Music Listening Center is Music to the Ears of ARIA Participants

Now that Ball State’s ARIA Summer Academy is underway with about 75 instrumentalists ages 15 to 32, Bracken Library’s Music Listening Center is enjoying its time as a popular hot spot for ARIA participants.

With the help of the new Music Listening Center’s ARIA web page, www.bsu.edu/library/collections/musiccoll/aria, ARIA Summer Academy enrollees are easily finding music scores and CDs to aid them in their practicing and performances of music pieces.

“It has been a very positive experience for the students,” said Mihai Tetel, Associate Professor of Cello at Ball State and organizer of the ARIA Summer Academy.

With Bracken Library opening its resources to the participants and granting them undergraduate circulation privileges, students have more opportunity to immerse themselves in the music pieces they are studying and learning to perform.

ARIA students use the Music Listening Center’s resources to borrow multiple recordings of pieces that interest them. Each recording provides the instrumentalists with an opportunity to hear how different ensembles and players approach the same piece. Students can compare these recordings to their own performances and the performances of their peers.

Students using the Music Listening Center also have access to a large selection of scores, which are integral to learning and performing any piece. The collection of scores came in very handy for pianist Michael Brofman, a participant in ARIA, who forgot some music at home.

“I panicked when I realized that I had forgotten one of the scores that I needed,” he said. Michael was happy to find the score he needed in the collection.

The Music Listening Center’s collection continues to be an incredible resource for Ball State’s regular students and also for music student like those in the ARIA Summer Academy who come to Ball State to broaden their horizons.