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Next semester, the School of Performing Arts is introducing a jazz studies minor, according to a press release issued on Jan. 4.
The new minor will offer students an immersion into jazz that was not possible in the existing music education or music performance majors.
The minor requires students to complete a total of 19 credit hours, 12 of which must be in music theory, three in jazz history and four in jazz performance.
At least two of the four required jazz performance credit hours must be fulfilled by the chamber jazz ensemble, a new group designed to give students practice in improvisation and other skills essential to jazz.
Of the 11,435 students enrolled at the start of the school year, 131 were music majors, according to the office of institutional studies Web site.
While the minor will appeal to music majors, Karel Lidral, director of jazz studies, hopes that musicians who are not music majors will consider it as well.
“This is a unique minor,” Lidral said, not only because it allows students to get hands-on experience with jazz, a style that is becoming increasingly popular, but also because it teaches them how to perform using “the smallest possible unit, a voice and a piano.”
Lidral believes a jazz studies minor is important for music education majors because it will prepare them to teach jazz ensembles and choruses that are becoming more popular in schools. For music performance majors, it will add another dimension to their skills.
Bangor Daily News