Charlie Hunter, Campus Life Reporter
• November 17, 2022
Do you like jazz? The Whitman College Department of Music held their jazz concert on Nov. 12 in Chism Hall. Doors opened at 6:30 p.m. for students, friends and faculty who braved the cold and took their...
The orchestra opened their fall season on Nov. 1 with an evening concert in Cordiner Hall. Associate Professor of Music Paul Luongo conducted his musicians, swinging his svelte baton for an hour. The ensemble...
Diana Issa, Campus Life Reporter
• February 10, 2022
On Friday, Feb. 4, the college's music department presented their brand new opera workshop, “Hansel And Gretel.” The show was cancelled last semester due to COVID-19, but now in the beginning of the...
On Saturday, May 9 at the Chism Recital Hall, the Whitman College Department of Music will present the Whitman Orchestra Spring Concert under the direction of Assistant Professor of Music Paul Luongo.
The...
On Saturday, April 25 in the Chism Recital Hall, the Whitman College Department of Music will present the Whitman Chorale and Chamber Singers under the direction of Visiting Assistant Professor of Music...
This week, The Pioneer sat down with violinist Katherine Lee. A junior English/music double major who hails from Honolulu, Hawaii, Lee spends most of her time adjusting to the cold, practicing her violin, learning piano and helping out Professor Sharon Alker as a Writing Fellow for the Encounters program. Lee's recital will be Saturday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Chism Auditorium.
In the past three years, the Whitman music department has undergone monumental shifts in its faculty, both tenure-track and temporary. After a recent decision to not rehire highly esteemed piano specialist Melissa Loehnig, some music students are questioning the policies of the administration and the nature of the tenure track at Whitman.
The performing arts around campus just got a facelift with three new professors joining the Whitman team. Coming to us from around the country and the world, these gentlemen will have plenty to contribute...
A series of end-of-year curriculum changes and hiring decisions in the music department have left many music students feeling like they don't have a voice in the future direction of the department.The academic year may be winding down, but some end-of-year hiring decisions and curriculum changes in Whitman’s music department have still managed to cause a stir among students.
For Whitman’s senior music majors, the end of the year brings senior recitals—their last chance to perform for the Whitman community and watch their peers show off what they can do. Beginning Sunday, April 15 at 3:00 p.m., the seniors’ performances reflect not only their current talents and skills, but also their growth and progress from the beginning of their music studies at Whitman.
Laura Curtis has been teaching piano at Whitman since 1997. She holds a master’s degree in music, instructs around 35 students per semester and is often busy from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with lessons, rehearsals, practicing and accompanying. For this, Curtis can expect to earn a little more than $20,000 per year from Whitman.
Curtis is one of Whitman’s music teaching assistants: instructors who are hired on a per-semester or per-year contract basis to teach private lessons. Currently, students pay $300 per semester per credit of instruction, with one credit equal to a half-hour private lesson per week over the course of the semester. Music assistants receive $264 per credit they teach. The remainder of the fee covers employer related payroll costs such as social security, Medicare and worker’s compensation. An instructor with teaching 40 half-hour lessons is considered to be employed full-time by the college, and would earn a salary of $21,120 before taxes.
