Author: Soo Jin Kim
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, Dr. Sarah Eyerly spoke on her research focus, “Singing from the Heart: Memorization and Improvisation in an Eighteenth-Century Utopian Community.” Eyerly’s speech centered around the Moravian community based in what is now known as Czech Republic. The word “Moravian” is originally German and translates to “United Brothers.” The Moravian community, which lasted from 1730 to 1760, memorized and improvised thousands of songs which they used in everyday life. Handouts were passed out containing a glossary of words and phrases, samples of lyrics sung and photocopies of manuscripts.
Eyerly’s main question in studying this unique community concerns how an individual could memorize the huge numbers of songs and sing them not only spontaneously, but also improvise the lyrics and melody. She continued her lecture with examples of the techniques used by the Moravian community, as well as singing to the audience and asking them to sing with her. After the talk, attendees asked questions regarding the society of the Germans who were part of the Moravian community. One question about the society was how singing was integrated into the community life. Eyerly said that it was a part of their everyday lives. Eyerly also explained that the community had no nuclear family and lived in houses separated by gender and age.
The speech was given as part of an on-campus interview for candidates interested in joining the Music Department. The Music Department is currently searching for a new tenure-track assistant professor to join the faculty on Aug. 16. Professor and Chair of the Music Department Irene Girton said that the department is looking for an “energetic, engaged scholar and exciting teacher,” adding that the new assistant professor would also have to be “someone who is interested in students and be familiar with the special relationships that develop between professors and students in small colleges.”
Girton said the search for the new faculty members began last year when the department advertised the position nationally. She interviewed numerous candidates at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society in Quebec, Canada and at the College Music Society Meeting in Salt Lake City with colleague Andre Myers. Over 100 applicants applied for the position, with a few international candidates from Canada, India and the United Kingdom.
In fall 2007, the department held pre-interviews with over 30 interested candidates, which the search committee then reduced to 10 semi-finalists. In January, the semi-finalists were given a phone interview, which narrowed the number down to three finalists. The three finalists are Dr. Denise Odello, Dr. Sarah Eyerly and Dr. David Kasunic.
Odello has a Bachelor of Music at UC Irvine and a Masters of Arts and Ph.D at the UC Santa Barbara School for Musicology. She is currently an adjunct professor at Occidental College.
Eyerly earned her BA in music from Penn State University and went on to earn her MA and Ph.D in musicology and criticism from UC Davis. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at UCLA.
The final candidate to be interviewed, David Kasunic, earned his BA at Amherst College and his Masters of Fine Arts and Ph.D in musicology from Princeton University. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at Haverford College.
The search committee is comprised of three faculty from the Music Department, Professor Allen Gross, Assistant Professor Andre Myers and Professor Girton, as well as Assistant Professor Kristi Upson-Saia of the Religious Studies Department. Assistant Professor Adelina Alegria of the Education Department serves as the College representative from the affirmative action committee in addition to Music and Psychology double major David Bergner (senior).
The three finalists were all invited to an on-campus interview, with separate dates allotted to each candidate. During their on-campus interviews, the candidates speak individually with every member of the search committee, the Dean of College Eric Frank, the Associate Dean Michael McDonald and students of the music department over lunch with no faculty members present. The candidates also give teaching demonstrations and public talks on their research focus. The on-campus interviews last for two days. Dr. Denise Odello was on campus for the interview during Feb. 7-8, Dr. Sarah Eyerly from Feb. 11-12 and Dr. David Kasunic is expected to come from Feb. 21-22.
“The search is going on great,” Girton said, “though doing a national search is a lot of work and time consuming.” She said that this particular group of candidates was very strong and, therefore, it will be a challenge to choose the finalist. “Any one of them would be an asset,” Girton said, adding that the new assistant professor “would be an important part of the community who will help the students and help the faculty.”
After the new professor is chosen, the music department will then have four tenure and tenure-track professors, another group of non-tenure-track professors (adjunct professors) and 26 part-time instructors of performance teaching instruments to students.
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