This story about the Ohlone College Music Department was first broadcast during the Ohlone Tri-City News program on May 17, 2023.
Nicolas Bihler, Reporter
Script
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The music department at Ohlone is very student oriented and offers a fun environment with numerous classes to explore and further one’s skills.
Josh, Pianist: There’s a lot of students here that they just come for fun. They’re here for you know, many years, and that’s okay. There’s a lot of other students here who have a different idea, want to come here, work hard for two years and then transfer. So I think it can be whatever experience you want it to be.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: So you’ll figure out what your reason for doing music is, even if it’s so much as, Oh, that sounds cool. I want to do that and people will find their own reason.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: So it winds up being a music making thing as much as a music teaching situation. So it’s fun to create an environment that’s making music as a model for my students rather than just telling them what to do and making them memorize things. So that’s what makes it fun.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The music department recently received a huge overhaul of their facilities as part of an Ohlone grant.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: I’ve seen it go from we were all learning art, doing our musicianship and our theory just in essentially a big office room to now we’re actually in a music facility, a music teaching facility.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: There’s a brand new recording studio for those who are more career oriented, who want to be an engineer or want to be a mixer or want to be a producer. That is really, really state of the art stuff in the brand new studio.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: The recital hall is a big thing for us to experience such, you know, nice music environment and also the practice rooms were a big deal for us as well. So it’s nice that the facilities are well equipped and also fairly new.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: We’ve got a band room, we’ve got a recital hall, we’ve got practice rooms. Actually, we have a studio that we can record music. We’ve also got piano lab and a computer lab. So all these various things have contributed.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: Everybody needs a place to practice. Especially a soundproof place to practice. So there are a set of practice rooms that they all have a piano in there and then a chair, and it’s basically a prison cell, but that’s what it’s supposed to be.
Josh, Pianist: There’s some good music labs here with good computers and nice pianos. Sounds pretty cool, especially if you’re trying to do composition, that kind of thing. Aside from that, the recital hall is really nice, has a nice piano.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: All the rooms are interconnected. Via Dante Communications so they all run back to the recording studio. So the whole the whole department is kind of like a recording studio with different rooms.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: And the professors in the program have been able to help students with their journey towards success.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: I think the fact that every one of them is really engaging and also willing to help really also engage me to my fullest potential and also we know that they’re equipped with, you know, learning and credentials and all that, and they just help us to build that step in time to be prepared once we transfer to another school.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: So our head faculty member Tim Roberts has been an extreme force to push students, myself and my friends, to improve ourselves without being strict or harsh about it. He’s he’s always been of the opinion that if you want to learn, I’ll teach you, but I’m not going to force it down your throat. You can be here if you want.
Josh, Pianist: My private instructor, Professor Sandy Chan, she’s helped me a lot. She’s really good piano teacher, but she goes beyond that as well and supports her students. And some of the other teachers do as well do that here. But that’s just the one that’s the most for me.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: Our vocal professor focuses a lot on how to embody what you want put out in yourself. So if you want a nice regal sound from your voice, he shows you how to get there and how you need to change your body to get there. And also how to deal with the mental obstacles along the way.
Yvette, Soprano 2: I would say the DLC would help me in a way that like would improve my voice in a way. It’s like very hard to explain, but like if you take his class, it’s like really? It really just helps improve overall.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The professors and facilities are not the only sources of help for students.
Joey, Choir Student: Other than the music sheets we do learn from. It’s also the the overall atmosphere and everyone else around it.
Yvette, Soprano 2: The resources I have are technically my friends that I made in choir. So usually there’s like this choir class. It’s like, very friendly and like, it’s very easy to like, you know, make yourself feel like you belong here because, like, everyone’s just really outgoing and really friendly.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: Finally, some words of advice are offered for future students.
Josh, Pianist: The music department at Ohlone is kind of varied in terms of both students, professors, classes. I think the experience can really be what you make of it.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: Embrace the suck. There are going to be moments where you’re not going to want to do it, and then you just got to remember why you got into music in the first place.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: Just believe in yourself. Yeah.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: Follow your heart. Feed your soul at this moment. Go and see if if you want music so bad that you can’t imagine doing something else, then that’s going to be here.
Joey, Choir Student: Come join us. It’s. It’s fun. You’ll find new friends.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: If you are interested in what the music department has to offer, then head over to Ohlone.edu/music to see upcoming courses and how to sign up. From the Ohlone College Fremont Campus, This is Nicolas Bihler with Ohlone Tri-City News.
May 17 2023
Ohlone College Music Department
This story about the Ohlone College Music Department was first broadcast during the Ohlone Tri-City News program on May 17, 2023.
Nicolas Bihler, Reporter
Script
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The music department at Ohlone is very student oriented and offers a fun environment with numerous classes to explore and further one’s skills.
Josh, Pianist: There’s a lot of students here that they just come for fun. They’re here for you know, many years, and that’s okay. There’s a lot of other students here who have a different idea, want to come here, work hard for two years and then transfer. So I think it can be whatever experience you want it to be.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: So you’ll figure out what your reason for doing music is, even if it’s so much as, Oh, that sounds cool. I want to do that and people will find their own reason.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: So it winds up being a music making thing as much as a music teaching situation. So it’s fun to create an environment that’s making music as a model for my students rather than just telling them what to do and making them memorize things. So that’s what makes it fun.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The music department recently received a huge overhaul of their facilities as part of an Ohlone grant.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: I’ve seen it go from we were all learning art, doing our musicianship and our theory just in essentially a big office room to now we’re actually in a music facility, a music teaching facility.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: There’s a brand new recording studio for those who are more career oriented, who want to be an engineer or want to be a mixer or want to be a producer. That is really, really state of the art stuff in the brand new studio.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: The recital hall is a big thing for us to experience such, you know, nice music environment and also the practice rooms were a big deal for us as well. So it’s nice that the facilities are well equipped and also fairly new.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: We’ve got a band room, we’ve got a recital hall, we’ve got practice rooms. Actually, we have a studio that we can record music. We’ve also got piano lab and a computer lab. So all these various things have contributed.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: Everybody needs a place to practice. Especially a soundproof place to practice. So there are a set of practice rooms that they all have a piano in there and then a chair, and it’s basically a prison cell, but that’s what it’s supposed to be.
Josh, Pianist: There’s some good music labs here with good computers and nice pianos. Sounds pretty cool, especially if you’re trying to do composition, that kind of thing. Aside from that, the recital hall is really nice, has a nice piano.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: All the rooms are interconnected. Via Dante Communications so they all run back to the recording studio. So the whole the whole department is kind of like a recording studio with different rooms.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: And the professors in the program have been able to help students with their journey towards success.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: I think the fact that every one of them is really engaging and also willing to help really also engage me to my fullest potential and also we know that they’re equipped with, you know, learning and credentials and all that, and they just help us to build that step in time to be prepared once we transfer to another school.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: So our head faculty member Tim Roberts has been an extreme force to push students, myself and my friends, to improve ourselves without being strict or harsh about it. He’s he’s always been of the opinion that if you want to learn, I’ll teach you, but I’m not going to force it down your throat. You can be here if you want.
Josh, Pianist: My private instructor, Professor Sandy Chan, she’s helped me a lot. She’s really good piano teacher, but she goes beyond that as well and supports her students. And some of the other teachers do as well do that here. But that’s just the one that’s the most for me.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: Our vocal professor focuses a lot on how to embody what you want put out in yourself. So if you want a nice regal sound from your voice, he shows you how to get there and how you need to change your body to get there. And also how to deal with the mental obstacles along the way.
Yvette, Soprano 2: I would say the DLC would help me in a way that like would improve my voice in a way. It’s like very hard to explain, but like if you take his class, it’s like really? It really just helps improve overall.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: The professors and facilities are not the only sources of help for students.
Joey, Choir Student: Other than the music sheets we do learn from. It’s also the the overall atmosphere and everyone else around it.
Yvette, Soprano 2: The resources I have are technically my friends that I made in choir. So usually there’s like this choir class. It’s like, very friendly and like, it’s very easy to like, you know, make yourself feel like you belong here because, like, everyone’s just really outgoing and really friendly.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: Finally, some words of advice are offered for future students.
Josh, Pianist: The music department at Ohlone is kind of varied in terms of both students, professors, classes. I think the experience can really be what you make of it.
Russell, Singer/Studio Recorder: Embrace the suck. There are going to be moments where you’re not going to want to do it, and then you just got to remember why you got into music in the first place.
Madee, Vocal Major Student: Just believe in yourself. Yeah.
Tim Roberts, Associate Professor: Follow your heart. Feed your soul at this moment. Go and see if if you want music so bad that you can’t imagine doing something else, then that’s going to be here.
Joey, Choir Student: Come join us. It’s. It’s fun. You’ll find new friends.
Nicolas Bihler, Ohlone Tri-City News: If you are interested in what the music department has to offer, then head over to Ohlone.edu/music to see upcoming courses and how to sign up. From the Ohlone College Fremont Campus, This is Nicolas Bihler with Ohlone Tri-City News.
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