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Southeastern Community College Music Students to Get New Opportunities

SCC
Dr. Michael Ash and Zach James in front of The Capitol Theater

Students studying Performing Arts at Southeastern Community College could get more opportunities to gain real-world experience next year.

That's due to an agreement between SCC and the Capitol Theater in downtown Burlington.

Dr. Daniel Pappas, SCC's Music Program Coordinator, said the agreement will give students experience performing in a theater He hopes they can also learn how concerts are promoted, organized, and booked. He said students could also get experience job-shadowing theater employees.

"Real-world is different than a studio environment. I can't think of a better place for us to do that,” said Pappas.

Pappas said community colleges are good at focusing on skills that translate into a modern workplace. He said SCC's music program teaches the fundamentals of music performance, and also focuses on digital music creation.

"I think the pandemic has been a perfect example…if you weren't ready for that you were kind of lost," Pappas said. "The ones that adapted the quickest were the ones that already had implemented digital music."

Pappas said SCC is in the process of building a new digital music production lab, which will be finished and in use by next school year.

Pappas will showcase digital music production at the school's "Little Theater" on Friday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m.

Tri States Public Radio produced this story.  TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.

David Hightower is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.