WMU

They auditioned from their bedrooms, basements, and backyards to join the WMU School of Music as choral students this year. Dr. Kimberly Dunn Adams, the director of Choral Activities, says she is moved by their tenacity and talent, saying there are reasons for singing that transcend any moment in history and the challenges they represent.

Andrew Rathbun is the professor of saxophone at Western Michigan University. He's also a composer and recording artist who's released "around" 15 albums, and a colleague of Jazz Currents host Keith Hall, who teaches jazz drumming at WMU. For the first time in the series, Rathbun persuades Hall to play with him and bassist John Hébert, who joined the WMU jazz faculty in 2019. 

Dr. Keith Kothman (pronounced KOHTH-mun) left his position as director of the Montana State University School of Music to join the Western Michigan School of Music in late June under extraordinary circumstances: the COVID-19 pandemic and a reckoning of racial injustice sparked by the death of George Floyd. 

For Alison Swan, nature is more than a place outdoors. Nature isn’t a place apart. It’s part of who she is, and she is a part of it.

"I've never felt closer to my colleagues around the country," says Scott Boerma, director of bands at Western Michigan University, describing how the COVID-19 crisis was met by a coordinated, science-based response by the College Band Directors Association. It resulted in studies, new research and guidelines for making music without spreading the virus.