UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 16 | October
18, 2001
`Community' is music to his ears
Popular outreach programs develop musicians of all ages
Disdain for the term `ivory tower' has inspired Music Prof. Martin
Berinbaum's career at UBC.
The results of his efforts to create performance-based music programs
that engage the community can be seen and heard in the Chan Centre,
as well as concert halls throughout the world.
"My greatest reward has been seeing the acceptance of our students
by the profession," says Berinbaum. "We've produced a lot of major
leaguers."
It was a chance stop in a 1976 concert tour that started it all.
A recent graduate of Julliard, Berinbaum was a gifted trumpeter
and conductor. In Vancouver to perform, he looked up a former colleague
who was teaching organ at UBC. It just so happened that UBC was
looking for a combination trumpet teacher and band director.
"Marty" to his students, has been the driving force of much change
at the School of Music, particularly the school's transition from
a pure music education program to a performance-based one.
He predicts that the majority of the 400 current graduate and
undergraduate students will go on to performance careers.
Among his initiatives is an honour band program that annually
attracts B.C.'s best high school music students for two days of
rehearsal followed by a concert. Often the students later enroll
in UBC's music program.
The School of Music's Summer Institutes, which he started in 1993,
attract upwards of 250 students annually. Ranging in age from seven
to 83, they study and perform complex works under the guidance of
some 70 teachers and assistants.
Now, after a quarter century as a teacher, performer, conductor
and community ambassador, his only regret is that it will all end
much too soon.
"I have no burning desire to stop," says Berinbaum. "I love every
day of it. It's not `work' for me."
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