A&E
The Sunderman Conservatory Announces New Faculty Members BY JULIA GOKALP
A
s Gettysburg College welcomed the return of the full student body this semester, new appointees were concurrently welcomed to the faculty of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. In a series of emails addressed to the students and staff of the Conservatory, its director, James Day, introduced each of the new faculty members to the community.
Byrd was moved by the creative, contrasting improvisations of each of the artists and the expressive individuality of their interwoven music: “[An] aspect that got me was the reinforcement [that] I didn’t have to play like anyone else to have a relationship with this music. I just had to reference jazz masters in my playing, but I could totally be myself. ... [The musicians on the record] just played out of who they were.” Byrd’s teaching career began shortly after he earned his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College. “[A] year after I graduated the
12
He subsequently began to teach both classes and piano lessons, which he enjoyed. Currently, he is the director of Worship and Media at Frederick Church of the Brethren in Maryland, an artistin-residence and gospel choir director at Messiah College, and a jazz piano instructor at Shenandoah University. He came to Gettysburg this year at the request of Paul Carr, his friend and the previous Jazz Ensemble director. He has performed alongside Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and Mike Stern, among many others. He is also the pianist and vocalist for the Eric Byrd Trio, which also includes Alphonso Young, Jr., who has also joined the Conservatory faculty this year as an adjunct assistant professor teaching percussion. Young, who has been a professional musician for over
forty years, was also exposed to music at an early age— initially, mostly soul and R&B. In high school, he joined the jazz band where he learned different styles of jazz and developed an appreciation for the genre. He attended Shenandoah University— where, alongside Loudoun County Public Schools, he has taught since 1994—for his undergraduate degree. Throughout his career, he has played with renowned musicians; joined the Young Brothers Trio and the Robert Larson Trio; and toured across the world, including as the percussionist for the European tour of the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies. He has been described by Eric Byrd as “unapologetically committed to ‘the sound’ of jazz.” Also joining the Conservatory’s roster of percussion professors is I Ketut Suadin, director of Gamelan Gita Semara as well as a musician, composer, teacher, puppeteer, and dancer from the Indonesian island of Bali.
(Photo Mary Fraiser/The Gettysburgian)
Among the new members of the faculty is Eric Byrd, the new director for the Jazz Ensemble. A pianist and vocalist with over thirty years of experience, he developed a passion for music at a young age. Byrd’s love of music was furthered when, in his freshman year of college, he heard jazz trumpeter Miles Davis’s record, “Kind of Blue.”
department chair asked me if I wanted to start a gospel choir,” he recalled. “I said no. She said yes. So I started the choir.”
