Cristina Burack saw “The Sound of Music” while studying abroad in Austria this year through the IES-Vienna program.
Burack, a voice performance and European history major, experienced the country’s culture and music firsthand during her year abroad. She is one of 20 music students who studied abroad this year.
The percent of graduating music students who studied abroad has increased in the last few years from zero in 2000 to 18 percent, or 17 students, in 2007.
“It’s absolutely a fact that every dean on this campus supports study abroad,” said Bill Anthony, NU’s director of Study Abroad. “Music is certainly enthusiastic about that.”
It wasn’t always that way. In the late 1990s, study abroad policy did not give music students credit for lessons they took abroad, said Linda Garton, the school’s assistant dean for Admission and Student Affairs. Four years of private lessons are required to graduate, which meant that if students wanted to go abroad they would have to delay graduation, Anthony added.
Today, out of the 110 NU-affiliated study abroad programs, there are 11 in music. Students can also apply to unaffiliated schools whose programs match NU’s standards and where credits can transfer back, he said.
It is important for students to consider what music opportunities and academics they are interested in when choosing a program, Anthony said.
“It depends on what flavor of music student you are, whether you’re in the School of Music or just interested in studying music,” he said. “There are various gradations of it and that determines where you go.”
Kelsey Betzelberger, a Music and Weinberg sophomore, chose to study abroad at the IES-Vienna program next fall because it offers a different performance experience, she said.
“In the United States there’s a focus on technique, but in Europe there’s more of a focus on the performance aspect and the interpretation of the song,” she said.
In addition to music classes, Betzelberger is also looking into religion classes to fulfill requirements for her Weinberg major.
But not all music programs offer electives that transfer back, said Robin Leephaibul, a study abroad adviser.
“At some of the places, students don’t have to focus just on music so they can take a variety of subjects,” she said. “But for example, at the Royal Academy of Music in London, you have to focus just on music.”
Music students can also decide to immerse themselves in foreign cultures in different ways. Doug Gibson, a Music and Weinberg freshman, will be spending seven weeks this summer in Bayreuth, Germany, but he’ll be studying the German language, not voice performance.
“There’s a certain amount of flexibility in the music schedule,” he said. “This is to finish up the language requirement and I’m also very interested in the German language and culture.”
While the music curriculum requires students to take specific courses in their first two years, requirements for juniors and seniors can be easily accommodated by study abroad programs, Garton said. If students choose not to go abroad, oftentimes it is because they want to stay with their private instructor, she said.
“Some students come to Northwestern for a specific teacher, for example, to study a specific instrument with a specific person,” Garton said.
The Study Abroad Office makes exceptions for students in the School of Music, Anthony said. NU does not require music or engineering students to take language classes before studying abroad in a country where English isn’t the primary language, he said.
For Burack, learning the language was an essential part of her study abroad experience. She spent her second semester in Austria living with a family and immersing herself in the German language.
“For opera, language is even more important because you have to understand what you’re saying, the grammar and the pronunciation,” Burack said. “It makes a difference if you can speak a language rather than just pronouncing what you’re singing.”
