We start off the new year by welcoming Dr. Joseph Van Hassel, Chair of the UNCP Department of Music, and Kalem Graham, Director of the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band, for a conversation about musical activities on campus and beyond. We discussed what brought each of them to music as a career, and what they studied along the way.
We learned more about what research and scholarship looks like in the performing arts, and the two shared how their work in the classroom informs growth as performers, and in...
We start off the new year by welcoming Dr. Joseph Van Hassel, Chair of the UNCP Department of Music, and Kalem Graham, Director of the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band, for a conversation about musical activities on campus and beyond. We discussed what brought each of them to music as a career, and what they studied along the way.
We learned more about what research and scholarship looks like in the performing arts, and the two shared how their work in the classroom informs growth as performers, and in the study of education and teaching. As educators monitor the long-lasting changes in public school programming brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, more is learned about how to respond at the university level.
As one of the major performing ensembles in the department, the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band not only entertains, but has been a training ground for student leadership for decades. Students work in all aspects of the ensemble's organization, including music, technology, personnel, and facilities management, in the stadium, on the road, in Moore Hall, and on the practice field. Students assist with storing and caring for uniforms and equipment, leading instrumental and color guard sectional rehearsals, group rehearsals as Captains, and for some, leading the entire band as Drum Majors.
In each spring semester members of the band re-form into the Pep Band to support men's and women's' basketball, continuing to work on these important leadership skills across the year. The 'Spirit of the Carolinas' joins the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble, University Chorale, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra, Jazz Combos and Ensembles, and many other chamber groups across the department, open to majors and non-majors alike.
Join us as we celebrate the study, performance, and teaching of music and the great work being done by students in Moore Hall in collaboration with faculty, staff, and community.
Featured on this episode are L to R: Dr. Joanna Hersey, Dr. Joseph Van Hassel, Mr. Kalem Graham, and Dr. Richard Gay, and we are back to recording in the Radio Room in Old Main with thanks to our Department of Mass Communication for their assistance.
'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band Director Kalem Graham with the Pep Band Seniors and Music Department Staff Member Meggan Hollis.
'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band on parade and on the field showing off the new uniforms!
Dr. Joseph Van Hassel traveled to Japan in summer of 2023 to perform and teach at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music and at the Takasaki City Theater.
Learn More:
Visit the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Home Page and follow them on Instagram and Facebook
The UNCP Department of Music Calendar is updated routinely and the best way to stay connected with event information!
Visit Dr. Joseph Van Hassel's website to hear recent performances and find information about recordings and publications
Joseph Van Hassel is a North Carolina-based percussionist specializing in orchestral and chamber music. Performance highlights include Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati MusicNow Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, and the Hindemith Center in Switzerland. He can be heard on recordings for the Innova, Mode, Equilibrium, nobrow.sounds, and Ohio Percussion record labels, and his solo CD of percussion commissions is available on Soundset Recordings. He is published in Percussive Notes, and his compositions are published by Media Press and PerMus.
An active educator, Joseph has presented master classes and given solo performances at numerous universities, including the Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, Senzoku University in Japan, and the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at the University of California at Berkeley. He is on the percussion faculty at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and previously taught at Ohio University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Joseph earned degrees from the Hartt School, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Ohio University. He also spent time studying music and dance in Ghana, West Africa. For more information please visit his website: josephvanhassel.com
Find the episode transcript here
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