30 Brave Minutes

We start off the new year by welcoming Dr. Joseph Van Hassel, Chair of the UNCP Department of Music, and Kalem Graham, Director of the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band, for a conversation about musical activities on campus and beyond. We discussed what brought each of them to music as a career, and what they studied along the way. We learned more about what research and scholarship looks like in the performing arts, and the two shared how their work in the classroom informs growth as performers, and in the study of education and teaching. As educators monitor the long-lasting changes in public school programming brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, more is learned about how to respond at the university level.  As one of the major performing ensembles in the department, the 'Spirit of the Carolinas' Marching Band not only entertains, but has been a training ground for student leadership for decades. Students work in all aspects of the ensemble's organization, including music, technology, personnel, and f