Tag: School of Music

PFW School of Music Expands Opportunities with Surack-Sweetwater Music Industry Building

By Andrew Danielson

2026. That is the year the new Surack-Sweetwater Music Industry Building is set to open.

At a cost of $25 million, the new building will house state-of-the art equipment and world-class facilities, offering students attending the PFW School of Music the chance to learn and study music making at a whole new level.

The new construction will be a staggering 26,000 square feet interconnected to the current Music Center via a skybridge. Packed into that space will be all kinds of technology designed for today’s commercial music needs.

Dr. John Buteyn, clinical assistant professor of music and director of popular music at PFW, said that the new building will contain three state-of-the art recording studios, analog and digital control consoles, and systems for surround and immersive audio.

The recording studios alone are high-end facilities, designed by the same engineers who planned the recording studios at Sweetwater, Russ Berger Design Group.

Dr. Jeremy Grall, director of the PFW School of Music, explained that the new facility will also include numerous editing suites, a large rehearsal room for PFW’s larger ensembles, an intimate “live” rehearsal room (which can hold potential live music concerts), a classroom, a conference room, and multiple offices for faculty.

Professor Buteyn explained that with the new building, space, and technology, PFW will have the ability to record in-house their various musical ensembles, stretching in size from their rock bands all the way to their major wind ensembles and orchestra.

The new structure is a testament to the exponential growth experienced by the School of Music.

PFW School of Music and Degree Programs are Born

John O’Connell, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, explained that in the mid-2000s, PFW (then IPFW) offered a music technology concentration for students majoring in music and an outside field.

However, the program was quite small, with only a single room for students to practice their recording abilities and learn about music technology.

In 2018, PFW became its own entity, with their department of music elevated to become a School of Music. With that change came the opportunity to add new degree programs.

O’Connell said that they were looking for new ways to grow, and the fields of music technology and commercial music offered an exciting opportunity for expansion.  

PFW added three new degrees in 2018-2019: music industry, popular music, and music technology.

But degree programs are only as effective as the opportunities they provide.

Thanks to the generosity of Chuck Surack, philanthropist and founder of Sweetwater Sound, PFW formed an agreement with Sweetwater that enabled the School of Music to begin offering new courses for its music majors at a facility on the grounds of Sweetwater called the “Purdue Fort Wayne Sweetwater Music Center” (SMC for short).

That facility contains industry-standard recording spaces and equipment, giving students the chance to learn on current gear used in the commercial music world.

But that was back in 2018.

Professor Buteyn explained that the SMC, though incredible with what it has to offer, has become too small for the growing student body in the school.

In 2018, there were 24 students in PFW’s music industry and commercial music degree programs. By 2019, that number had risen to 80 students, with the program nearly doubling in size to 147 students by 2022.

This growth is highly unusual for academic programs.

“It’s unheard of,” dean O’Connell said. “It’s really spectacular to have that much growth in that short of a time.”

The School of Music now has approximately 300 students, with about 50% of those students coming to PFW specifically for the new opportunities the music industry, music technology, and popular music degree programs offer.

With the growth the School of Music experienced came a welcome but still serious issue – how to host so many students with limited facilities. Class scheduling, and studio/editing time had become a challenge.

“Quite simply, we outgrew the facilities,” director Grall said.

The SMC is less than a third the size of what the new music industry building will be.

A Big Impact on Students and Their Education

One of the first impacts the school of music will experience with the new facility is that students among the various degree programs will get the chance to work together more closely.

Jake Kaufman, a PFW senior majoring in popular music with a focus in performance/song-writing, said that having the music industry building so close to the Music Center will open up collaboration opportunities.

Currently, students must leave the PFW campus and drive to the SMC in order to take their recording classes. They then have to drive back to PFW to take their other music courses.

But with the new building, that commuting will largely be a thing of the past.

“The best part about this is that the building [the new music industry building] is right there,” Kaufman pointed out.

Kaufman believes that the close proximity between the two music buildings will also help reduce perceived barriers between the commercial/pop music programs and the more traditional/conservatory-style programs.

“There seems to be some sort of separation between classical musicians and the commercial musicians,” Kaufman said. “That line need not exist. We are all musicians and we all should be working together.”

Professor Ryan Tilby, clinical assistant professor of recording at PFW, echoes Kaufman’s thoughts.

“Being all in one building is just going to help us realize that we all need to learn something from each other,” Tilby said. “I just want there to be one big community of people helping each other out all the time.”

One example of future collaboration will be the opportunities for commercial music students to practice recording both electrified as well as acoustical instruments.

Director Grall, who plays a variety of instruments, explained that recording acoustical instruments is actually more of a challenge than people might suppose.

With the new music industry building immediately adjacent to the music center, students will now have the opportunity to record a variety of acoustic and electric instruments, all while using world-class recording gear and techniques.

In the midst of all the excitement of the new facility, it’s easy to forget what makes a building spring to life.

“A building is just a place – it’s a thing,” Grall said. “The ‘thing’ that makes this work is the people.”

Grall went on to say that, thanks to the support of dean O’Connell, the professors, and the students, the building will have life and energy.

Kaufman shared that enthusiasm.

“We are definitely excited for it,” Kaufman said.

There are already plans in the works to add new course offerings for future music students at PFW. For now, the Surack-Sweetwater Music Industry Building is a blank canvas of opportunity awaiting the paint brush of creativity.

“The School of Music is going to keep growing,” director Grall said. “But we don’t even know how it’s going to grow yet, because there’s so many options.”

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Ciao! PFW Musicians Teach and Study at Italian Music Festival

By Andrew Danielson

It has been a busy summer for musician Mastodons, and earlier this month was no exception. From July 1 to 13, a group of former and current students traveled to Italy with Dr. Hamilton Tescarollo to attend the InterHarmony International Music Festival.

Dr. Tescarollo, director of Keyboard Studies at Purdue University Fort Wayne School of Music, served as a faculty member and guest instructor at the first of two sessions of the festival.

Located in Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy, the event is an intensive music camp where musicians from across the globe get the chance to play and study music with their international colleagues.

From Left: Christian Urizar, Olivia Bressler, Ben Morton (IU), Dr. Hamilton Tescarollo, and Allyn Beifus (Photos Courtesy: Dr. Tescarollo)

According to the festival organizers, cellist and current music director Misha Quint started what would become the InterHarmony Festival in 1997. In 2000, a name change was made and the InterHarmony International Music Festival came into being.

This year’s festival was held in Italy, but the location varies depending on the year. The festival’s website mentions other host countries as locations for previous camps, including the United States, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.

For Tescarollo, this year’s InterHarmony was his first time going to the camp.

He explained that he knew some of the camp faculty and had indicated interest in possibly attending the festival. When an invitation came to serve as a guest piano instructor for the camp, he jumped at the chance.

Tescarollo said his duties at the camp included teaching private piano lessons and instructing chamber music classes, as well as performing on the piano himself.

Tescarollo pointed out that the location of the festival gave students a unique opportunity to not only study music, but also to experience a new culture and new surroundings.

The town in which the camp was held, Acqui Terme, which means “Thermal Waters,” has been a site of relaxation and culture since the time of the Romans. Located just two hours away from Milan, students had the opportunity to go on excursions and see the historic and culinary heritage Italy has to offer.

PFW senior Christian Urizar at the piano during the festival
PFW music graduate Allyn Beifus playing at the festival

Joining Tescarollo in this international musical venture were four of his former and current piano students.

One PFW Mastodon who went on the trip was Allyn Beifus, a pianist and graduate of the School of Music.

She said one of her goals was to improve as a musician, while also getting to meet new people.

She offered an advice to students considering going abroad to study at an international music festival: “You will experience a trip of a lifetime at a place outside the country, experience the culture, and develop musicianship with the people around you that are participating in this event as well,” she said.

That spirit of excitement and curiosity to learn and study is what Tescarollo hopes students experience with international music festivals like InterHarmony.

He said the camp provided students with some amazing opportunities to learn and study music in an international setting.

“Basically, expand horizons and meet new people and make connections,” Tescarollo said.

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Summer Chorus Sings a Song of Joy

By Andrew Danielson

The Purdue Fort Wayne School of Music has been bustling with activity this summer. Music camps have been in full swing, with opportunities available for musicians of all skill levels and interests.

But this month, PFW is offering a different kind of musical experience. On July 18-19, the School of Music will host Mastodon alumni for the fifth annual Purdue Fort Wayne Alumni and Friends Summer Chorus.

For chorus director William Sauerland, the event is a wonderful opportunity to build community and joy through singing.

“In part, this alumni choir is about creating a culture of care and community,” Sauerland said.

Sauerland, assistant professor of music and director of choral studies at PFW, began his position in 2019. Soon after, Sauerland conceived the idea of starting a summer chorus that would invite music graduates from the School of Music to return for a few days of choral training and singing. The summer chorus was launched in 2020.  

Starting a choral experience during a global pandemic, however, was no easy task. Sauerland recalled the many precautions taken to ensure participants’ safety.

Before attending, participants were required to test themselves for COVID-19. During the event, they wore masks and were spaced eight feet apart in a large auditorium.

That first summer chorus drew roughly 30 participants and lasted for three days. The response was so enthusiastic that organizers decided to bring the event back the following year.

Now entering its fifth year, the summer chorus has seen new additions and changes that add variety and broaden its appeal.

PFW alumni return to sing, connect and inspire

One new tradition implemented by Sauerland is inviting a guest conductor to co-lead the ensemble. Last year, William Skoog, a former director of choral studies at PFW (then IPFW), joined Sauerland on the podium.

This year, a PFW alumnus Dan Borns will serve as guest conductor. A 2001 graduate of IPFW with a degree in choral music education, Borns currently works as a choir director for k-12 students in Batesville, Indiana.

Borns said enjoyed returning as a participant in the 2024 summer chorus.

“I hadn’t seen some of those people in 20 years,” Borns said. “That’s special.”

But Borns isn’t the only alum participating in this year’s chorus.

Teaching at PFW since 2008, Peggy Farlow is a senior lecturer in music therapy at the PFW School of Music. She’s also a proud Mastodon, having received her undergraduate degree in music therapy at IPFW.

She said that one of the great joys of the event is the opportunity to meet both old and new friends.

“You’re going to meet new friends,” Farlow said. “It’s amazing how much you end up having in common with people you’ve never met before.”

This will be her third time as a participant with the choir, and Farlow said she highly enjoys the musical and social experiences the choir has to offer.

That sense of community and just enjoying the entire experience is one of Sauerland’s goals for the summer chorus.

“We just have fun,” Sauerland said.

Although the chorus is centered around fun and connection with a community of Mastodons, there are also ambitious musical goals for the group.

Sauerland said he and Borns have selected six pieces of repertoire for the choir to learn over the two-day event. The lineup includes works such as “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell and “Elijah Rock,” arranged by Moses Hogan.

Singers prep for two-day musical challenge at PFW

Sauerland explained that there is a process for learning and preparing the repertoire in such a short time.

A few weeks before the event, Sauerland emails participants PDFs of the sheet music and audio links to recordings. This gives singers a head start on learning their parts ahead of the first rehearsal.

When the event begins on Friday afternoon, the choir will sing through all six pieces, accompanied on piano by PFW faculty member and limited term lecturer Geoffrey North.

After the initial read-through, Sauerland and Borns will decide how to structure Saturday’s rehearsal schedule.

On Saturday, the choir reconvenes for a fun-filled day of rehearsing and socializing, with both directors offering singing tips and feedback. That evening, the weekend wraps us with an informal concert, showcasing the music the group has learned.

Beyond the music, the weekend offers time for participants to reconnect and socialize. Saturday includes a lunch break and, after the rehearsal and concert, an optional group dinner.

Teachers become students at summer chorus

Sauerland noted that the summer chorus provides a unique opportunity for professional choir teachers and vocalists to experience music-making from the singer’s perspective, rather than from the conductor’s podium.

“This may be the one time in a year that those people can devote to being in the choir,” he said.

He added that, from his own experience as a choral director, getting the chance to be a vocalist in a choir is a great opportunity to observe and learn new approaches from other choral conductors.

“Everybody needs an experience where they’re in the seat of being a student,” he said.

Other music professionals agree. Alumna and music educator Lisa Farlow said the summer chorus is an opportunity to be a singer and musician, instead of serving as the teacher.

“It’s just a great way to be able to use your music skills,” she said.

In just a few weeks, the halls and classrooms of the School of Music will once again be filled with the uplifting sounds of voices raised in song. Both Mastodons and their friends will have a chance to walk through their old “stomping grounds” as they revisit the halls of musical academia.

Borns captured the spirit of this upcoming musical experience:

“Come be part of it and get a chance to sing some good music.”

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Music Meets Technology, Camp Style

By Andrew Danielson

A top notch facility. Collegiate level instruction. And the chance to get your hands on professional-level audio equipment and produce original recordings. 

That’s what is being offered, and more, at the Music Technology Camp, coming up July 14-17 at the PFW Sweetwater Music Center. Located just a stone’s throw away from the renown Sweetwater company headquarters, the PFW Sweetwater Music Center will be hosting a group of young students interested in the ins and outs of music technology. 

“I see it as an outreach to what students know about career paths that they might never have heard about before,” professor John Buteyn said.  

He’s the man for the job when it comes to all things music and technology related. Buteyn is currently clinical assistant professor of music at PFW’s School of Music and the director of the Music Technology Camp. In addition to his classroom teaching, he also helps lead PFW’s very own music recording label, Gold Top Music Group.  

For Buteyn, the Music Technology Camp is a way to expose pre-college students to what careers and opportunities exist in the music field. He explained that high school students may not know the variety and depth of career opportunities available to musicians today. 

However, when Buteyn first came to PFW in 2020, there was no Music Technology Camp to offer.  

At the time Buteyn was settling in as a professor at PFW, folks at Fort Wayne Community Schools were looking for new opportunities for summer camps they could offer to students who were part of the GEAR UP program. 

According to Buteyn, GEAR UP is a program for high school students in the Fort Wayne Community Schools system that helps students navigate their time through high school. That assistance can include such things as mentorship, scholarship programs, and visits to various prospective colleges at which the students may decide to enroll after graduating from high school.  

When the Community Arts Academy learned of the interest the GEAR UP program had in a new music summer camp, they approached Buteyn about possibly creating a camp to meet that need. Buteyn jumped at the opportunity and the Music Technology Camp was born.   

“I saw a need for it and offered it,” Buteyn said.  

Now in its fourth year, the camp offers students diverse opportunities to use technology in the professional music technology field. And those experiences begin on day one of the camp. 

 Buteyn explained that on the first day, he spends time getting to know the students, their interests, and what they hope to learn or accomplish. 

“When they first walk in the door, we’ll just spend a little bit of time getting to know one another,” Buteyn said. “You want people to feel comfortable when they’re in a creative space.” 

From that first meeting, Buteyn learns about the students’ music experiences and what music they may have played or even written.  

At the end of their first full day, students will have created a plan for what they want to do. It could be doing a recorded performance of a song that a commercial band has already recorded. Alternatively, the students may want to give free reign to their creative abilities and write their own unique song.  

Whichever route the students decide to go, by the end of their first day they have become familiar with their surroundings, they know what they would like to record, and they’re ready to begin the whirlwind process of performing, recording, editing, and mixing an actual song. 

Days two and three see Buteyn, his college helpers from the PFW School of Music, and the student campers busy at work making their creative vision a reality. The PFW Sweetwater Music Center is fully equipped for any recording situation, including musical instruments, professional recording studios, and capable computers that can record, edit, and mix the final music product.  

Recording a piece of music takes a lot of work and effort, including figuring out how to properly mic the instruments so the end result is a pleasing composition to the ear. Sometimes, the students have to record a piece of music or even a section of a song multiple times to get just the right “take.”  

But the students’ job isn’t finished with the completion of the recording. Once the recording is done, the students learn how to edit the recording until it meets their musical expectations.  

To get that editing done, Buteyn introduces the camp attendees to different software packages used for computer editing of recordings. These software packages, called “Digital Audio Workstations” or DAWs for short, are standard pieces of software used in the industry. Programs like Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Ableton Live, and other DAWs are all possible software options that students can use and learn during their time at camp. 

By the end of the camp on day four, the students have written, recorded, edited, mixed, and completed their very own recording of a song that they can then show their friends and family. To help celebrate that achievement, camp finishes on a high note with students having lunch at Sweetwater’s Downbeat Diner.  

Buteyn said that the camp is open to any students in grades 9-12. Typically, students come from area high schools like Snider, Northrop, or Homestead. Student campers are allowed to bring their own instruments with them if they like, but the camp has many instruments available for use by the campers.  

July 14-17 will be a whirlwind of activity for Buteyn, his collegiate student helpers, and the student attendees. The camp gives them a great opportunity to  experience so much of what music professionals in the industry do as a career. With professional tools, coaching, and a learning environment centered on meeting students’  interests and goals, the Music Technology Camp will open the music doors of the future to the student musicians of today.  

For more information about the Music Technology Camp, contact Professor John Buteyn at jbuteyn@pfw.edu. For more information about all the various camps offered by the Community Arts Academy or scholarship opportunities for these camps, contact Molly Papier, Director of the Community Arts Academy, at mpapier@pfw.edu.  

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