Opus 3 Artists, Coffee, Music, Headline Winter Term at SFCM
From the ins and outs of Opus 3 Artists, music history and the age of coffee, to building electroacoustic tools, students can choose between a variety of exciting projects.
Winter term starts Jan 9 and runs for about two weeks.
By Mark Taylor
It’s the time of year again when an SFCM student can put down their instrument (if they want) and try something completely different.
The Conservatory's Winter Term invites students who are usually focused on their particular instrument or program to try something new. “Simply put, we want enjoyment and a cultivation of curiosity,” Dean Jonas Wright said of the recurring program. "To see what happens when you play in a way that you haven’t before."
This Winter Term there are 52 faculty projects running and 35 student-proposed projects. Faculty have brought back some classic favorites, and introduced some exciting new options for the roughly two-week period starting January 9.
For the first time, students can learn the inner workings of a leading artist management company—in this case, Opus 3 Artists, which SFCM acquired in 2020—, by taking the “Opus 3 Artist Management Seminar.” Various managers from the company will meet with students through targeted discussion, case studies and group activities. This class is the latest in a string of collaborations between Opus 3 and SFCM.
Also brewing up this year is “Music History and the Age of Coffee” led by professor Erick Arenas. Students in this group will study connections between musical life and the emerging culture of coffee drinking in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Readings and listening activities will focus on a variety of compositions, such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Coffee Cantata.
For those wanting a hands-on Winter Term experience, Technology and Applied Composition Executive Director Taurin Barrera is offering “Building Electroacoustic Tools, in which students will learn the basics of building simple analog musical devices, including contact microphones, condenser microphones, and synthesizers.
Returning Winter Term classics that explore songwriting, music history, tap dancing, and yoga are also being offered this year. In addition to the fun and exploration of new music, Winter Term also offers the chance to develop a business or technical skill, and give students a career a head start. Either way, since its successful launch in the 2015–16 academic year, Winter Term invites students not to take a break, but to break away.
Learn more about Winter Term at SFCM.