Students enrolled in Peabody's
Recording Arts and
Sciences Program learn, in essence, about recorded music's
complete journey, from the moment a sound is first
generated to its digital dwelling on CD or tape.
The program, whose first students matriculated in
1985, is a collaboration of the
Peabody Conservatory
of Music and the
Whiting School of Engineering and was envisioned to be
the premier training program of its kind in the United
States. Twenty years later, it is considered the nation's
most comprehensive recording arts program, distinguished by
its innovative double-degree curriculum that combines music
and engineering.
"This program is truly unique. Our students not only
focus on a musical instrument, calculus, physics and
electrical engineering, but they also learn everything on
the audio recording and production side," said Alan P.
Kefauver, founder and director of the Recording Arts and
Sciences Program. "Students receive a very in-depth look at
recording, from the nature of sound through audio
post-production using today's state-of-the-art equipment."
To celebrate the anniversary of Recording Arts and
Sciences, the Peabody Institute on Saturday, Jan. 29, will
host a public panel discussion, "The State of the Art:
Looking Ahead to the Next 20 Years," featuring some of the
industry's most distinguished leaders.
The event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in Peabody's
Cohen-Davison Family Theatre. Following the panel, tours of
Peabody's recording studios will be offered. Among them is
the new state-of-the-art multitrack Studio 220, which
features a Sony Oxford console, one of only 37 in the
world. It was created as part of the institute's recent
$26.8 million renovation.
The bachelor of recording arts and sciences degree
combines courses and performance requirements of Peabody's
music program with electrical engineering, math, science
and computer courses from the schools of Engineering and
Arts and Sciences, along with specialized courses in the
recording arts and sciences taught in Peabody's facilities.
In 1998, a master of arts degree in recording and
acoustics was created, ushering in a new era in audio
education. The program was developed in collaboration with
members of the professional audio community to provide the
technical knowledge and musical skills necessary to work at
an advanced level in the field of audio/video and/or
acoustics.
Today, there are 38 students enrolled in the Recording
Arts and Sciences Program. Graduates hold positions in
major-market public and commercial radio and television
stations, the recording industry, the audio-equipment
industry, video post-production facilities and academia.
Kefauver, whose contribution to Peabody will be
honored at the event, has served as recording consultant
for the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, recording engineer
for the Inter-American Arts Festival, recording
engineer/producer for the Aspen Music Festival and
principal instructor at Aspen Audio Institute, which he
helped found. He has designed and built studios for several
universities, including the University of Mexico, Mexico
City, and the new recording arts facilities for the Yong
Siew Toh Conservatory of the National University of
Singapore. He has engineered audio recordings for compact
discs and worldwide television and radio broadcasts, as
well as recordings and benefit specials for John Denver,
Victor Borge, Misha Dichter, the Cleveland Quartet and
Tommy Newsom.
At Peabody, he pioneered the establishment of a
comprehensive professional multitrack recording complex and
developed the bachelor of recording arts and sciences
degree and the master of arts in recording and acoustics
degree. He is the author of Fundamentals of Digital Audio
and The Audio Recording Handbook.
The panelists for the Jan. 29 event include Matthew
Polk, co-founder of Polk Audio; John Eargle, engineer at
the Delos label and author of The Microphone Book; Bob
Goldstein, owner of Maryland Sound; Lawrence Manchester,
film score engineer (The Red Violin, Frida); George
Massenburg, former JHU student and founder of GML; Charles
Thompson, senior engineer at National Public Radio; and
Tony Warner, Peabody alumnus and director of audio-visual
design for the Baltimore-based architecture firm RTKL.
An exhibit documenting the history of the Recording
Arts Program at Peabody will be on view during a reception
from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the school's Bank of America Mews
Gallery. A concert by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra,
playing works by Schoenberg, Mahler and Beethoven, is
scheduled for 8 p.m. in Friedberg Hall.