This year Lakeview’s College Credit Plus students were introduced to several new classes through Youngstown State University. One of these classes in particular is called Music Literature which is taught by our excellent band director, Nathan Sensabaugh.
Music Literature is a class focused on the fundamentals of music and is filled with various fun musical activities, history lessons, and great tunes to listen to. If you are an upcoming CCP student interested in the class, or you are interested in pursuing a career in music you must know that Sensabaugh said, “This class is beneficial to any student that is interested in music – whether it be someone who is planning to major in music or just someone who has an interest. For those that are going to major in some kind of music program, this class is a fantastic “ground level” course to give them a head start on the more advanced things they will study in their college courses. For the non music major, this class is beneficial credit wise as to satisfy the college Fine Arts credit. On top of that, the student learns a lot about the musical world of today and how it connects to our past, among many other things.”
As you can see, this class is very intriguing nonetheless. With all the fascinating aspects of the class, it is hard to determine what the best part about it is. However, there is no one who knows the class better than the teacher themselves. Sensabaugh stated,“ I like a lot about the Music Literature class I teach. One thing that I think that every teacher loves, is when a student’s “aha” moment comes… You can see that something clicks and that they understand the point of the lesson. Another thing I love is to expose students to music that they wouldn’t listen to otherwise, and I love to hear that it has become part of their listening repertoire, or has expanded the genres of what they choose to listen. Selfishly, I love it when students expose me to new music as well. There are many artists I listen to now that I would not have, were it not for this class.” If that is not convincing enough, it is hard to know what is.
Music Literature offers so many opportunities for those looking for a little challenge. Students who are interested in the College Credit Plus program, or are already in it should understand the toughness that comes with being a high school student with a college level schedule. One of the students already in Music Literature, senior Raelynn Hall, said, “I really enjoy going to Music Literature every day, but it definitely comes with its challenges. We always have to be paying full attention and keep focus when listening to complex compositions. When we aren’t doing a difficult task like that, we are having fun. We listen to some of our favorite songs, play games that teach us about definitions of music, and so much more. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone looking for a challenging yet fun class.”
Furthermore, Music Literature is known to be educational and entertaining all at the same time. If you are one of those students who is still thinking about taking the class with all of the information provided, keep in mind Sensabaugh said, “The most thrilling thing about teaching a college level class is that you know you are going to get students with solid academic skills, and can cover content at a higher level,” so you must be able to live up to his expectations because he is a great teacher.
There is one part of the class that has not been mentioned. It is only one semester, and each nine weeks students are required to attend a concert and write a report about it. Senior Dorian Jones has just attended a concert at Packard Music Hall, and was very excited to talk about his experience. Jones said, “I was very impressed with the work of the amazing musicians at Packard. The acoustics were outstanding and the music altogether was played in perfection. I enjoyed my time at the concert and I am looking forward to attending another one soon. The best part about it is that Packard often hosts free concerts, like the one I attended. I am glad that this project was assigned to us because I was not even aware of the fact that there was something local and fun to do right around the corner.”
In all, Music Literature is a wonderful class for anyone interested in music. Even if you aren’t, it is recommended that you check it out because you never know- maybe you will end up enjoying it as much as I do!
