By Megan LaBar
RVCC music professor John Sichel is the recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers’ Concert Music Division Standard Award for 2007.
Sichel has been an adjunct professor at RVCC for ten years. He currently teaches Music Theory and Musicianship and directs the RVCC choir. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s also a challenge because it’s my first time directing.”
Sichel attended Princeton University and received his doctorate at the Yale School of Music. “I’m not from a musical family,” he says, although he has always enjoyed music.
“Once I started attending concerts, I knew that was what I wanted to do.” In the 1970s and 80s his friends recruited him to be in the rock band Device. “They asked me because they knew I was the only one who could read music,” he says.
Eventually, he began composing his own music, and he has now been composing for more than 12 years.
Great music thrills Sichel. “It represents who we are,” he says. He thinks classical music is the greatest part of American culture. “It’s something people know the least about.” Mozart is his favorite composer. His favorite class to teach is Theory and Musicianship. It’s the fun part of music, he says, “the nuts and bolts.”
According to Sichel, students that do not consider themselves musical would benefit from taking introductory-level music courses. “Jazz and Rock and Roll are exciting classes to take,” he says, “even to just appreciate the music.”
“Most people have more musical talent than they realize,” he says “even by just enjoying music.” But, he says, “the best way to enjoy music is to make music.”
He believes music education helps to foster skills that go beyond regular development because it helps them develop “new ways of thinking (and) gives students a strong sense of cause and effect.” This is because “what you see on the page, you read, and then your hands perform a function.”
Sichel’s music has been played in Japan, China, Italy and Germany; some has been recorded. Next spring will be his first South American performance. He gives lectures and enjoys freelance writing and composing.
Although he mostly composes instrumental music, he also has written lyrics and “even a little fiction,” he says. He is involved in the A. Lewis Starmolin Trust, a non-profit organization that promotes music.
He is looking forward to the Dec. 14 fall concert with the RVCC choir. “Half the program will be Christmas music” he says. The concert is at 8 p.m. in the Welpe Theatre.
In the meanwhile, you can hear some of Sichel’s music on his website, sichelmusic.com.
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