FARLS #5: Dr. Mark Tse
Last and certainly not least, sit in with faculty member Dr. Mark Tse and really get into the nitty gritty of four of America's most successful pro-level wind bands.
Wednesday, February 26 12:30pm-1:30pm
Quance Theatre, Education Building, U of S - Free Event!
Dr. Mark Tse: "A Comparative Study of Four Professional American Wind Bands"
I begin with a comparative study of the four most successful professional wind bands in America and then compare them against a historical survey of the three largest and most successful professional symphonic orchestras in America today: the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The presentation will show that while contemporary professional wind bands seem to be achieving questionable success, they are succeeding better than the first orchestras did by this point in their development. The presentation concludes by questioning whether it is wise or even ethical to replicate the development of the early orchestras via elite patronage again.
Given the inverted ratio in North America of band students to professional band jobs compared to orchestral students to professional orchestral jobs, it is worth investigating if more professional wind bands should be created to balance out the desire of the communities to create job opportunities as well as provide aesthetic experiences that the music-enjoying-community-at-large desire.
Dr. Mark Tse is a conductor and educator, serving as Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education at the University of Saskatchewan, and settler living on the Treaty Six Territory and the Homeland of the Métis. He conducts the University’s Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra and is an instructor of conducting, instrumental music teaching in secondary schools, and guitar pedagogy.
Dr. Tse values kindness, collectivism, and continuous learning. He is dedicated to co-creating opportunities for everyone to access and cultivate the joy of music, which includes musicians, conductors, composers and audiences, as well as people and genres who have historically been marginalized from orchestral music.
In the 2016 American Prize competition, he won 3rd place for Community Band Wind Ensemble Conducting and an Honourable Mention for College/University Wind Ensemble Conducting. In 2015, he won 2nd place for College/University Wind Ensemble Conducting.
Dr. Tse holds a doctorate in Wind Ensemble Conducting from the University of Washington, a Master of Music (Wind Ensemble
Conducting) from the New England Conservatory, a Master of Music (Music Education) from the University of Western Ontario, as well as a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) and a Bachelor of Education (Instrumental Music) from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Tse has guest conducted the North Saskatchewan Wind Symphony and the Atlantic Wind Symphony. He served as clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor at various music festivals, and workshopped school bands in Seattle, Toronto, Long Island, and Saskatoon. He is published in the Canadian Music Educators Association Journal. Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Tse taught instrumental high school music for eleven years in his home city Toronto.