By Julia Duggan
Staff Writer
As the students filed into the musicianship classroom for their twice weekly lecture, they were greeted with the familiar sounds of a jazz piano. Their music theory professor, Dr. Jose Bevia, normally sits at the piano and plays music as the students arrive. Once the piece ends, class begins. This time, the students were unaware of the good news they were about to get.
“I am moving the sight singing quiz to next week because I have to go play at Carnegie Hall,” Bevia said to the class.
Immediately, the students buzzed with delight that their professor would be playing at Carnegie Hall, one of the world’s most famous concert venues. But it was no surprise, given that Bevia is a world-reknowned composer and a talented performer. He has composed for piano, orchestras, bands and small chamber groups.
Since his performance at Carnegie Hall, Bevia has not had many others. He performed with the college in their December concert and has a few upcoming performances at various colleges in the area.
“At this time, I am taking it as an opportunity to practice a lot and hopefully things will open up,” Bevia said.
With life in the United States moving closer to normal, there is a stronger desire to attend concerts. However, Covid-19 is still making performances a challenge. Outdoor concerts attract more people and can be superspreader events for Covid-19. As reported by the Rolling Stone, multiple outdoor concert events, like Oregon’s summer Pendleton Whisky Music Fest, became superspreader events, and as a result, scientists are re-evaluating how various outdoor events can increase or decrease the spread of Covid-19.
Indoor concerts limit the size of the audience but an enclosed space with lots of air being blown into instruments or sung still carries a high risk. According to Classic FM, 70% of shows were canceled in December of 2021 because of Covid-19. The main reason for it was a high transmission rate between the performers.
In January and February of 2022, Carnegie Hall canceled or postponed 22% of events they had scheduled. In the same time period 14% of their performances were moved online. When Bevia performed in Carnegie Hall in November 2021, only 6% of events scheduled were canceled.
“Every time (Bevia) plays I am in awe of his musicality and genius,” said Deivy Mejia, a sophomore music education major.
With the uncertainty of performances being canceled, this has made premiering new pieces difficult. In response, composers and musicians have been premiering new pieces online. There are benefits and drawbacks to having the world premiere of a piece online. The benefits include not being reliant on a concert venue and musicians can submit their part of the composition without worrying about scheduling conflicts. A drawback is that there is so much content on the internet it may be hard for people to find the new compositions.
“It is very challenging and educational at the same time,” Bevia said when describing the challenges of the music industry.
One unexpected trend that has emerged is finding new ways to engage with the fans. As explained in the Wall Street Journal, online concerts have allowed artists to discover and connect more with their superfans. With all the tracking online concerts offer from how much money someone spent to how long they watched the concert and even the various chat features allow artists to find new ways to appeal to fans faster. So, while online concerts may bring in less revenue than live ones, it can be easier to spot new fan bases.
However, as explained in the New York Times, online formats for concerts and releasing new music are not sustainable sources of income for artists. Streaming services like Spotify are skewed so that the already big artists earn more compared to smaller artists. Floating between in person and virtual concerts carries a risk of putting lesser-known artists in poverty and more well-known artists earning more.
For Bevia, he has focused more on practicing and less on premiering new pieces. However, he does have something exciting on his calendar in May.
“So, I wrote a sinfonietta last year,” Bevia said. “That piece has been selected to be presented at the International Society of Jazz Composers and Arrangers.”
A sinfonietta is a type of composition written for an orchestra. A composition is considered a sinfonietta when it is shorter than a symphony. The more standard length of orchestra pieces are called symphonies hence why the ones shorter than a symphony are called a sinfonietta.
The International Society of Jazz Composers and Arrangers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a supporting and encouraging community for composers and arrangers. They hold several composing compositions, presentations and masterclasses on improving one’s craft every year. Bevia was also asked to speak about writing for the jazz piano.
Besides, Bevia is the professor that teaches all four of the Musicianship classes offered at TCNJ. The Musicianship classes cover three broad categories that all musicians are required to be proficient in. They are music theory, music dictation and sight singing. Music theory is understanding how to read and create music. Dictation is the training of one’s ear to recognize pitches and chords. Sight singing is the ability to look at written music, and sing the music on the page with a high level of accuracy on the first try.
“I really like how he approaches each cord (when teaching),” said Gianna Marrano, a sophomore music education major. According to Marranao, Belvia goes to each student and says, ‘so can you help me with this cord?’ If you need help, he’ll say we can work through it, or you can pass. Then after you pass, he goes back and checks to make sure you understand it.”
Bevia joined the College faculty in the fall of 2020, which was in the middle of when colleges across the country were online-only. In order to make sure his students could see what he was talking about he would use three different cameras throughout the class. One was angled over a piano so the students could watch him play. One was positioned by a white board so students could watch him draw cords and complete analysis problems. The third was the “main” camera on the laptop where Bevia could share his screen and show PowerPoints or music programs that relate to the lesson. Bevia has taught one year completely online and one year completely in person for TCNJ. Teaching in these drastic formats have brought new challenges and reflections for Bevia.
“I try to use the space in the classroom and have a high level of energy to keep my students engaged,” Bevia said. “It can be hard to do that when on Zoom.”
While his students prefer to be in person for class, they still had positive experiences with online learning.
“When I had him online, I enjoyed how he would always ask us if everyone understands what he is teaching,” Mejia said.
Another way Bevia keeps his students engaged is by playing the piano and using it as another tool in the classroom.
“He always plays before class starts when we are walking into class and even online, he would do that,” said Tom Monsport, a senior music education major. “(For virtual class) I just log in and my computer starts (With Bevia) playing jazz piano which was great.”
When shifting to in person learning students continued to find Bevia offering new ways to understand the dense material.
Students reported Bevia will play them the analysis assignments in class so they can hear what the various chords sound like to get a better understanding of the lesson. Analysis assignments are identifying and labeling various chords and parts of a piece of music.
“Also, he tells us about his practicing methods because he's a really good performer and a really good player, so he tells us like this is how he became so good,” Marrano said.
No matter the format for class, his students only had positive feedback and comments about Bevia.
“(Bevia) is the best teacher here,” said Mikayla Delano, a sophomore music performance major.
When given the choice, Bevia prefers teaching in person, but he is glad to have had the opportunity to learn how to teach online.
“The things that I use today on remote teaching, all these different cameras, microphones, and lighting, if you asked me would I know all these things two years ago, I would say you are out of your mind,” Bevia said.”
While the music industry is still very unstable in the pandemic, Bevia sees this as an opportunity to grow and better oneself, no matter the challenges.
“I love teaching,” Bevia said. “I love it a lot, and I love what I am doing.”
