Natalie L. Haslam College of Music

Archives for November 2024

UT College of Music sees rise in retention rates

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Originally posted in the Daily Beacon, written by Samantha Whitley

The Natalie L. Haslam College of Music is one of the few independent music colleges in the United States and is recognized as the fourth college at the University of Tennessee to be named after someone in 230 years.

Even as a new college, the College of Music has recorded exceptional retention rates, reaching 100% last year and 90.3% this year. The addition of this college was necessary as music has deep roots in Tennessee.

Alissa Galyon, director of marketing and communications, spoke on the upgrade on the College of Music.

“As the flagship university of the state, our university leadership recognized the value and importance of elevating the former School of Music to a College of Music,” Gaylon said. “As a college, we have more autonomy and are empowered to have more of an impact on the ever-evolving music economy.”

Several factors contributed to the increase in retention rates within the college, including the dedication to creating a supportive community, enhancing academic resources and broadening the curriculum.

Sara Carroll, director of admissions and student success, spoke on more strategies that contributed to improving retention outcomes.

“We completely revamped our summer orientation program and now offer a first-year studies course specifically for our music majors, ensuring our incoming freshmen are set up for success early in their academic journeys,” Carroll said. “We’ve offered resources like our college peer-learning and tutoring center and started a collaboration with the university’s Academic Coaching Services.”

The College of Music will continue to expand in the future by connecting with campus partners, including the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies, Pellissippi State Community College, Haslam College of Business and the College of Communication and Information.

“We plan for more partnerships to continue to expand our offerings as a college, as well as continue to offer our students premier experiences working with famous artists, ensembles and leaders in the field,” Brendan McConville, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs, said.

Students in the College of Music equipped with these resources and partnerships are only set up for success in the real world — Knoxville has several opportunities waiting for those students to take advantage of. Jenny Cross, assistant director for student engagement, spoke on what Knoxville has to offer.

“Knoxville has a vibrant music community at the University of Tennessee and beyond,” Cross said. “There are multiple music venues all throughout Knox County and neighboring communities, with a high concentration in the historic downtown area.”

Cross also stated that notable music and arts festivals like Big Ears and the Rossini Festival attract attendees from both local and global communities. The need for music professionals, particularly in the digital space, is on the rise.

As the music industry in Knoxville evolves, the curriculum within the College of Music is updated to reflect these shifts. McConville spoke on how the college is preparing students for the competitive music industry.

“Our faculty is doing a remarkable job shaping our academic programs and courses to focus on relevant and competitive skills for students’ future careers,” McConville said. “Through our partnered programs with other colleges, we are offering education and experience in AI, data science, music technology, non-profit startups, music business, interdisciplinary courses and more.”

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Drum Line Member Uses Engineering Resources to Fix Part

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Original story written by Rhiannon Potkey, Tickle College of Engineering

Anukkah Burleson thought there had to be a better solution to fix the whale tail connector on the carrier of her bass drum. Every year, like clockwork, the part would break. 

Burleson, a senior mechanical engineering major, is a member of the drumline for the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. She spends every Saturday marching on the field during Tennessee football games, not to mention the countless hours spent each week in practice. 

A bass drum can weigh up to 40 pounds and the whale tail connector helps support the drummer’s back and takes pressure off the shoulders. Burleson and her fellow drum members had connectors made from plastic and the wear and tear would cause them to snap or splinter. 

“It’s hard to find replacements and they’re pretty expensive. Then, they’re just going to break again. They barely make it through a season,” Burleson said. “Some of us ended up not having one to use or we would try to tape them together just to get through a few weeks.” 

Burleson decided to take matters into her own hands. She went to the Min H. & Yu Fan Kao Innovation & Collaboration Studio during the summer to ask about making the parts out of metal. She was introduced to Aidan Schmitz, junior mechanical engineering and the lead consultant at the metal shop. 

Burleson and Schmitz devised a plan to make the parts in the Kao ICS and started the project in the fall once everyone returned to school. 

Schmitz served as a project manager of sorts. Assistant Professor of Practice Jeff Foote asked him to investigate the plastic part and figure out the best method to make one out of metal. 

“The water jet was the most obvious choice, because it’s a two-axis cutter. Every one of the whale tails is a half inch thick. That’s a pretty easy thing to do,” Schmitz said. “We already have that sketch drawn up in Fusion, which you can upload to the waterjet as a DXF.” 

Creative Problem Solving

Schmitz and Burleson made 30 of the metal parts, which was “one of the first few times we’ve had something that we’ve made that many of,” according to Schmitz. Burleson has been wearing one on her carrier since the final product was produced. 

“It’s been great. It feels the same and works the same,” she said. “I’m planning to replace everyone’s on the drum line, even the ones that have plastic ones that aren’t broken. I want to make sure they don’t break in the future.” 

Burleson kept Michael Stewart, the associate director of bands and WJ Julian Endowed Director of the Pride of the Southland Marching Band, updated throughout the entire engineering process. 

“Everyone’s been super excited and very supportive about it,” Burleson said. “Any way we can improve the band and make us more comfortable once we’re playing and going out on these long game days is usually a good thing.” 

Foote was pleased to see a group of students receive hands-on lessons in creative problem solving and hardware production with practical implications. 

“Anukkah identified an issue with the band hardware and worked alongside Aidan to specify a solution, then they worked together to take that solution from theory to reality,” Foote said. “This precisely demonstrates what the KICS is all about and shows what students can do when provided the tools and training to solve their own problems.” 

Positive Developments

Given the success of the project, Burleson has considered making parts for other band members beyond UT. 

“I do know this is a reoccurring problem for a lot of drum lines,” she said. “I’ve got a friend on drumline who works for a high school drumline, and he asked me if they could get some of these because they have this issue too. It’s definitely something in the back of my head that I wouldn’t mind pursuing.” 

Burleson gained valuable skills throughout the part-making experience that she never considered before embarking on the project. 

“I learned about the management side of making projects happen,” she said. “I was coordinating communication between the ICS and getting permission from my band directors and making sure they were comfortable with me doing this and writing grant proposals to get the funding to do this. That is something I’ve never done before.” 

Burleson will be graduating in December and is considering returning to UT for graduate school. After four years in the marching band, she’s glad one of her last projects involved music and ingenuity. 

“I felt like I got to combine two of my passions: engineering and the drums,” she said. “This project allowed me to finally find something to put them together.” 

The Natalie L. Haslam College of Music would like to thank the Tickle College of Engineering for their collaboration in improving the experience for the Pride of the Southland Marching Band drum line members.

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