Naz Jafferi and John Harp
STAFF WRITERS
Just before spring break, the Moores School of Music put on a show for a national accreditation board.
The National Association of Schools of Music visited the University of Houston March 9 and 10.
Three representatives, all deans of other music colleges, were from Ohio State, Cincinnati and Carengi.
NASM, which is certified by the Department of Education, came to observe UH in its regular operations.
Based on the results of their evaluation, NASM is authorized to give accreditation to UH. A review of the school will come out in a report which should be published by mid April.
During their two-day visit, the NASM members attended several student rehearsals, private lessons and one concert.
In addition, they visited classrooms and toured the various facilities, such as the building's computer lab.
The concert put together for NASM on March 10 was held at the Moores Opera Hall in the Moores School of Music building.
The performance forum was added to UH last year after the Moores Foundation made the second-largest private contribution to a public university in the nation to the UH School of Music.
According to James Gardner, associate-director of the Moores School of Music, the funding for the building is a combination of both outside and UH sources.
Though the new facility has been open since last fall, most student performances and many classes are still held in the older Dudley Recital Hall, located in the Fine Arts building.
The performers for the March 10 concert, however, did include undergraduate, masters and doctoral students.
"We created a performance (for the NASM representatives) to show a breadth of our student performers," Gardner said.
Individual student performances are held at the Dudley Recital Hall, while larger performances are held at the Moores building, Gardner said.
Samuel Miller, coordinator of music education, agreed with Gardner, and said selection of who will perform in which building depends on the size of the performance.
While individual students do not perform at the Moores building, individual faculty members do.
For example, Nancy Weems, associate professor of music, had a solo performance at the Moores building on March 15th.