School of Music breaks new ground with lessons on the Web

Pianist José Feghali teaches a student in London via videoscreen

Fort Worth, TX

2/14/2007

A new day for college-level music instruction dawned at TCU  on Feb. 7 when two School of Music students sat down at the Steinway for a masterclass with a renowned piano teacher in London. Meanwhile, Christopher Elton, head of keyboard studies at the Royal Academy of Music there, had one of his students receiving instruction from José Feghali of the TCU piano faculty and gold medalist at the 1985 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. It’s the future of teaching and performance, made possible through advanced Internet2 technology.

The groundbreaking event was also a significant and very visible example of TCU’s commitment to technology. “I believe we have one of the premier technology infrastructures in the Southwest,” says David Edmondson, TCU’s associate provost for technology resources. “This presentation not only included the TCU infrastructure but also the North Texas GigaPoP infrastructure (a regional network consortium of seven member institutions of higher education) and the LEARN infrastructure (a statewide network consortium of 33 Texas institutions). TCU was a founding member of both infrastructures which provide shared collaborative access to Internet2 and National Lambda Rail (the two major higher education research networks providing access around the world) at a cost of $100,000 per year. Edmondson notes it has taken approximately 10 years to get to where TCU is today, providing connections to almost every desk in the academic/administrative buildings plus every student living in TCU residence halls.

The TCU-London interactive masterclass is just the first of many opportunities ahead. Through the use of high resolution video cameras, audio quality that’s even better than CD and a nearly nonexistent time-lag between locations, Internet2 connections literally open up a whole new world of possibilities in the School of Music.

Later this spring, a TCU percussion major has an appointment to audition for the Royal Academy in real time, with the London faculty able to interact appropriately. The savings in time and travel expenses alone will be a tremendous benefit in a young artist’s life.

Veda Kaplinsky, TCU piano faculty member and head of piano at The Juilliard School in New York City, will teach private lessons and masterclasses to TCU students using the same technology.

Families of students who play in campus music ensembles will be able to watch selected performances live on the Web from their home computers, even if they live across the country or half-way around the world. “Our reach here at TCU is so international, that offering this means of seeing their children in a college setting becomes a priceless connection to have with these people,” says Feghali, who was key in gathering the resources to make Internet2 collaboration and Webcasting a reality at TCU’s School of Music.