Episode 21 - Performing Arts & Industries

[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to Kendall speaks. I'm Dr. Brian Stewart, Kendall campus president. And today we have an amazing group of people with us to talk about the performing arts programs here at the Kendall campus. First is Misty Bermudez, instructor of music humanities and coordinator of our classical vocal area. Welcome. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:00:26] Speaker A: Also with us is Linda Alvarado Sturmer, instructor of music and coordinator of our jazz program. [00:00:32] Speaker C: Thank you so much. [00:00:32] Speaker A: Glad to have you. And finally, Philip Jones, instructor of our music program. Music business. [00:00:37] Speaker D: Music business. It's great to be here. Yes. Wonderful. [00:00:40] Speaker A: Well, welcome, all. Let's first talk a little bit with each of you about your journey, maybe in the world of art and, you know, how that got you here to Miami Dade College. So, Misty, we'll start with you. [00:00:50] Speaker B: Sure. I grew up, started singing when I was nine years old, and then I studied music here in Miami Dade County. I was a part of the South Miami Middle School magnet program, and then I went to New World School of the Arts. And then I decided that's what I wanted to do for my living. I wanted to perform. I did do a music ed degree at fiu. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be an educator or not. I did a performance master's at, um, did the performing thing for a long time until about 12 years ago when I started teaching here. I started just teaching some voice lessons, and I was like, oh, this is awesome. And so it started small and just kind of grew from there, and here I am 12 years later. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Well, we're glad you're here. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Linda, what about your journey? [00:01:35] Speaker C: Yeah, kind of similar to Misty's. I feel like I always, I was just always singing. You know, my parents, since I was little, it was like they wanted me to be a singer, and they were like, you should take lessons. [00:01:46] Speaker D: And. [00:01:46] Speaker C: And I kind of resisted, I think, a little bit out of fear. And it wasn't until I was graduating high school where I was like, well, I don't like to do anything else, so, you know, let me give this a chance. And I think for me, this question, you know, what really inspired me? The answer is Miami Dade College, because I was a student here, and this is where I first got the tools where I realized I can do this. You know, they gave me the tools to continue my education. I, I, similar to Missy, I didn't study education, actually, I studied performance. So I didn't know where it was going to lead. But in my master's program, I became a teaching assistant. And I was like, this is kind of cool. Obviously, I Didn't know I would be back here. But for me, just having gone through my mid aid college, the teachers that I had when I was a student here, they are really the inspiration for my journey and ending up back here. [00:02:42] Speaker A: It's interesting you talk about your master's degree because that's what happened to me. I got to teach on my master's and it was like, oh, man, this is cool. Yeah, this is what it's all about. I love the other research stuff, but the teaching is what it's all about. So we're glad you're here. Philip, what about your journey to Miami Dade College? [00:02:55] Speaker D: Well, this is an interesting one. Not being from South Florida, being from Houston, Texas. [00:03:00] Speaker A: All right, Go Texas. [00:03:03] Speaker D: I started out actually in music at 5 years old. That's because the adults didn't want me in the room. They said, hey, you need to go to the other room. And there was a piano. So I learned to play the piano by ear just loud enough so that way they knew I was in there, but not too loud to drown out their conversations. That later led me into producing music, recording music in my bedroom. I got my engineering degree, so I didn't want to necessarily be a musician. I wanted to design the equipment that the musicians use. [00:03:32] Speaker A: Wow. [00:03:34] Speaker D: That led me to the University of Miami, where I've been finished my master's degree. And like some of you all, my advisor left for about a month or two. He said, hey, you can teach my class, if you don't mind. I taught his class and he came back and said, you should be a professor or teacher. I said, no, no, no. There's a longer story why he said that, but I said, no, no, no. He said, well, you know, there's a job for you at Miami Dade College. I said, no, no, no, no. He said, no, I've already put your name in. They're willing to hire you. All you have to do is show up and do the job. You have this. And that was in 2002, 2003, and I started as an adjunct and now, you know, thank God I'm a full time employee. Still wet behind one ear. So, yes, it's. It's been an amazing journey. Touched so many lives and so many students have touched my life and, you know, made a difference in the community. [00:04:25] Speaker A: That's great. And we'll talk about students in a minute. I have to say, though, we've done over 20 podcasts and the three of you have the best voices I think we've ever had anybody on our podcast make me look bad. So I'm excited for this. Well, let's go through some questions, and we'll just kind of bat them around, and anybody can jump in here. Let's talk a little bit about the overview of our performing arts department and what we offer. And, you know, hopefully we have some audience members out there that may be considering coming to the Kendall campus. And so who wants to start by talking a little bit about our department? [00:04:56] Speaker B: I'll go ahead and start. [00:04:57] Speaker A: Okay, go. [00:04:57] Speaker B: Sure. So our department is called the Performing Arts and Industries department. It used to be music, theater, and dance, and then music business came over to be a part of our department years ago, and so hence the name change. So now it houses music and theater and dance and then music business. And we offer AAs and A Ss in different areas in performance in education, theory and composition. The degrees that we offer can lead into those bachelor's programs, arts therapy, and maybe I'll let Philip talk a little bit more specifically about music business. [00:05:40] Speaker D: Yes, it's wonderful to be coupled with the performing arts because the students not only get a chance in music business to perform an art and know what it's like to be an artist, and then they understand how to monetize and how to build relationships and how to understand the business. Like, okay, yeah, you can sing, but there's probably a contract we should sign. So that way, as you get signed, everyone gets fairly compensated. So we have that. And even like this podcast, we have audio engineering, music production. It's a great portion of the program that really has an asset, I believe. [00:06:15] Speaker C: Yeah. And I want to speak to what both of them are saying. There's also a lot of collaboration between these areas because it's not just, you know, we're a music business, and we're a music. And we're dance. A lot of the students do a little bit of everything. And so some of them are in multiple ensembles. Some of them are music business students, but they take private lessons and they're in. In the ensembles, and they. They don't only produce the music, but they make the music. [00:06:39] Speaker D: Yes. [00:06:39] Speaker C: You know, and so we help them in, you know, as much as we can with all those different paths to creating music. [00:06:47] Speaker B: And they. They. I'm sorry to interrupt, but they don't necessarily in their degree program because there's. There's so many demands on them. You know, there's a very specific pathway that they have to follow. But as they're thinking about what they might do in the future, you know, for example, if they're thinking of going into the genre of musical theater. We don't have an AA in musical theater, but they can do the music. And then we'll say, okay, but you should also go take a ballet class. Or if they're thinking about composition, I'm like, okay, we're, we're gonna also insert a songwriting class into your curriculum. So it's really great to have all of these different facets of the curriculum. [00:07:17] Speaker A: You can kind of customize it based on when you meet the student and. [00:07:20] Speaker D: What their interests are. [00:07:21] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. [00:07:21] Speaker A: And, you know, speaking of students, one of my favorite thing is to walk the campus and hear the people in the practice rooms in building M and outside Building 8 here. And we had the SACS people here for accreditation visit, and we didn't set it up, but your students were all over the place making music and so forth. So with that question, talking. Talk a little bit about how we develop student skills. And you mentioned Misty about how you prepare them kind of with their degree, but talk a little bit about what we have to offer them here at Kendall. [00:07:49] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So I'll speak mostly to music because that's the area that I teach in. But we really do our best to make it as comprehensive as possible. So our music students in particular, they take music theory classes, they take sightseeing classes, they take, they take piano. This is all on top of their private lesson and their ensembles where they actually make the music. So besides, you know, while they're taking all these classes, they're developing all these fundamental skills that overlap to help them have the resources. And like Professor Bermuda said, when they continue, they have a good start, they have a good foundation. So that's, to me, that's one of the most important things that we do, is offering them those fundamental skills to become musicians. [00:08:35] Speaker B: And one of the particular concerns for music students, for dance students, for theater students, is that they not only have to complete the classes they need that are sort of their, you know, first two year classes that they would take in any four year program. Because the degrees across public and private universities for the arts are, for the most part, are pretty standardized. We know that they have to do an audition as well. And that's a big thing because when they're going to their next institution, they're expected to perform at the level of a junior. So we have to make sure that they are ready for that, because it doesn't matter if they've completed all the classes and vice versa, if they are performing and they're amazing, but they haven't taken two levels of theory, they might get sent back to finish that before they come in or might not be considered. So that's a way that we are looking at them in particular to get them prepared and. [00:09:31] Speaker C: And I want to. Sorry, jump in. We do help them additionally outside of the classroom because we are very active about advising them, meeting with them, helping them enroll in the right music classes, saying, like you mentioned earlier, kind of customizing, what do you want to do? Okay, here's how we can get you there. And it's different for each student, right? [00:09:51] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:52] Speaker D: It's very challenging. And that's the reason why I really like the position and I like the faculty and staff. One of the things that I've tried to encourage students at any level is getting some hands on experience. There are some people that are great mechanics, there are some people that are great at sports. You1 need to know the fundamentals of the game. So you have to study the history of the game, study history of the automobile. So we have to study the history, appreciation of music and know music theory. But then you need to get your hands dirty, right? You need to do the work, you need to record, you're going to need to do the ensembles, you're going to need to perform, and that will help change your perspective. You might not be an artist, but now that you've done the work, you can respect the artist when they have jitters, or you can respect the artist when they realize, oh, you know, maybe let's bring this song down a half step at this time because, you know, maybe they have a cold or a flu. These things you want to be aware of. And so that's, you know, hands on experience. Encouraging the students to create bands, you know, internship at local labels, studios and entertainment companies makes a difference. [00:10:57] Speaker A: Philip, let's talk about the music industry. With technology and social media and streaming and all the things that are going on, there's been a lot of changes in it. How do you incorporate those kinds of things in your curriculum? [00:11:09] Speaker D: Well, it's always changing, which is another thing I love. I stay on my toes. There's not a week or day that I am not researching. I'm either on Instagram, TikTok, using Gemini, I'm using all the TikTok tools and AI tools as well as some old school books students need to be aware of, like this podcaster, understanding what those lights mean, what the pads mean, because some of them, while they may be musicians or producers, they may move into the area of podcasting. I was fortunate enough to, when I was working at the Apple Store. I met television personality, and they wanted to start a podcast. I became their engineer for the podcast. Then I had to step away, and I actually had students from my class that I taught take over the podcast. I've had others who became assistants to that personality. So being flexible, knowing that it's going to change. I mean, I want. I want to date myself. But I remember when there was this thing called a what, eight track? [00:12:15] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:12:16] Speaker D: Okay. I'm afraid then that moved to. Not only, you know, we had vinyl, but we had tapes, and then we moved to CDs, and, you know, we moved to MP3s, and now there's AI. I have little short story. I have a friend of mine whose father's passed, and he misses his father. He didn't have a good relationship with his father, and he asked me, hey, man, you think I can give you some recordings of my father and put that into the AI and have it. Have it talk to me. Oh, my God. [00:12:47] Speaker B: Wow. [00:12:47] Speaker D: Have it. Tell me, son, you did good. [00:12:50] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. [00:12:51] Speaker D: It's things like that that say, okay, if you're in the music industry, you have to have the compassion, but also understanding of. I want that tone that when he says it, that it's sincere, not just, I love you, son. So these things we incorporate and, you know, who owns it, how do we manage it? So copyright law, publishing law, all that changes and. And students, I need to let them know they must be lifelong learners. [00:13:17] Speaker A: Exactly. What's interesting, the AI part, you know, you think AI has. Well, AI has been around a while, but we've really kind of recognized it recently. Just imagine five years from now where we're going to be, and maybe we shouldn't think about that. Ladies, let's talk a little bit about our performances. Talk about some that you guys have staged recently that you're most proud of. [00:13:38] Speaker C: We have so many performances, and they're all so different, so. Well, coming up, I'll talk about one that we're really excited about. On March 10, we're going to have the Compose her concert where we're going to feature both of our ensembles, the Chorale, which Misty leads, and Vocal Fusion. And vocal fusion. 2. So that one, you know, we were featuring female composers, female arrangers, and we try to do different concerts like that. In the past, we've had concerts where we invite alumni to come back. So we try to vary it. We've had concerts where we perform off campus. I know Misty does that a lot because she also happens to be the director of the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami. So there's a lot of community overlap as well in our performances. I also want to talk about the student led performances, too, because we do coordinate a lot as professors in the music department, where we put on shows for our students, but the students themselves are. Are taking ownership. And they are starting to say, well, we want to put a show together of music that we don't get to do in ensembles. Because, you know, we have to. We do have to curate the music so that there's tradition and there's, you know, innovation and there's things they want to do. But at the same time, some of them want to perform, you know, R and B covers or pop songs. And so we have the coffee house performances that the Fusion House club puts on in front of the Starbucks. Sometimes you get to hear them. So we have a lot of variety. [00:15:07] Speaker B: And a wide variety of genres, which is really great because our students come in. Some of them are actually unsure as to what particular genre of music they're going to focus on. So we have, you know, the chorale that I lead, which is a very sort of more traditional choir. And then we've got a couple of jazz choirs. And then we have an R and B ensemble. And we also have the jazz band. And then we've got the nighttime studio jazz band. [00:15:33] Speaker C: We have the concert band. [00:15:35] Speaker B: We have the concert band. Right. Which is like a symphonic band. I mean, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but it's like, in terms of the music and the performances, we have a lot of different ones. We've recently had. I had a student vocal recital for the classical vocal students. Just this past Tuesday, there was. For Black History Month, we had a black composer's recital. And you know, as Professor Alvarado mentioned, we have an upcoming concert. A lot of times we collaborate, we get together and do concerts together. But this also happens in theater and in dance. They put on, you know, sometimes they're smaller performances, sometimes really huge productions, Sometimes they're review shows, sometimes they're a full show. I also direct the. It's called the Opera Workshop, but we called ourselves the Shark Stage Singers. Cause we do more musical theater than anything musical theater review shows. So, I mean, how much time do you have? We could, like, keep going and keep going. [00:16:29] Speaker C: What's really fun, too, is there's been a couple times where we've put together smaller performances, combining the dancers with Professor Grant Murray and are, you know, soloists from our departments. [00:16:39] Speaker B: Yes. So the My Ambiance launch. And so that was even like, you know, outside of our department with the English department. I mean, we've done that, you know, several times. So it's gratifying. It's nice. [00:16:51] Speaker A: You know, one of the things we've tried to do is use our marquee to advertise events. Please send those to our office. Because you just mentioned some that I didn't even. Wasn't even aware of. And we need to make sure we start advertising those. If you'll let us know, like the week before, we'll make sure they get on the marquee. [00:17:06] Speaker B: Okay, sure. Yeah, a lot. Some of our events do go through media services where they will get displayed and some of them, if they're smaller, they may not. So we'll make sure that you know about those. [00:17:16] Speaker A: Philip, let's talk a little bit about examples of how students can get hands on experience with the business side of music. You mentioned it a little bit, but give me some more examples if you don't mind. [00:17:26] Speaker D: Well, with the music business side, it's always evolving. One of the key things that we encourage students to do is get an internship that gives them real world, real life examples of what's required. Many of them, also in my class and also my colleague and my mentor, Professor Quincy, we have them create a portfolio of their music. We have them copyright not only their songs and go through that process. So the experience they get is somewhat tailored and other times it asks and requires them to go out and seek it. We try to stay abreast of all of the new trends, but it's important that they take ownership of their path. It's so crucial that if they don't have an idea that here is the place where you can find the support and, and you go out and you get it. [00:18:21] Speaker A: So yeah, as I hear all of you talk, it makes me think about our students in our ISDs and our public schools. Is it. I imagine it's hard for those students sometime to know their next step when they're in performing in the high schools. Talk a little bit about how we can help shape that student's future. Because I just, I can remember back in high school, I didn't know where I was going exactly, but I just really think some of these performers don't know where to go and it really is stressful. [00:18:48] Speaker B: One of the ways that we tackle this issue, because I think that the world of the arts can seem really nebulous in terms of like, what, how do I, what path do I take? There isn't, you know, like a perfectly Prescribed path in the arts, there are many paths. And so I understand how that could be overwhelming. But one of the things that we do, I know, you know, Linda and I both do this. We do heavy recruiting, we do a ton of high school visits. We. We go out there, we show them all the stuff about Miami Dade. We show them what's available here. We show them these are all the possibilities for you. And we also let them know, at least in particular to music. And I think probably the same could be said with theater and dance, for example, is that our first part of the degree, in a sense, is somewhat general and can lead them. They don't have to decide exactly what they're going to do in the arts. The minute that they walk out of high school, they don't have to do that. They can come here and there's a certain amount of room for exploration as they go forward. And I think having a key, having a person, having a faculty or multiple faculty as a point, you know, because we got those requests. Professor, could I talk to you for 20 minutes? Because I'm having some thoughts. And it's great because you get to sit down and explore with them. And again, like what you said, like, it can feel very sort of. Sort of overwhelming. [00:20:07] Speaker A: You know, you say that. I think I won't date any of us, but, you know, when we were all going to college, because we've been around a little bit, we could go to that first semester, we experimented a little bit. You know, sometimes your degree wasn't 120 hours. Now, that's not the case. And so I think that's really important you say that, especially in this area, because it's important for a student to know they can come to the Kendall campus and experiment a little and say, I don't have to know my exact path the first day I walk in. Maybe you do if you're in STEM or something. But I think that's a really cool thing about this program. [00:20:36] Speaker B: And, and to be. To be honest with you, our students, the days of going into one genre and only ever singing. I mean, when I went through school, it was classical and classical and classical and nothing else. And now many programs will have them kind of take a couple steps over, study some musical theater. I just gave a recital a week ago, and it featured mostly like a lot of Spanish language boleros and jazz standards, ballads. You know, I mean, I'm glad I could do that because it was an opportunity for me. So that's another thing, is that it's not only getting Their path, but also giving them some overlapping skills for other genres. [00:21:14] Speaker D: One of the things I wanted to add, I found it interesting, you know, coming from years of teaching in the high school, the students now have the opportunity to do dual enrollment. So just last semester, I had a student that was in my class, and I was like, this guy is, like, overly eager, asking all. Wasn't like a normal college student come to find out he was in dual enrollment. And we found out I was teaching here. He was driving from one side of the planet just to come to this location. So that's one of the other things that we want to champion and look out for is those students who want to come and take those dual enrollment courses. And with us having multiple paths, I want students to continue to finish their degrees here because some of them choose to transfer. That student in particular wanted to go to Berkeley. But I reassured them. Everything you want to know, you can get it within the Miami Dade system. And I hope to. That's one of my plans. Like I said, I'm not a megalomaniac, but I would love to go out to a lot of the high schools and. And encourage students to come here for music production. We are few and not many, but when you find them, they can help shape and change the community of music. [00:22:35] Speaker A: Let's move toward that. Let's talk a little bit about how we work with the community and various things we do to try to get our name out there. [00:22:42] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm gonna use an example from last year, because Professor Bermudez and I were really excited. We in the music department get a lot of students from Ronald Reagan Senior High School. So we were able to coordinate. Professor Bermudez and I have a lot of. And all of us have connections with the local music teachers because that's so important. Like, we were talking about recruitment. I think part of students having ideas of what to do is just. They just need information. We need to get the information to them. And so this happened to fall under both recruitment and just engaging the community. We did a performance off campus at their school, and. And for a lot of our students, yeah, we had to do the same thing. [00:23:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:24] Speaker B: But it was great because for a. [00:23:25] Speaker C: Lot of our students, it served as a homecoming. Then we got our name out there. That's just one thing. We also engage with the other schools around our area. I know Professor Bermudez and I have connections with the programs at fiu, at University of Miami, programs around the country. And so getting our students involved and knowing how to get there. Recently, I had one of my ensembles perform at the University of Miami two weeks ago. So that was very encouraging because they got to hear other schools from the area. The schools got to hear them. We were out there and we're like, here we are. We're Miami Dade College, and we just need to get people to know about us. And that's really. You know. [00:24:06] Speaker B: And this past November, we actually had. We're going to be doing this every two years. The second one we've done, which we call it a vocal invitational. So we approached high school teachers with very strong programs whose students may be looking to do music degrees. Or sometimes they're not doing music degrees. Sometimes we should have said this probably a long time ago that they're gonna be a psychology degree. But they wanna do our ensembles, they wanna take lessons, they wanna continue doing their arts. Anyhow, we had this vocal invitational. We had three schools, three high schools come and spend the day with us. And we did recruitment presentations. And we had, like, some group pieces. We were singing together, some rehearsal time, they ate lunch together, tours, and it was really great. We have this, like, outreach in that way with the high schools, for example. But we also have, you know, engagement with other community and professional organizations. For example, Professor Alvarado mentioned that I direct a community choir. It's of adults. It's about 100 adults. And since we don't have a huge choral union here, it's a great way for me to partner my smaller school choir. Great intergenerational experience, you know, with some much more experienced community singers to show them how even if they don't go into music for their career, they can continue to sing and make music and give bigger performances. The relationships that we all maintain with other professional arts organizations. For example, you know, a few years ago, I did a concert with my choir and the New World Symphony. We were the choir for their performance with a composer, conductor called Eric Whitaker, probably the most famous in the whole country right now for choral music. And he conducted I, a couple years ago, did Carmen of youb Honor with New World Symphony and Seraphic Fire. We had some Miami Dade students come and do that at the ARS Center. I mean, it was amazing. And then this coming May, I'm preparing a chorus myself and the director of choirs at um, we are doing the chorus for Gustav Holst, the Planets with the Cleveland Orchestra. So it's not the whole chorus, but it's just select. And I'm going to be using some students from Miami Dade, the ones who are advanced enough to do it. And also some Miami Dade alumni. So there's a lot of ways that we are involved with the community. [00:26:22] Speaker C: And I wanna add to that, because we also bring people from our community here. You know, and that's another thing. Sometimes we go and we have these opportunities, and sometimes, if we can, we bring them here because we have amazing artists all over South Florida. [00:26:36] Speaker B: Masterclasses. [00:26:36] Speaker C: So we bring them for masterclasses, presentations. You know, when. When we can, we are connecting our students with. With these. These artists who are doing what they want to do. [00:26:47] Speaker A: You mentioned alumni. Let's talk a little more about alumni. Maybe we can even highlight some. But talk about how we engage them, because I know we have some really talented graduates of the campus. [00:26:56] Speaker D: I know a few of my alumni, and I have to be careful because we have the good and. And the bad. So sometimes it's not just my teaching. It's. It's what the student may choose to do. But we have some awesome students who have gone on to do some music videos with Rick Ross. One of the things that touched me, I had a student that got a chance to work with Oprah Winfrey. When she came, and he literally came back, professor, I got to do this. And I'm like, that's great. It's all because of you. I'm like, no, you did the work. You put yourself in the opportunity. I didn't call Oprah. If I would have, it'd be a different conversation. But nonetheless, our alumni, they do things like that. I want to mention a lot of names, but I wanted this time. I have one student who is a dj. He has his own car, and he set it up like a dj. He goes on south beach, he drives around, and he used to be a signed artist with T Pain. [00:27:48] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [00:27:49] Speaker D: But he said, you know what? Like, when you're in college, you find your path. He found his path to doing something else. And that is just one of the stories that we have. [00:27:59] Speaker A: Entrepreneurial last example. [00:28:01] Speaker B: And, you know, we have students go on to work in many facets of the arts. We have performers and teachers and music therapists. And I have two former students who went here. One of them actually wasn't my student. She was here before I started working here. But another was my student here. They're both music therapists at the Sylvester Cancer center, for example. So this is the path. And they started here at Miami Dade College. Arts administration, conductors, et cetera. Really, they're getting into the community. They're doing the work, as a matter of fact, for our next Invitational, not this coming November, but the following. I talked to a friend of mine, now my friend, my former student, now my friend Valentina Ojeda. She's the Music Everything at J.C. bermudas High School. And she's become a wonderful professional in her own right. And I was like, hey, come back. This is the best kind of, you know, coming back to Miami Dade. I mean, we just have to look across this table at Professor Linda Alvarado Sturmer, right. As an alumna who came back here and has a somewhat famous student now. [00:29:10] Speaker C: Well, some of them were not my students. It was before my time, but we do, because Misty talked about the other sides of the music therapy, the teaching. But we also have a lot of students who are thriving in performance. So I think she's referring to a student, Mafe Miki La Rena, who was on the Voice last year. She made it pretty far through. And, yeah, it was so exciting to see her because not only is she a fantastic singer, but she's also good people. You know, when the. When they're both great people and fantastic musicians, it just lines up so well. So it's nice to see her career, you know, launching. And she's starting to release music. And that's something that I love, too, with. There is undeniably this connection in this time between music business and performance of any kind, because they have to be in the know. They have to know, well, I want to release music. What are the laws? How do I do this? So there's a lot of overlap, but a lot of them, students from. From before my time, from our department, we have lots of Latin Grammy nominees. We have winners. I have to point out Ale Mor, who is a singer songwriter in the Hispanic Latin genres. She was here last semester. She spoke as part of Hispanic heritage. She is really doing what a lot of the students want to do in terms of her performance career. She's recording, she's writing, she's, you know, being recognized, which is not the important part, but it's always nice. So a lot of them are following the performance pathway as well. [00:30:41] Speaker B: And I want to link this back into some of the things we were just talking about before, about the importance of the relationships that we build with community and with the high schools around. And the recruiting maffe was originally at Ronald Reagan, and she was a student of. My husband teaches guitar there. And then our friends are the choral directors and band directors. She was a student there. And I went over there at one point and was like, come on, come to Miami Dade. We got A full music program at Kendall campus. Let's go. And she came here and she participated in several of the ensembles. And just one of these wonderful, humble, awesome people. But it starts with that first, like you said, like, they may not know what they're going to do, but we're walking into the classrooms going, hey, here are all the possibilities. [00:31:25] Speaker D: And if I can piggyback on that, it's so important, you know, because I mentioned, you know, sometimes it's what we teach, but a lot of times it's recruiting that student that wants it and that needs it and that, you know, is desirous. There are others where you can say, hey, did you ever think about this? And it just blows their mind and they go off and succeed. So that's one of the key tenements of, I think being a professor and working in the institution is motivating and finding that right talent and cultivating it. [00:31:52] Speaker A: So I've been sitting here listening to you talk here, and I'm thinking, our next podcast, we need to bring some of these students back in and maybe have a student. [00:31:59] Speaker B: That would be so awesome. [00:32:01] Speaker A: Part two to follow. Yes, let's talk a little bit about technology, because I know technology really influences what you're doing with. With your students. One of you talk a little bit about how that has influenced things recently. [00:32:15] Speaker D: I'll go ahead and kick that one off. One thing I want to, you know, say that Miami Dade Kendall has a nice new Avid console. So we are adding a special course where someone can be now Avid Pro Tool certified. That technology is amazing to allow you to record, multitrack, you can break out into stems. It's so amazing. Now, I speak a little bit of Spanish, mostly Spanish from Houston, which I'll say Mexican. Spanish. [00:32:44] Speaker A: Cuban. [00:32:44] Speaker D: Spanish is a little. Yeah, it's a little faster here, for sure. I'm learning. But let's say I'm recording with someone and I don't understand the language. Now, these Pro Tools has an AI where it can write the words onto the screen so they can say, yeah, you know, go to the chorus. You know, a key right there. And so I can look for the word that they're saying and then punch in there. But then I can transition to all of us. We all have our cell phones now. You know, we have. We can talk to AI. A student can ask a question, and we may not know. We can say, you know what? Let's. Let's go ahead and ask. Oh, here's the question for that one. Or here's the answer for that One or here's an additional question. So I don't know. But yes, technology's always moving. [00:33:27] Speaker B: And I think there are some ways, like actually very, especially in the performance space, fundamental ways that technology has just made the information to the students so much more readily available. We have iPads where they have their music and they read instead of reading. I'm going to admit this. I was being a little bit of a stick in the mud, and it took me a long time, but I just got my iPad, like, five days ago, and I went, why didn't I do this before? So my music. I've been like a laptop person always, but I, you know, and I'm not averse to technology, but with reading music, I don't know, I had some nerves about it. It's just so incredible. It's super, you know, convenient. You can get recordings quickly. I mean, they're back in the day. [00:34:13] Speaker D: Yes. [00:34:14] Speaker B: I had to go, okay, I need to hear a recording of this particular aria from this particular opera. Let me walk myself over to the library and go through the card catalog or, like, whatever, you know, like, just these things that, like, while wonderful, were very time consuming. So the students have more availability for things like that, for communication with the students. Or, for example, we're doing some choreography in the opera workshop. At the end of the last class, I recorded what we did, and I uploaded a canvas and said, go home and practice. I mean, it's like an immediate. It's immediate. So these things that, like, are so basic, they feel basic. They're actually so revolutionary for the way that we teach. [00:34:55] Speaker C: That's. I was going to say the learning management systems like Canvas and just putting every, you know, reference recordings, adding assignments if they're struggling with something. And we say, okay, well, here's how you're gonna record yourself, and here's a track, or use the metronome, or. There's just so many. There's so many things that they can use to help them with the recordings there. You can look up a recording at any moment and find it in seconds. You can slow down the recordings if you're having trouble with, you know, like. Yeah, even when I was in school, I wasn't as. As long ago, but I didn't. I wasn't able to just slow down recordings and learn the intricacies of what I needed to learn. [00:35:35] Speaker A: You know, this next question I know is a tough one, but talk about some of the moments, each of you, maybe, that are the most rewarding to you. You want to start, Linda? [00:35:44] Speaker C: Yeah, it's that's hard because there's just too many. I won't speak of one moment. I'll speak. Generally, I think the most rewarding thing for me is the connection with my students and the relationships that we're building here. Every year, graduation gets harder and harder and harder, and there are many tears shed between a lot of us music and performing arts faculty because we have a different type of relationship with our students than, you know, maybe the students sitting in their math class where they don't get to talk to the teacher one on one like they do with us. We advise them and we enroll them. We see them all the time. Some of them I see for music theory and for ensemble and for lessons. And so there's a special type of relationship that we build that happens through the nature of what we're doing. For me, that's the most rewarding part is the connection with the students and then watching them grow and for some of them, watching them become professionals. [00:36:46] Speaker B: I think a big part of what we do here we are looking at that sort of long term goal of them becoming the kind of professional they want to. But in the more sort of immediate goal, we want to build your skills, get you the classes, keep that GPA up, get your audition ready, and when they know where they're going next. For me, that is such a huge thing. I feel like, okay, I can be here in a support capacity, in an advisory capacity, you know, you need to call, ask some questions. Great. But it's kind of like the end of a certain kind of role for us with these students. And like Professor Alvarado was saying, like, I mean, some of my students, if they're, they're here too. And sometimes for three years, like in our ensembles, three times a week for two or three years, we spend doing very, you know, intimate work with them. It's, it's awesome. But knowing when they go to that next place, I just always go. It's like you breathe a sigh of relief and you're like, okay, I have done what I am, what I have been here to do, and I've helped them make that next step in their career journey. [00:37:47] Speaker D: It's. It's so rewarding. It's beyond words. So this one I, I did put some thought in because I had two people before me, so I can't be able to think. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Benefits of going live. [00:38:00] Speaker D: Yes, yes, yes. So I remember I had a student that I actually worked with, his brother, I believe, at the Apple store. And he, another student did a movie. I was helping Mix the movie. And we needed music. So the brother said, hey, yeah, my brother sings. So put his music in the movie. Then he says, yes. You know anybody that can go to the studio with. And I need to go to the studio. I sent him to the studio. Next thing you know, that student gets signed by Pharrell. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [00:38:27] Speaker D: So that's a success story. I remember when I was also teaching at the north campus, I. I had a student come in, I met him at the Sam Ash. And I can definitely give a big shout out to Ivan Il factor. He got a chance with his hard work and talent to work with Timbaland. And that was. That's amazing. But then let me go to the side that we were talking about where we mentor students. We help them not only become professionals, but better people. I've had so many students go off and get married, and you're like, oh, that's so nice. You got kids. And you see them not only being able to have a full time job, still doing music because they love it. Because not everyone needs and desires to be Ariana Grande. Some people just need to have a happier life with what they do. And then the one that chuckles me the most, I was teaching making beats. And this I would say now that I'm closer to that age. Advanced age. Mother came in and she was making beats and everybody was like, you think her beat's gonna be any good? She spanked all of their beats because she took the lessons home. She was a stay at home mom and she was sitting there working on the computer because her son had bought a beat for 300 bucks. And she said, I gotta do better than that. Cause that beat wasn't. And she did it. So those stories are the ones that we. I remember and I like, well, this. [00:39:56] Speaker A: Has been a great conversation. As we kind of wrap up, let's talk a little bit about the future. We. We have some people out there that maybe are listening and considering coming to the Kendall campus. What would you say? What would. What would you tell them? What does the future look like for us here in music and performing arts and so forth? [00:40:14] Speaker B: I think that at least what I've seen in my time here, the performing arts and industries department has grown. I mean, we did have that. That minute of COVID in the middle of it, where everything felt like it ground. [00:40:31] Speaker A: You know, they said the other day, it's been five years now. Can you believe that? [00:40:34] Speaker B: It's. It's. It's wild. It's just so crazy that it's been that long. But so it kind of felt like there was, there was a little bit of a pause, but, but it was actually an opportunity to step back from the whole thing and say, okay, where do we want to go? Our, our ensembles are very strong. We have excellent private teachers. We are doing amazing collaborations, not only within our department, but with other departments. And what I see right amongst, like, really excellent faculty, our music faculty, our wonderful dance and theater faculty, you know, music business is this spirit of we are wanting to make things better. We're wanting to make things. I tell the students when they, when I go out and recruit. I said, our program is not auditioned the way that you would need to audition if you go to say, FIU or University of Miami or maybe to a school out of town, but we treat it like it is when they come here. I say, you're not gonna get a different experience. You're either going to rise to the occasion or not. It's your choice. But we're gonna give you everything we have here is what we have, what you can find someplace else. And that's always been, my goal is to create the experience for the student here so that they don't ever feel like, oh, I, well, I just went to Miami Dade and I didn't have the same experience that I got at another college or university. I want them to feel like I got everything that I needed and more. And that's, that's really. I find that to be the goal of a lot of my colleagues. [00:42:02] Speaker C: And it's so special because that's such a unique thing that we offer to say, you know, you want to be an artist, you want to learn, or you want to be an educator. Whatever field you want to go into. There aren't many places where you can just do that and show up. And we are one of those places. And for me, that was a huge gift. And I know for a lot of our students it is too, because like we said, they choose, you know, they have to put their part into it, but when they do, it's. It's really amazing. [00:42:30] Speaker D: So one of the things that I really like and because I'm still relatively new as a full time faculty, I have a lot of grandiose ideas, but some of them have already been done. I just maybe not fully aware. And that would be on campus showcases and talent shows, multi campus concerts leading to a local college concert and tour. Because we have some amazing talent. Why don't we go to these other schools and help build. I just want to build a better community of professionals and that are recording, that are releasing music, that are supporting with background singers, dancers, choreographers, just everything locally. I don't want to be another Atlanta or another LA or another Miami. I just want to be a better. Or I say New York. I want to be a better Miami. Build a community. [00:43:22] Speaker A: That's great. Well, we like to end our Kendall Speaks podcast with turning the microphone on me. So if you guys like to ask me any question, we've got some. Some wild ones over our episodes, but I'd certainly turn it back on you. [00:43:34] Speaker B: I have a question. [00:43:35] Speaker A: Okay. I figured you might. [00:43:37] Speaker B: Did you ever in your lifetime do any. I know you're a sports lover, or at least that's what. How much I see you online at sports events. I'm like, he must really like sports. But did you ever do any kind of arts growing up? [00:43:50] Speaker A: So I never had the talent to do that. My brother performed and did artwork and drama, Big drama. But I will tell you one of my favorite things to do that most people don't know. I probably have seen 60 Broadway plays. Just saw Mamma Mia. Last week at Arsh. I have a huge heart for Broadway, and you were talking about it earlier, and I mean, I can rank my top 10 shows just like that. So I do. [00:44:17] Speaker B: I do have big news, folks. [00:44:19] Speaker A: I do have a big heart for that, but I don't have any talent at all, unfortunately. [00:44:23] Speaker B: Well, can I. Can I just say something that links into that? You cannot be an artist and do art without an audience. [00:44:30] Speaker A: True. That's right. [00:44:31] Speaker B: So the audience is literally like the linchpin. It's the most important part of everything. Because what we do, it would be pretty selfish if we only did it for ourselves. Right. Or it wouldn't make any sense. So it's just. It's. I appreciate folks who are like, no, I'm the person who's gonna sit there and appreciate what's going on. [00:44:47] Speaker C: Well, now I want to know what the top one is. [00:44:49] Speaker B: Yes. What's your favorite musical? [00:44:51] Speaker A: It's Easy. Les Mis, by far, by far. Second is Kinky Boots. Third is the Prom. And then it gets really hard from there because I've seen them all. We just got back over Christmas and saw six productions, including Stereophonics, which is the number one play, and then the number one musical last year, but Tony winner was the Outsiders. We got to see that. And then I saw several others. We got to see Six, which I've been wanting to see. Suffs, which is. [00:45:18] Speaker B: My dad went to see Six in New York recently. [00:45:21] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:45:21] Speaker B: Yeah. He said it was incredible. [00:45:23] Speaker A: Suffs was their second to last day showing, so. And I think it's getting ready to tour down here, so. [00:45:29] Speaker B: Wow. That. [00:45:30] Speaker A: This is. [00:45:30] Speaker B: This is big info. Okay, now we know what to invite you to. I know. [00:45:37] Speaker A: Well, thank you all. Misty, thank you. Linda, Philip, thank you guys for your time. This has been a great, great podcast. I want to thank Christina Signs, our head writer, Paul Klein, our executive producer and producer today. Thank you all for being here and goodbye for now.