Students should NEVER register or add/drop chamber music or piano ensemble on SIS. All registrations and add/drops must be done through the Director of Chamber Music, Michael Kannen (mkannen1@jhu.edu).
Detailed Information about chamber music requirements, procedures and sign-up can be found by navigating to “Requirements” on the Chamber Music page.
Sign-up for chamber music will be the same as usual: YOU CANNOT SIGN UP FOR CHAMBER MUSIC ON SIS. You must sign up for chamber music and piano ensemble through the Chamber Music Department.
You will receive emails in late July about how to sign up for chamber music. Look for them!
Dear Peabody Students,
Like all of you, I’ve been here in my home for the past several months and I wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to this summer. Like all of the faculty and staff and administration at Peabody, I’ve been hard at work planning for next semester- figuring out how we can safely and effectively be together to learn about music and make music.
We all know by now that despite some really great efforts and lots of technical and musical creativity, chamber music doesn’t really work online. The whole essence of chamber music revolves around the idea of being together in a room- with each other and with our audience.
The good news is that chamber music is very well suited to our current situation.
Because chamber music is small and adaptable, when we come back in the fall, we’re going to be able to do chamber music like we normally do. Well, almost normal. Sure, we may have to sit a little further apart than we might do during normal times, but that’s ok- we can make that work. We’re going to have rooms set aside for chamber music- rooms that will be big enough for for a chamber group and a coach to be in safely. We should still be able to do trios and quartets, at least, and maybe we’ll do some duos as well. Pianists- you’ll still be able to do Piano Ensemble if you like- probably not the four-hand literature, but two- pianos for sure.
So I am very excited to report that we have every reason to believe that we will be able to sit together and make music once again- to hear music come directly out of our instruments, instead of out of speakers, and to fill a room with the magical sound of music.
We all know that it is not possible to actually play chamber music over the internet, but for those of you who might not be able to make it back to campus right away, we haven’t left you out either. We have worked hard to design an online chamber music course that we think will be meaningful, useful and enjoyable.
As you know, chamber music is a complex activity that involves so many different kinds of skills- instrumental, interpretive, organizational and personal. And sometimes, when we’re struggling to learn the notes and play in tune, some of the other extremely important aspects of playing chamber music don’t get as much attention as they should. Well, we think this is a chance to take a closer look at some of those skills: how do you decide, looking at a score, how a piece of music should go? How do you transform those little dots and dashes on the page into beautiful and meaningful sound? How do you discuss these ideas with others in your group, and persuade others to your point of view, and let yourself be persuaded by theirs? In short, how do you come to a collective interpretation of a great piece of music? These are just some of the things that we can explore online. We’ll still form small groups of 3 to 5 people who will meet with their coach online each week. And, there will be some actual playing involved, too- as you learn some of the most important chamber music excerpts for your instrument that you’ll need to know as you go out into the professional world. So- even if you can’t be in Baltimore right away, there is so much to learn about chamber music.
For those of you learning remotely, there will be some interesting options, as well.
So stay tuned and look for my emails in a few weeks!
All best,
Michael Kannen
Director of Chamber Music
Chamber Music group sign ups
Sign up to be assigned to a Chamber Music concert
Sign up for an audition for the Honors Ensembles
The Peabody Honors Ensemble program is open to serious and excellent groups of all kinds who wish to dedicate themselves to developing as an ensemble. Honors Ensembles will be chosen by audition and will be given special performance and other opportunities.
All students who are registered for chamber music must fulfill a concert attendance requirement. Each student must attend the following number of concerts over the course of the semester:
We are excited to announce that the 2019-2020 Hittman Visiting Artists will be:
These artists will be at Peabody for master classes, performances and other residency activities.
See the FAQ page on the Chamber Music Webpage for answers to most of your questions!