12/07/07

Baker University music students are advancing their skills as musicians by offering lessons to people of all ages in the Baldwin City area.

In the fall of each year, Professor of Music Trilla Lyerla does interviews or is given recommendations from other professors in the department to choose the right Baker students to serve as mentors. The student teachers and their students are paired based on schedules and levels of ability.

“They had been getting lots of phone calls from area families about wanting tutors, so they began the music lab,” Lyerla said.

The music department prefers that the Baker student has taken a music methods class that corresponds with his or her instrument of choice and expertise.

“I got started by taking a methods of teaching piano class and then just kept teaching after the class ended,” junior John Radenberg said.

The lessons are usually 30 minutes a week, and the students range in all ages from young children to adults.

“It is really cool to see how much progress someone can make in one session,” sophomore Avaree McDonald said. “It is also very fulfilling to see what I love to do taught to someone else.”

The Baker students do make money for every lesson, Lyerla said.

“The fee charged is $11, and Baker students are paid $10 a lesson,” she said. “The extra dollar per lesson helps with recital expenses, administrative expenses, billing expenses, etc.”

Lyerla said student-teachers are the ones who benefit the most from the music lab.

“The Baker students gain a great experience, as well as additional financial support,” she said. “It helps them to get outside of their usual 18-25 age range of people. I am so proud of my students in the program. They are among some of the best and brightest students here at Baker.”

Each semester the group of students and student teachers perform a recital. This semester, the recitals had a Christmas theme and took place at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in McKibbin Recital Hall.