USC Thornton School of Music announces expansion, new degrees

The USC Thornton School of Music announced today that it is expanding its physical presence by 50% with the acquisition of three buildings on the university's main campus.

The buildings, which belonged to the USC School of Cinematic Arts, will transition to USC Thornton over the next two years and will be used as classrooms and rehearsal and performance spaces.

USC Thornton's Dean Robert Cutietta told Culture Monster that several other schools were interested in acquiring the facilities, but the final decision was made by the office of the provost.

The school also confirmed today that four new undergraduate programs will launch in the fall 2009 semester. The programs will offer Bachelor of Arts degrees in popular music performance, choral music, vocal jazz and performing and visual arts studies, which is an interdisciplinary degree.

The news was announced today by Cutietta as part of USC Thornton's 125th anniversary, which the school is celebrating this year with 125 days of performances and other events that will kick off in August. A webpage detailing the various festivities will launch in the next several days, according to the school.

The anniversary celebration will feature 50 events that will highlight each of the school's 16 departments. Artists expected to appear include Steve Miller, Michael Tilson Thomas and the new music group Eighth Blackbird.

USC Thornton was founded in 1884 and was renamed in 1999 in honor of a $25-million gift from Flora L. Thornton.

The three buildings that will join the school are the Marcia Lucas Post-Production building; the Carson Soundstage; and the Harold Lloyd Soundstage. Staff and faculty have already begun moving in, and each of the buildings will be repurposed to fit the school's needs. The buildings became available with the March 29 opening of the new USC School of Cinematic Arts compound.

The school also announced that it has revised its doctoral programs in music education and sacred music to make them "even more relevant to the workplace and academia," according to Cutietta. 

-- David Ng

Photo: Midori Goto teaches a class at USC's Thornton School of Music in 2005. Credit: Luis Sinco

Comments

[Harrison Boyle]

Has the University offered any explanation as to exactly why one would need a bachelor's degree to perform 'popular' music, which is largely generated by persons with no substantive musical education of at all?

[Daniel Roihl]

In response to Mr. Boyle, it's true that many who perform - and even create - popular music have very little in the way of musical education, particularly in the academic sense. The idiom of popular music has become intermingled with another cultural idiom that is largely image-based rather than music-based, for which music unfortunately often serves as a mere vehicle for fashion, sexuality, and the near deification (particularly by young people) of cultural icons with dubious moral values. At the same time, however, it is a multi-billion dollar industry and one that has the potential for not only broad appeal but a wide social impact, particularly among younger generations. I applaud USC for recognizing that popular music cannot simply be written off as trivial, or not "substantive".

It is my hope that this new program at Thornton will accomplish at least three things: first, to underscore the ways that genuine musical training and musicianship can elevate the quality of ALL types of music, including popular genres; second, to instill a sense of social responsibility in aspiring popular musicians by helping them understand the various ways that industry affects our culture (whether intended or not); and third, to help classical musicians explore ways to better understand and meet the needs of a broad-based audience, without pandering or compromising musical quality.

Some of today's most successful musicians, classical AND popular, have cultivated styles that are both musically sophisticated and immediately accessible to new listeners. The past 125 years or so have witnessed a growing rift between musical languages designed to have immediate appeal, and those meant to reward deeper study and analysis, or at least repeated exposure. This polarization has, in part, led to the "snobbery" of classical musicians on the one hand, and the decimation of the classical audience on the other. Perhaps the kind of cross-pollination USC appears to be trying to encourage, by recognizing the importance of both, is exactly what our musical culture needs.

Daniel Roihl, doctoral student
USC Thornton School of Music Choral Dept.

[Joseph M]

Thank you Mr. Ng for writing this article about USC’s Thornton School expansion and new music programs. An expansion of 50% must provide the Thornton community with much needed space for its musicians and faculty. Having spent time on the USC campus, the music school has always seemed relatively small despite the very competitive atmosphere it bolsters. I wonder if the new facilities will allow the school to foster new performance ensembles as well, given the news of the new pop music degree. This fresh degree program seems like a very positive move by the Thornton School. So many young artists who have not yet grasped their raw talent or refined their skills have a unique opportunity now to really move forward and learn how their abilities work. I believe this can serve as a bridge for so many eager, driven musicians who may not have the groundwork as of now, but can build upon their talents in an academic setting. The public has seen artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, who may have not had the best vocal skills when they were on American Idol, but they learned how to control their voices after the show and flourish because of professional training. USC’s new program can offer these pop musicians and vocalists a fantastic opportunity to refine their skills through intense training, much like the classical musicians in the school, and graduate with abilities that they did not have before.