Music Business and Industry at LSC: Growing into a Symphony

I'm sure when you think of the bright lights and fast paced lifestyle of the music industry the first thing that comes to mind is Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. No? Well that may all change if the Music Business & Industry program at Lyndon State College continues to grow at the rapid pace that it has been.

In the early/mid 2000's LSC didn't have a music major and many of the art & music classes once offered at the school had been moved to Johnson State College. Enter Beth Norris, An Opera singer who has performed in opera's at her alma-mater Indiana University and across the Midwest. In the mid 2000's Beth and her family lived in Libby Montana a small city a similar distance from the Canadian border as Lyndon Vermont. There she taught at the local community college. She and her family hadn't lived in Libby long before they began to realize the extent of asbestos pollution coming from the W.R. Grace Co. located near by. Concerned for the health of their family, Beth and her husband decided to move to greener, cleaner pastures. Her pharmacist husband suggested Fargo North Dakota, the barren wind swept no-mans land depicted so hilariously by the Cohen Brothers in their hit film by the same name. Beth quickly applied at LSC in hopes of avoiding such a fate as Fargo. She was offered the job the day after flying to Vermont from Montana. Beth was hired to teach Experiencing the Arts but she was also tasked with keeping music & the arts alive at LSC as the Coordinator of Fine & Performing Arts. She wanted to bring a Music program to LSC, but not a traditional music program as offered by other colleges in Vermont, Beth wanted something different. She began talking with Linda Mitchell in the business department and others about creating a Music Business program. A huge think tank was brought together made up of faculty and students from the school as well as Vermonters already active in the music industry like studio tech Chuck Eller, Halogen Records' Justin Hoy and others. Together they brainstormed on how to build an MBI program at LSC from the ground up. They utilized the music classes already offered at LSC such as Piano Study and Music Appreciation with Bill Cotte while adding new classes like Worlds of Music & others.

If you build it, they will come….

In the spring of 2006, soon after the program was conceived, while it was still in development, Beth Norris received an unusual phone call. The man on the line was Ralph Perkins. He said "I live in Colchester and I can't believe this is right in my back yard. I manage a folk/rock artist who was very popular in the 70's, his name is James Taylor." Beth had certainly heard of James Taylor, heck, who hasn't. He's only one of the most famous American singer/songwriters of all time. Ralph continued "As soon as you get your program up and running, we need interns to go on tour with James." Ralph was looking for people who wanted to work in the music industry. He didn't want budding artists who thought they were the next JT; he wanted people who were prepared to work in the music business. Beth was sure she could provide what he wanted and accepted his offer.

If you build it, they will come….

            Shortly after Ralph Perkins' call, Beth's phone rang again. The woman on the line was looking for a position as the Theater Technical Director. Beth asked the woman "What instrument do you play?" expecting the usual answer of "well I play the piano and I'd love to teach" instead the woman said "Well, actually, I'm a sound engineer." That was just what Beth wanted to hear. The woman on the phone was Britt Moore, A singer and sound engineer from California. She and her husband had recently moved to Vermont after searching the country for just the right place. Her husband had visited the Northeast Kingdom and taken some video which he showed to Britt. Vermont looked great to both of them so they bought a house online packed up all of their belonging and headed for a new life in the Green Mountain state. Britt had been working as a DJ at a local station and as a roofer with a local company when she called Beth looking for a new gig at LSC. Beth liked what she heard and hired Britt to teach production classes in her brand new MBI program.

            "I didn't understand the difference between computer music and music production" Says Beth Norris "It took Britt coming in to really sort that out." Britt was instrumental in stepping up the production aspect of the program. According to Beth "Early on it was Britt who really pushed this program forward."

            If you build it, they will come…

            It wasn't long after meeting Britt that Beth received another phone call. This time it was a fellow by the name of Joe Gittleman. Joe said he was interested it being connected with the school and their new MBI program. Beth, being more of a fan of classical music than modern rock, wasn't exactly sure who she was talking to. After a bit of research she realized that the man who had contacted her is in fact a world famous performer. Joe Gittleman is the bass player for the band that invented the sub-genre "Ska-Core", The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He is an original member of the band and has been instrumental in their rise to fame. Joe has been steeped in the music industry for decades, played concerts around the globe and worked with countless musicians as producer, A&R man, studio musician, tour manager, you name it, Joe's done it. He was the perfect person to really bring the Industry to the Music Business & Industry program.

            "We couldn't do this program without Joe" says Beth Norris. "He brings in so many students. He hooks ‘em…" At the time of this writing Joe was unavailable for interview as he was busy rocking the socks off of thousands of Mighty Mighty Bosstones fans at none other than Fenway Park in Boston. I hope to follow this article with a full interview with Mr. Gittleman.

            The MBI Department Chair is David Johnston, the very personable philosophy professor. Not sure what philosophy has to do with music? Have you ever met a musician? How about a song writer? I think you see where this is going.

Together with the other teachers in the program, Beth, Britt, Joe & David have built an MBI program that is drawing students from around the country and indeed around the world. The program began with 8 students majoring in MBI. By the end of the second semester the number had grown to 20. Now, with the program in its fifth year, the number has skyrocketed to 115 students majoring in MBI, making it the fastest growing program in the history of LSC. Last year the program graduated 7 students, 4 of which have already gone on the work in the industry with jobs at Skyline Music, Citadel Broadcasting, Atomic Music Group and Q Division. Of the 20 student enrolled the first year 90% have graduated, an incredibly impressive number for any program at any school. Usually only 30% of students graduate from a given program so 90% is basically off the charts (#1 with a bullet as they say in the biz).

Beth Norris still has big dreams for the future of the program such as offering more electronic music classes as well as Music Ed. to prepare students to be teachers and bring these modern music skills out to the public schools where art and music programs are struggling to survive. She and Britt Moore would love to one day see an MBI department building on the LSC campus complete with rehearsal rooms, production studios, performance spaces, and a student's Gold record hanging on the wall. Incorporating theater, dance and other performing arts into the program is part of that dream.

Jeremy MacDonough is a freshman in the MBI program. He came to LSC from Tolland Connecticut. Jeremy is a drummer and multi instrumentalist who's been playing since about 6^thgrade. He started off playing improvisational jazz by ear but has since learned to read music. He has taught drums before, played in bands, roadied and been a sound tech. He looked around at other schools in the region but settled on LSC because as he says "I like the feel of the degree. There were other colleges who had similar programs but it was the overall feel [of the LSC MBI program] that I liked" He said "Though it's not the largest school, I felt like I'd get more out of it coming here than some of the other schools." Jeremy likes the program so far. "You can tell that all of the teachers in the program have a lot of background. They're the kind of people who know all the different ways to troubleshoot stuff. You get the feeling that, if there's a problem, they've dealt with it and can show you the fast way to fix it. I'm very content with their knowledge." He continues "They're all very friendly people, it doesn't feel so much like they're a big figure in the front of the room, its more like a friend teaching you and you always learn better from your peers." Jeremy likes the hands on aspect of the program saying" I do work better when I'm really into it instead of feeling distant."

Beth Norris knows that many students will come to the program in search of fame and stardom, but as she puts it "We have, from the time we started, been a plan B program." She explains "Plan A is: ‘I'm coming here because I want to be rich and famous, write the next great rock song, have an album, have my own production studio. I'm gonna make a million dollars!' That's plan A" Beth continues " Plan B is: We're going to get you into the industry, working in a job that you absolutely love being a support person for all of those plan A people. And then you're there and if you're in the right place at the right time and you get lucky and you have these skills, then you'll get bumped up. So we're trying to be really realistic with our students when they come here with plan A dreams. We're not going to promise that. We are going to promise that we will teach you how to use the equipment, how to understand what's involved in the industry and get you ready to be able to walk into a job."

For audio clips go to http://lyndonunderground.com/thecritic.htm