free and open to all. We look forward to seeing you tonight at https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/96540844490!

One week from tonight! Plan to be there!

Our Coast Musical Encounters series is continuing online, and we're thrilled to welcome the incredible Daniel Afonso as our first guest speaker of the 2020-21 school year! This Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m., Dr. Afonso will present "Multiculturalism in music: Going beyond the 'exotic'!" It's a brilliant discussion on rethinking what we mean by "multicultural music" and how we incorporate it into our pursuit of a musical education. We guarantee you'll laugh as much as you learn! Join us at https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/91764087778 -- it's free and open to all! (You'll just have to provide your own cookies this time.)

This isn't a Friday news dump---it's great news that we couldn't wait to share. OCC has made the College Board's list of the top 10 community colleges in the whole country! You've still got time to get in on the fun this semester. Visit www.orangecoastcollege.edu to get started!

Music classes on zoom? Sure! You might actually find that online music courses work great for you: Many of our students are enjoying the anxiety-free experience of singing and playing at home, and our ensemble directors are getting very creative as they plan for a semester of music-making at a distance! You've still got time to sign up for a class. Visit www.orangecoastcollege.edu today and get started!

Is it possible that you could enjoy an online voice class even MORE than an in-person one? OCC voice instructor Nadia Smelser, Voice/Singing Lessons thinks so! Read her blog post below and visit www.orangecoastcollege.edu to register for a voice class this fall. https://singingvoicesuccess.com/an-online-college-voice-cl/

We're exceptionally proud of our OCC Music Department alums who go on to have careers in music. We're equally proud of the ones who pursue other paths while keeping music in their lives. This new video from violinist Joshua Bell, featuring health-care workers who also stuck with their violin lessons when they were kids, is incredibly moving. We hope you enjoy it, and we hope you'll visit www.occmusic.com and sign up for a music class (or two or three) this fall!

We're still here! We all need some joy and variety in our days right now, so why not learn to sing or play an instrument this fall? You can get individualized attention from our world-class faculty from the comfort of your home. (We may even be able to help if you don't have an instrument of your own!) Piano, guitar, voice, and more---it's all still happening at the OCC Music Department. Visit www.occmusic.com and check out the possibilities!

YES, we're having choir in the fall! Yes, it'll be different....but YES, it'll still be great! Come join us if you like to sing. Whether you're an advanced performer or a beginner, we have an ensemble for you. Contact Eliza Rubenstein at [email protected] to learn more!

Starved for live music? Us too! Join OCC's own Pop Vocal Techniques and vocal jazz instructor, Anne Walsh, for a livestreamed performance tonight at 6:00 p.m. It's happening at the Anne Walsh Music Facebook page and everybody's invited!

We were proud and honored to sing these words at Carnegie Hall and we share them today in love and hope.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Here's the updated link for this evening's "Art Saves Lives" concert by our Advanced Vocal Performance class. Enjoy!

Tomorrow--Saturday, May 16--at 7:00 p.m., our Advanced Vocal Performance class (directed by Beth Hansen, with collaborative pianist Beth Syverson) is streaming a live concert called "Art Saves Lives: A Concert of Joy"! They'll bring you favorites from the world of musical theater, and you can watch it all without leaving you couch. Show up (virtually) and support our terrific students! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXfoyHROevw

The beat goes on! Instructors like pianist Teresita de Jong-Pombo have transformed their homes into online teaching studios to keep our classes and lessons going even when we're not together. Thanks again to all our students and faculty who are making extraordinary efforts to keep the music coming while also keeping our community safe and healthy!

Our OCC Chamber Singers created individual improvisations as voice memos on their phones, and our Recording Techniques class (taught by Dennis Anderson) mixed them into some beautiful and fascinating audio tracks! Here's one we especially liked, paired with photos by OCC Chamber Singers baritone Kyle Vu from our choir trip to New York City last summer. Art goes on....