Looking Forward to the Sound of Music
Photo/Dietmar Quistorf
But the young man didn’t seem to care about the wide smile he kept flashing.
“Ricky Minor let me play his bass,” McCoy said loudly in between bites of a sandwich he was eating in Alumni Park. “He gave me finger exercises to practice.”
That’s a big deal. Ricky Minor is, after all, the music director of the TV phenomenon American Idol. He is responsible for 45 musicians on the show and his band has helped lure such icons as Burt Bacharach, Barry Manilow and Prince.
But on Feb. 4, Minor wasn’t playing to millions and millions on TV. He was inspiring one kid one at a time at the 21st annual Grammy Career Day, produced in partnership with the USC Thornton School of Music and the Gibson Foundation.
On that day, more than 1,100 young people visited campus to learn about the real possibility of a life in music. Some came from as far away as Las Vegas, but most were from just around the corner.
McCoy, a Narbonne High School senior in the Harbor Gateway area of south Los Angeles, would love to come to USC and study music, law or both. The idea of forming goals beyond high school may be the most important takeaway for many of his students, said Tim Suits, a Narbonne music teacher who brought 25 of his pupils.
“Bringing these kids on a college campus like this sells them on going,” Suits said. “It’s a very different environment than they are used to, and it’s a place they like to be. It really gets the kids thinking of possibilities.”
Music luminaries, including Jimmy Jam, a producer for Babyface and Janet Jackson; songwriter Lamont Dozier, who co-wrote hits for The Supremes and The Four Tops; and producer Mike Clink, who worked with Guns N’ Roses, are paired with engineers, agents and publishers in 11 workshops that focused on various aspects of the music business.
“The Thornton School is thrilled to partner with the Grammys on so many projects that enhance music education,” said Robert Cutietta, dean of the USC Thornton School of Music. “We work well together because our philosophies are so similar: supporting the excellence of music and education for all students and all styles of music.”
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USC in the News
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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