During
the 2005-2006 school year, the Conservatory of Music and Dance
at the University of Missouri-Kansas City celebrated its 100th
anniversary. Now that the school has moved into its second century
of educating students, the world of music and dance may just
be getting ready to see Kansas City as a major player.
Interim
Dean James Mobberley has been on the
faculty for 25 years, teaching music composition. “As I look back on 25 years,
the growth has been phenomenal. There is joy to be part of something on an
upward track. I would guess that about a dozen programs from dance to many
of the music programs are now competing at the top of their fields nationally
and worldwide. We have moved into the ranks of the top 20 schools.”
Mobberley
says his area, composition, has four full-time teachers, including a Guggenheim
Fellow. The piano discipline includes a Van Cliburn winner. “We are moving
toward national prominence. We are competing at the highest possible levels,
especially at the graduate level. Our peer schools now include Yale.”
Enrollment
has increased by 150 students in about three years. “We are studying to see
if this enrollment level is right. We had 475 in 2003, up to 625 in 2006. We
are all looking forward to serving a growing population by providing curriculum
experiences. It is about shoring up the core efforts and broadening the school’s
impact on the campus.”
Continuing
Education Programs Manager Mara Gibson says the Conservatory's Community Music
and Dance Academy has the mission of bridging the national reputation and excellence
of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance with the local musical needs of
the Kansas City community.
“We are
a pre-collegiate, non-credit preparatory school for children and adults. The
Academy currently offers private and group instruction to 550 area music and
dance students; coordinates camps and festivals for the Kansas City area and
provides professional development through workshops and in-service to area
educators,” she says. “With a faculty of 40, instructors are professional educators,
musicians and dancers. Many have advanced degrees, or are current graduate
students or professors at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory
of Music and Dance.”
Programs
include private applied lessons in all instruments, voice and composition,
theory, sight singing and music appreciation classes, dance classes, choral
groups, chamber music coaching, Heartland Chamber Music Academy, Jazz Festival,
Midwest Honor Band, Duff Timpani Master Class, UMKC Jazz Camp, Glenda Brown
Choreography Project, Wind Band Teaching Symposium, KC Cello Clinic, Composers
in the Schools, Musical Bridges and continuing education classes for music
teachers.
“Recently,
we have also begun a fruitful partnership with the Nelson Atkins Museum. Between
these new partnerships, and networking with the area schools while continuing
our interactions with the Kansas City Art Institute through ArtSounds, our
aim to be the preeminent preparatory school in the region can be a reality,”
Gibson says. “The Community Music and Dance Academy offers programs appealing
to infants to seniors. In 2007, we had 1600 students come through our
various programs.”
As for the
next 100 years, a value and appreciation of the arts will prevail. “It permeates
all that we do, no matter what society we live in. As an example, music is
integral into the human experience. There are cycles for supporting the arts
and that has always been. No matter what, the artistic experience has to be
there,” Mobberley says.
