Project Jumpstart gives advice to music students

Music professor Carmen Téllez has this advice to offer music students:
“You have to be like water. You have to constantly be moving but indestructible. Sometimes you are ice and sometimes you are steam. You must respond to the time, culture and place.”

Téllez, a professor of choral conducting and the director of the Latin American Music Center, gave this advice Wednesday along with two other panelists at the Jacobs School of Music Project Jumpstart Career Decision Making for the Real World.

Téllez was joined by Linda Strommen, professor of music in oboe, and Michael Vernon, professor of music in ballet and chair of the Ballet Department.

The goal of Project Jumpstart was to shed light on career development by bringing in faculty to offer help.

“We brought a wide range of faculty to talk about things that students don’t typically hear about in class,” said Project Jumpstart leader Angela Beeching. “It’s fun to have the faculty hear each others’ stories as well.”

The common theme among the panelists was that students should have a passion for what they do.

“You have to have a burning ambition and it’s up to the dancer,” Vernon said. “The desire has to come from within because it is very competitive.”

Along with a dedication to music, students must create their own opportunities.

“Composers are more entrepreneurial now and are diversifying music,” Téllez said. “You just have to start it yourself. You have a big choice: Am I going to insert myself or open a new direction by starting an organization of my own?”

Téllez had experience starting her own program when she created the contemporary vocal ensemble at IU.

Students should not be intimidated to take even small opportunities right out of college, Strommen said.

“Nothing is wasted when you build on your opportunities,” she said. “You must be flexible to fit the companies’ needs with your skills.”

Beeching hopes Project Jumpstart will be an ongoing program following its pilot year, in which 24 workshops were organized.

“You have to believe that there’s something only you can give,” Strommen said.