Video Game Music: Registration Open

Video Game Music

Analysis and Composition

Taught by Francisco Joubert and Andy Callaway

Sign Up HERE

Ever find yourself having to choose between practicing music and playing video games? Well now you can do both!

Video games will serve as the basis for studying classical composition in this 8 week course.  Students will study instrument colors, sound textures and audio/visual association - then use those skills to compose an original score set to a scene from their favorite game.


Time: Tuesdays 7-8pm 

Location: Louisville Academy of Music

Dates: October 5th - November 30th (off the November 23) Showcase December 7th

Ages: 8-12 Beginner Course/13+ Advanced Course

Price: $180

Personal computer and headphones required

*to be considered for a computer loan and/or financial assistance please contact info@laofm.org

Enjoy a Workshop with Wu Fei!

LAM presents a virtual workshop with Wu Fei, from Chinese traditional music on the guzheng, Chinese opera to folk music to creative composition and improvisation. Subjects include: 1. Introduction of the guzheng, a 21-string Chinese zither that has about 2500 years of history and the six schools of guzheng performing styles that are all centuries old. 2. Demonstrate a traditional piece “Little Open Hand” from the Henan School. 3. Demonstrate a traditional piece “ Fisherman’s Song” from the Shandong School. 4. Introduction of Chinese folk songs from demonstrating “Wusuli Boat Song” from northeast China. 5. Introduction of Peking Opera. 6. Contemporary guzheng composition including Wu Fei’s original work and other Chinese composers. 7. Discussion with Students 8. Improvisation

Access the recording HERE

Support our Community Connections

SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Create Access • Build Pathways • Break Down Barriers

The Louisville Academy of Music is pleased to continue making an impact beyond our Frankfort Avenue location. Beginning in April, we began providing weekly beginning violin classes at Americana Community Center. This program allows LAM to expand the reach of its services and further its mission to nurture the growth and development of students as creative, inspired people.

Two months later, we are excited to able to continue this program by offering options for a Level 2 violin class as well as a general music education class this summer. We feel strongly that inclusive music education offerings are essential for sharing the arts with students of all ages, levels, and backgrounds. Programs like these are so important for removing barriers, creating access opportunities, and building pathways to life-changing music instruction.

These programs are made possible in large part due to the generosity and support of donors. YOU can directly help keep these programs going and growing, and keep music in the lives of our community connections. As you consider the impact of the arts in your life, will you help us by supporting the important work we are doing in the community? Any gift brings us one step closer to making a difference in the lives of our students in these programs.

Just click the button below to visit our Support page.

Above: students celebrate their musical achievements with teachers Colleen Mahoney and Sara Louise Callaway.  Top of page: students practice pizzicato techniques during an LAM beginner violin class at Americana Community Center.

Above: students celebrate their musical achievements with teachers Colleen Mahoney and Sara Louise Callaway.
Top of page: students practice pizzicato techniques during an LAM beginner violin class at Americana Community Center.

Spring Joint Recitals

27 students from a wide variety of LAM teaching studios performed this spring for our virtual Joint Recitals. These performances were recorded at LAM using safe distancing practices and streamed as premieres on YouTube. We hope you will enjoy the videos below featuring the many talents of our dedicated students!

This virtual joint recital program was made possible with the generous support from the Fund for the Arts.

Hiring: Private Studio Teacher—Voice

The Louisville Academy of Music is seeking to add a private voice instructor to develop a new studio specializing in instruction for male voice types, including tenor and bass vocal ranges. Studio size will be based on enrollment; this is a contract position with growth potential. 

Primary responsibilities include teaching voice lessons to students of all ages, levels, and voice types with a speciality in male voice types and facilitating studio class recitals. The ideal candidate will be passionate about teaching and able to motivate students of all levels. Preference will be given to applicants with keyboard ability to accompany students during voice lessons. A bachelor’s degree in music is required, with a master’s degree preferred.

LAM offers flexible scheduling based around teacher availability. Lessons may continue to be given online in early 2021, but will move to in-person as guidelines allow. 
Please submit a cover letter and resumé to info@laofm.org to apply.

The Louisville Academy of Music (LAM) was established in 1954 and provides an inclusive community that nurtures the growth and development of students, not solely as musicians, but as creative, inspired people. LAM offers enriching private lessons, group classes, and programs for passionate student musicians of all ages in a vibrant historic building on Frankfort Avenue.

Places We Know with Shawn Jaeger and Longleash

Places We Know: with Shawn Jaeger and Longleash

LAM-hosted digital space on FB live/Zoom

Saturday, April 10 | 4 pm

Composer Shawn Jaeger (a Louisville native and YPAS alum) pays a virtual visit to LAM to chat about his musical beginnings in KY, his work as a composer, and his creation process for a unique new work, Places We Know, written for violin, cello, and MIDI keyboard. Shawn and Longleash, the commissioning ensemble, will share some behind-the-scenes tidbits about making the field recordings and videos that inspired the piece, and explain the technology that makes the piece’s unique sounds possible. Following a virtual performance of selections from Places, attendees will have a chance to participate in a Q&A moderated by LAM faculty Jacob Gotlib, and take away exciting ideas and activities that they can use in their own compositions, field recordings and creative projects.

Students and their families can participate via Zoom and the public is welcome to stream via the LAM Facebook page.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83121906575?pwd=ZjVqQUtSSWpDbE51ckhsenVCd2Y3QT09

Meeting ID: 831 2190 6575

Passcode: 1N2jzt

Scholarship Fund

The Louisville Academy of Music believes music belongs to everyone. We are working to help break down barriers, build pathways, and create access to music education. We know learning an instrument opens doors to success in any field and our mission is to provide education, support and mentorship for any student who is willing and devoted no matter their socio-economic status. Along with our need-based scholarship program we award a limited amount in educational enrichment and professional development grants.

The Louisville Academy of Music’s Scholarships are awarded to students with financial-need. Scholarships provide the opportunity for long-term musical study for students grades K-12 (or up to age 23 for voice) who are hard-working and passionate about music. Full and partial scholarships are available and primarily cover private lessons but students may also apply for assistance in chamber music, group classes, or the LAM Summer Symposium. The committee gives priority to continuing students and to students applying through our partnership through Western Middle School for the Arts.

Applications are reviewed by the scholarship committee which makes recommendations for final review by the LAM Board of Directors. Applications are due May 1st and awardees will be notified by June 1st.

Find out more here!

Announcing the Summer Symposium 2021!

The LAM Summer Symposium is a two week intensive program, which will run from June 14-27, that gives students a unique opportunity to connect and create through music.

Our faculty have created a program that dives deep into composition, chamber music, and audio production through small group coachings, workshops, private lessons, and community building. Students will have the chance to explore new ideas, tune into well being, and grow meaningful relationships with peers and community. Students can tailor their track between chamber music performance, composition, and/or audio production! 

Apply by May 15th! This program is in person but we are prepared to have a hybrid program. Activities may be scheduled outside. Space is limited and dependent on the levels of students who apply, if there is not availability for any reason you will receive a full refund. You will be notified of acceptance by May 24th and must make a $300 deposit by June 1.

Details and application can be found here!

Happy Birthday, LAM!

67 years ago, a movie ticket cost 70 cents, the president was Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a new form of music called “rock n’ roll” debuted onscreen with movie Blackboard Jungle.

On February 15 of that year, Robert French and Donald Murray opened the Louisville Academy of Music on Bardstown Road in Louisville, Kentucky. After being incorporated as a nonprofit, several moves, and Ruth French joining the staff and later marrying Robert, LAM found its home on Frankfort Avenue.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of lessons were taught to thousands of students. To celebrate LAM’s birthday, we want to hear the stories of alumni, past and present, and your memories of the Louisville Academy of Music. You can find it here!

We’re celebrating our past (and thinking back to our 65th birthday party, where this lovely photo of Ruth and one of our instructors comes from!), thankful for all we have in the present, and looking toward the future on our 67th birthday. Happy birthday, LAM!

LAM student virtually meet Wynton Marsalis

Prior to Jazz at Lincoln Center Septet’s virtual performance of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺! 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 on January 17, 10 lucky LAM students along with other local students had the opportunity to participate in a live Zoom conversation with artistic director Wynton Marsalis. The one hour event, moderated by Albert Shumake, Executive Director of Louisville River City Drum Corp, included remarks from Councilperson Jecorey Arthur and Q and A with Mr. Marsalis. Thanks to Brown-Forman Corporation and the KY Tourism, Arts, & Heritage Cabinet for their support of this wonderful event.

We are so grateful to have been included in the inspiring event!

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We take this day for reflection to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We hope, today and every day, to lift up the contributions, musical and otherwise, of Black Americans and Black musicians across history. We invite you to explore the resources below in this letter that our viola instructor Michael D. Hill wrote to his students, inviting us to explore the work of some incredible Black musicians.

Dear students and families,

The Louisville Academy of Music is closed on Monday, January 18, 2021 in observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I hope that you will take some time to reflect on the words and work of Dr. King and consider their continued importance.

Through music, we have a great opportunity to learn, to grow, and to create art that benefits and educates those around us. It is important that we learn more about the music of Black composers and performers who contributed to our musical history and support and share the music of Black composers and performers today as well, incorporating them into the canon of our repertoire.

I want to share with you just a few biographies and performances, and hope that you will take the time to explore and learn on your own as well. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I hope it will help you begin to explore new composers and music on your own. Personally, I hope to educate violinists and violists by incorporating diverse repertoire in education and performances.

JOSEPH BOLOGNE DE SAINT-GEORGES, conductor, violinist, and composer
“Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was widely regarded as the most accomplished man of his age. Not only was he among the most important musicians in Paris during the pre-revolutionary period but he was also a supurb all-around athlete and man of arms … The combination of artist, athlete and man of action - for he also held military commands during the revolutionary period - is unique in the history of music and the man himself scarcely less extraordinary than the phenomenal range of his talents.” Unfortunately more than two thirds of his works are lost. Though appointed by the king of France to conduct the court orchestra, the musicians refused him in this position due to his race. His accomplishments and popularity as a composer and violinist, however, were always in favor in the court.

Symphony Op. 11, No. 1 in D Major, Allegro

String Quartet No. 3, Chineke!

String Quartet No. 5, 45th Parallel

Chineke! Foundation and the founder, Chi-Chi Nwanoku (I always knew her from her incredible work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment! She truly does it all!)

FLORENCE PRICE, composer
“Florence Price, the first noted African American female composer to gain national status. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887, Price, won first prize in the Wanamaker Competition with her Symphony in E minor and as a result, became the first female composer of African descent to have a symphonic work performed by a major national symphony orchestra.  Little of her piano music has been recorded though recently, approximately five hours of music for solo piano and piano duets were discovered in a home that she once owned and had been subsequently abandoned after having been lost for over thirty years in her home.”

In this collection, string quartets were also found. Several years ago local artists performed some her chamber music at the Muhammad Ali Center. She wrote beautiful viola lines which really makes me wish she wrote solo music for the viola!

String Quartet No. 2, Andante cantabile, Castle of Our Skins Concert Series

I absolutely love Price’s romantic style! Many of her works sound like dramatic film scores.

Violin Concerto No. 2, Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra with Kelly Hall-Thompkins, violin

Castle of Our Skins Concert Series
Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra
Kelly Hall-Thomkins

NOKUTHULA NGWENYAMA, violist and composer

https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2018/06/20/my-name-is-nokuthula-ngwenyama
“Nokuthula Ngwenyama is an artistic force. She is a composer, producer, director, poet and singer. As an instrumentalist, she plays both violin and viola. Ms. Ngwenyama's professional career began after she won the Primrose International Viola Competition when she was 16. Since that time, her performances as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician have gained international attention. Ngwenyama has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. Most recently, Ms. Ngwenyama curated Composer's Choice, the new music series presented by ASU/Kerr Cultural Center and Phoenix Chamber Music Society.”

Nokulthua Ngwenyama: in the middle of things - Her views as a composer, a performer, and the future of Classical music

Hindemith Sonata for Solo Viola Op. 25, No. 1, IV (one of my favorite sonatas!) 


SPHINX VIRUOSI
“The Sphinx Virtuosi is one of the nation’s most dynamic professional chamber orchestras, comprised of 18 top Black and Latinx classical soloists.

Through the Sphinx Virtuosi National Tour, this self-conducted ensemble brings fresh, diverse programming to leading venues around the country and engages in immersive outreach to bring classical music to communities nationwide, including students of all ages. Including annual stops at Carnegie Hall and Miami’s New World Center, the Sphinx Virtuosi performs to sold-out crowds and continues to garner critical acclaim.”

 SPHINX transforms the arts through artist development, education, and so much more. I encourage you to learn more about this fantastic organization! You will find Sphinx artists engaged in careers as soloists, orchestral and chamber musicians, and educators. Check out:
Harlem String Quartet & Catalyst Quartet

Music has the power to express all emotions. More importantly, the arts can be an important voice in our world.  Sphinx Virtuosi perform Elegy: Stephen Lawrence by Philip Herbert

More about PHILIP HERBERT, composer

SHAWN OKPEBHOLO, composer
I actually really enjoyed my undergraduate class in Orchestration under Shawn while at CCM. While my arrangement of Twinkle Twinkle was probably not very memorable for him,  I learned a lot about considering color and tone in additional to instrumental ranges and technical demands which should be considered when writing for various instruments.

Two Black Churches, Shawn Okpeboholo
Kutimbua Kivumbi, Shawn Okpebholo

What contributions are Black artists making today? A lot! Tia Allen is a dear friend and (though I’m sure she’s tired of me saying this) a huge inspiration and role model. I’ve looked up to her since we were in school together and I am incredibly flattered she considers me a friend as well!

D-Composed is a fantastic chamber music ensemble based in Chicago performing and celebrating Black performing artists and composers.

I hope this provides some beautiful music to listen to, some important musical figures in Black history to consider, and to learn more, now and long into the future. Music unites us and provides a voice we can all understand. Ms. Ngwenyama perhaps put it best: “…music is human. It is universal.”

Michael D. Hill, viola.

LAM's Midnight Masterclass!

We had a great masterclass with Dr. Sila Darville (professor of violin and viola at EKU) yesterday. 5 students participated playing Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Copland, and Dvorak.

It was our first international class! Sila was zooming in from Turkey where it was the middle of the night! Midnight Masterclass.

Thanks to Dr. Darville and all who participated!

Hiring: LAM Communications Manager

LAM Communications Manager


Please email a resume and cover letter to saralouise@laofm.org

The Communications Manager will work closely with the Executive Director and Administrative Assistant to communicate important information both internally and externally.

Working an average of 8 hours per week (flexible) with room to grow

$16.50/hour

Specific duties include managing the following:

-- 4-6 digital newsletters annually (mailchimp)

-- website and adding new content as requested (squarespace)

-- social media posts on instagram and facebook (avg 3-4 a week)

-- donor communication (emails, letters, and cards)

-- student welcome packets (new initiative)

-- type and format recital programs

-- youtube account

-- outreach visit scheduling and literature (attend as able)

-- design and format of annual report

-- Other duties as requested

Stephen Vitiello: sound in installation, electronic composition and soundtracks - artist talk and mini workshop

Thursdays December 17th

4-5:30pm

Free for LAM students, faculty, families, and board members!

Sound artist, Stephen Vitiello will share insight into his practice in sound art, covering installations, field recording, soundtracks for filmmakers and choreographers as well as collaborations with musicians, ranging from legendary figures of the avant-garde to contemporary classical musicians as well as visual artists, writers and a biologist. All participants are asked to pre-record and upload a 1-minute sound file of their choosing prior to the workshop - it may be sounds from nature, the home or instrumental (or anything else you like to listen to). Recording with a smartphone is fine. Please register through the link in your email!

Stephen Vitiello is an electronic musician and media artist. CD releases have been published by New Albion Records, Sub Rosa, 12k and Room 40. His sound installations and multi-channel works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon. Exhibitions include a site-specific work for NYC’s High Line, “Soundings: A Contemporary Score,” at the Museum of Modern Art; the 2002 Whitney Biennial; and the 2006 Biennial of Sydney. Over the last 25 years, Vitiello has collaborated with such artists and musicians as Pauline Oliveros, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Taylor Deupree, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu and Steve Roden. Vitiello has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for “Fine Arts,” a Creative Capital grant for “Emerging Fields” and an Alpert/Ucross Award for Music. In 2012, Australian Television produced the documentary, Stephen Vitiello: Listening With Intent. Originally from New York, Vitiello is now based in Richmond, VA where he is a professor of Kinetic Imaging at Virginia Commonwealth University.


"What more can you ask of a work of art than that it alter your breath -- that it first make you aware of your own breathing and then slow it, shape it, sculpt it?

Stephen Vitiello's show at MC is revelatory in that most visceral way. It doesn't just appear before you but instead engenders a kind of reciprocal occupation: You enter its realm and, in turn, the work makes its way into both body and mind."

“Rattle and hum: Stephen Vitiello's 'duets'” Leah Ollman, Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2008

“Electronic musician and sound artist Stephen Vitiello transforms incidental atmospheric noises into mesmerizing soundscapes that alter our perception of the surrounding environment. He has composed music for independent films, experimental video projects and art installations, collaborating with such artists as Nam June Paik, Tony Oursler and Dara Birnbaum. In 1999 he was awarded a studio for six months on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower One, where he recorded the cracking noises of the building swaying under the stress of the winds after Hurricane Floyd. As an installation artist, he is particularly interested in the physical aspect of sound and its potential to define the form and atmosphere of a spatial environment.”

Welcome John Little to our Faculty!

John Little  received the M.M. , and B.A. degrees from the University of Louisville , studied horn performance at The New School of Music in Philadelphia, Studied hand horn, and Baroque horn performance at Indiana University/Bloomington, and studied liberal arts at Haverford College. Mr. Little enjoys both teaching, and performing, and maintains a busy schedule of both. In the past he has served as Adjunct Professor of Horn at Centre College, Instructor of horn, and Music Theory at the University of Louisville Community Music Program, horn Instructor at the Settlement Music School of Philadelphia, and gives masterclasses on both the hand horn, and modern horn throughout the country. Mr Little has served as the Band Director for Sacred Heart Schools, and the Jackson Independent School System. Mr. Little is published on the subject of “Teaching the student with Aspergers”. His former students have won positions in the  orchestras of Louisville  Chicago Civic Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony,Santiago(Chile),and Richmond(Va).



In the performance world Mr. Little has been a member of the Starlight Horn Duo for two years, touring, and recording, as well as performing with the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, Owensboro Symphony, Paducah Philharmonic, Derby Dinner Theater Pit Orchestra, Iroquois Show Pit Orchestra, Three Amigos Hand Horn Trio, and is an active soloist. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Kentuckiana Philharmonic, Jewish Community Center Orchestra, Christian Academy Wind Ensemble, been a featured artist at the conferences of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, Kentucky Music Teachers Association, Southern Indiana Organist Guild, Northeast Horn Workshop (Plattsburgh, New York), and the Ohio University Horn Festival. Mr. Little has recently been placed on the roster of performing artists with the Mozart for Munchkins series in New York, and San Francisco. He may be heard on “Blasts of Brass”, the cd.

How to Become an Artist Citizen: Workshop with Alexa Smith and Courtney Brown

How to Become an Artist Citizen

Wednesday December 2nd 4:00 pm

Online workshop

Free for LAM students, faculty/staff, board members, and families

Join LAM alumni Alexa Smith (Manhattan School of Music), and Courtney Brown (Values Partnership) in a discussion on the rigors and joys of attending a conservatory-style college and how to become an artist citizen. A few questions to consider:

  • How can I use your art and music-making beyond the concert hall?

  • What is our responsibility as artists in the world?

  • Even if I don't become a full-time musician, what can I do to support the arts?

Register HERE to hold your spot and receive the Zoom invite 

Support Scholarships During Give for Good Louisville

BE PART OF THE CHANGE!

Create Access - Build Pathways - Break Down Barriers

This year 100% of donations to the Louisville Academy of Music during Give for Good Louisville will go toward student scholarships. 
Support Louisville Academy of Music in #GiveForGoodLou! 

Post on social media with a message sharing how private lessons have impacted you or your child. Play a song, create a video, and inspire others to support those who can't afford lessons. 

Link to Give for Good Louisville on September 17th and tag @LouisvilleAcademyofMusic
#LAMISLIVE

Welcome New Board Members!

We are so excited to welcome back current board members and welcome new board members for our 2020/2021 session. We are also excited to have grown to 9 members and 3 committees.

Erin Palmer, Chair

Kim Marley, Treasurer

Yoko Martin (LAM Parent)

Laura Atkinson (LAM Faculty)

Emily Steinbach (LAM Student)

Melanie Erwin

Will Oldham

Rachel Grimes

Luke Darville

Additional Members serving on LAM Committees

Sheronda Shorter (financial)

Shaun Liu (financial and LAM Student)

Michel Samson (community connections)

Daniel Smith (community connections and LAM Student)