Music+Conservatory

The Southside Baptist Church School of Bluegrass Music Conservatory is now open.

What is it?
In classical music, there are conservatories of music where people who want to study music indepth can learn. They can improve their technique in playing and singing and they also learn music theory and music history. Our music conservatory offers these opportunities as well.

Why do we have it?
Traditional music conservatories require students to pass auditions and they reject a lot of people who really want a conservatory education. Also, they are not welcoming to people above the age of 21 or so. Our music conservatory accepts any person who is interested, no matter age or how advanced they are in relation to music.

You can't drop out of a music conservatory when life demands you do other things. However, as might be expected, our music conservatory works just the way lessons do--drop in and out as need be.

How is it different from the regular school of bluegrass?
People in traditional music conservatories invest a lot of time in learning how to play music and in learning about music. There are practice techniques they learn that help them to become advanced performers. They spend a lot of time analyzing music (including what they are currently playing) and learning about the history of music in general, the history of specific types of music, and the history of particular composers and individual pieces of music. The focus on music is deeper than our normal way of teaching and learning. For any of our youngsters who are thinking of going to a college music program or conservatory, our conservatory is designed to prepare them musically, psychologically, and spiritually. For people who don't plan to attend a college-based conservatory, this offers the opportunity to enjoy learning all the wonderful things about how music works.

How's this gonna work?
The "classes" are online which means all can access them. Conservatory students are invited and encouraged to do musical research to help create the classes. Conservatory students will be a community of people who share information and answer each others' questions.

Can people in the other schools of bluegrass (besides Southside) participate?
Yes--the fact that it is online means that we are not limited to one location or time for this activity.

What if I don't like it?
It's no problem to drop in or out, so you can try it if you want or you can decide not to try it or you can decide to try it later.

Do I have to learn to read music?
Nope. Unlike traditional classical conservatories, ours offers indepth ideas about how to listen to and take note of minute details in music--the kind of details that improve performance. Reading music may or may not be part of this learning--it's up to each person.

What about teachers?
Anyone can teach in the music conservatory if they like. As usual, we will pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in terms of learning how to teach at this level. This also allows teachers to share more indepth music knowledge--our teachers have a lot of hidden resources!

Questions or wanna try it out?
Contact Carolyn. The first people who decide to try it out get to determine the initial "courses" we will have!

Possible classes:
Listening to music in depth (analysis) History of bluegrass History of Appalachian music History of Classical music Classical music theory (for people who want to or do already read music) Nashville numbers (music theory for people who play by ear) Practice techniques and creating a practice plan for oneself Music technology (free resources for composing, arranging, and recording music) Composition Orchestration/arranging music Advanced forms of music theory Semiotics of music (seriously! the sky is the limit!)