An interview with Jesse Pierson

Music Program Lead, Front Range Community College

Dr. Jesse Pierson is the Music Program

Lead at Front Range Community College sneak peak... new things are coming

Larimer Campus, as well as college-wide Online Lead for Music and the Recording Arts and Technology program. He is active as a collaborative and solo pianist in the surrounding community and a dedicated pedagogue in piano, and music theory.

What is the future of the music program at Front Range Community College? What is your part in it?

What is your formal music training?

Was teaching something you studied to do?

I received his Doctorate of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado in 2020 with a focus in Piano Performance and a secondary emphasis in Music Theory. While it is not directly reflected in my degree, I took classes in Piano and Music Theory Pedagogy and have always been involved in teaching-focused organizations. Teaching was always the goal. My dissertation (and many presentations thereafter) revolve around a teaching index that I created for music instructors to tie music theory and beginning piano pedagogy together through standard repertoire.

In a nutshell, what is your teaching philosophy? What specifically do you want your students to achieve?

Reinforcement. It’s all about reinforcement and music has centuries of content to do it with. We have a unique program here in that students vary dramatically in their music pursuits. It is my passion to show students that the fundamental aspects of harmony, melody, and rhythm transcend genres. As a class, we can reinforce every concept within music with examples from wildly different genres, geographical locations, and compositional approach. Why is Selena Gomez on the Top 40 radio station and Johan Sebastian Bach is not? That might seem like a ridiculous comparison, but you’d be surprised how many threads there are that you can tie together after my classes, and that is exactly my goal.

What is the one absolutely imperative class our music students to take?

The music program has two tracks: 1) A.A.S. in Recording Arts Technology, which is what students pursue if they want to become audio engineers, music producers, etc. 2) AA in Music, which is a traditional track that sets them up to go to 4-year institutions and study, performance, pedagogy, music therapy, etc. That’s important to understand because our audio engineering students need performers and our performing students need audio engineers. The beauty is that there is tons of overlap, which is not something that I saw when I was going to school (and I’m not THAT old). We have always had performances and recordings within our program, but we are now refining our ability to livestream with high quality audio and video. That allows us to make connections with organizations in our community, which makes for a very positive cycle. My part in this is to support instructors in the creation of innovative assignments. I’d dare say that the assignments that meant the most to me were the ones that took place outside of the walls of our classroom. It is my goal to have assignments that roll over each semester so that we have a constant stream of student performers and audio engineers that are participating in our events and, therefore, raising the standard of those events.

Are there some music performances coming that you want to tell us about?

All of these events will also be livestreamed: Community Cello Recital - 10/8 @3 in RP106. MTNA Fall Festival Honors Recital - 11/12 @3 in RP106. FRCC Choir Concert - 12/1 @7 in Harmony Library. FRCC Studio Recital - 12/8 @6 in RP106. Cello Recital CAC event–TBD.

What is the one music class you’d recommend for us non music student at Front Range Community College?

As much as I’d like to say Music Theory, it is already required for all music majors, so, that feels like a lazy answer. I want every music student to take Music Audio Production I. Regardless of what career a musician is pursuing, they need to have an understanding of how to handle their audio in an increasingly digital world.

Sing with us in Choir (MUS 1051)!!! While experience helps, anyone who has been in any kind of an ensemble in high school, or even sings comfortably at church would be successful in this group. Someone looking for a more academic leaning should take Music Theory or Music Audio Production. People that are curious about music usually want to get a better understanding of how music works (Music Theory) or understand the recording process (Music Audio Production). At twenty years old, Vestal Review is the oldest-running flash fiction magazine on the planet, which gives us a depth and breadth that a lot of other magazines lack. Check out our archives.

A.A. Degree in Music with this degree you could find a career in... from here you could... Transfer into a public four-year CO school pending a successful audition

Pursue a Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Music

A.A.S. Recording Arts Technology with this degree you could find a career in...

Audio Engineering

Design for Learning.

Available Certificates

Recording Arts Technology (one year full time)

Foundations of Recording Arts Technology (one year part time)