Suffolk county community college

Rationale

• 
  Increase graduation rates
  

required four semesters of private lessons and were eligible to

graduate with the A.S. degree in music on time. Students cited

financial and transportation reasons for not taking lessons. Offering

lessons on campus and allowing students to apply financial aid to

the course will ensure more students stay on track and graduation

time.

• 
  Improve quality and consistency of instruction
  

• 
  Improve transferability
  

transfer (for example, SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY

Purchase, SUNY Stony Brook, CW Post, and Queens College)

require between 6-8 semesters of private lessons to graduate and

offer lessons from .5 to 3 credits. Suffolk requires four semesters of lessons, but offers no credit. This becomes problematic when a

student wishes to transfer his/her private lessons to a new

institution.

The cost of hiring Applied Instrumentalists (private lesson teachers) will be offset by an Applied Music fee of $450 per semester and a Music Performance Lab fee of $35. Applied Music fees are a common practice and range from $100 to $1,101 at neighboring institutions. Current music majors are paying between $550-850 out of pocket for private lessons in the community. In addition to Applied Instrumentalists, a full-time faculty member will oversee the Applied Music courses and will receive 1-credit release time or overload per course.

cc: Dr. Candice Foley, College Associate Dean for

SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

LETTER-OF-SUPPORT FROM CAMPUS DEAN(S)

EXECUTIVE DEAN(S) E-MAILS LETTER-OF-SUPPORT TO THE FACULTY MEMBER INITIATING THE LETTER OF INTENT. (Dr. Candice Foley, College Associate Dean for Curriculum Development, receives an electronic copy of Letter-of-Support sent to proposer.)
******************************************************************

TO: Alice Cavanaugh

FROM: George Tvelia

DATE: 9/18/09

***********************************************************

Comments:
I am in support of the proposed revisions in the Music Program. The changes will enhance the ability of our students to transfer SCCC credits to four year colleges and universities while also improving the quality of the program.

cc: Dr. Candice Foley, College Associate Dean for

SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

EXPEDITED CURRICULUM-REVISION PROPOSAL FORM
ORIGINATING CAMPUS: ( X ) Ammerman ( ) Eastern ( ) Grant

Date Submitted to Curriculum Committee: _____10/09_____
PROPOSER E-MAILS ENTIRE CURRICULUM PROPOSAL PACKET TO THE APPROPRIATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE CHAIR AS A WORD DOCUMENT.
To meet the ideals of Suffolk County Community College, a new curriculum should, if appropriate, consider issues arising from elements of cultural diversity in areas of textbook choice, selection of library and audio-visual materials, and teaching methodology.
Issues of transferability MUST be addressed for curricula leading to an A.A. or an A.S. degree. Issues of workforce demand MUST be addressed for curricula leading to an A.A.S. degree or a Certificate. The Counseling Office and Library of each campus have materials that can help locate answers about transferability (II d.) and other colleges that offer similar courses (VI a. and b.). Contact Dr. Candice Foley, College Associate Dean for Curriculum Development, for further information.




Proposal Checklist

Proposer records appropriate departmental votes here and checks to be sure all the documents are contained within the packet.

( X ) Electronic Letter-of-Intent

For: _5____ Against: __0___ Abstentions: __0___

Date of Vote: __9/16/09_____ Proposer's Initials: __AC___

Select One: Approved__X___ Not approved_____

Name of Department: _(Humanities/Grant)_

For: __9___ Against: __1___ Abstentions: __0___

Date of Vote: __10/15/09________ Proposer's Initials: __AC___

Select One: Approved__X___ Not approved_____

Name of Department: _(Name of Department/Campus)_

For: _____ Against: _____ Abstentions: _____

Date of Vote: __________ Proposer's Initials: _____

Select One: Approved_____ Not approved_____

( X ) Campus Dean Final-Approval Form(s)

( X ) Course Syllabi For All New Courses and Revised Courses Proposed along with this Expedited Curriculum-Revision Proposal. Also include course syllabi for existing courses that are new to the curriculum.

List Courses Here:
Aural Skills I, II, III, IV

Applied Music I, II, III, IV
(Proposer completes form to this line before sending entire proposal packet to the appropriate Curriculum Committee Chair)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name of Committee:_______________________________

For: _____ Against: _____ Abstentions: _____

Date of Vote: __________

( ) Vote of Ammerman Faculty Senate (if appropriate)

For: _____ Against: _____ Abstentions: _____

Date of Vote: __________

For: _____ Against: _____ Abstentions: _____

Date of Vote: __________

Select One: Approved_____ Not approved_____

Abstention_____
( ) Vote of Grant Assembly (if appropriate)

For: _____ Against: _____ Abstentions: _____

Date of Vote: __________

Select One: Approved_____ Not approved_____

Abstention_____
Proposal is _____Approved _____Not Approved
Date________________________________________

cc: Dr. Candice Foley, College Associate Dean for Curriculum Development

Academic Chairs of affected department

1. 
   ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
   

II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

We propose lowering the credits for Aural Skills I,II,III,IV (MUS 123, 127, 204, 209) from 3 credits to 2 credits. In addition, we plan to require a new course, Applied Music I,II,III,IV (MUS125,129,205,211) at one credit each.

Applied Music is currently a requirement for the degree, but it is not offered for credit. See Appendix.
Rationale for Aural Skills:

Lowering the credits for Aural Skills I, II, III, IV (MUS 123, 127, 204, 209) from 3 to 2 (1 credit lecture, 1 credit individual instruction) will better align these courses with the identical course at the colleges/universities to which our students regularly transfer. No changes will be made to the content or contact hours. The College’s lab fee will apply.

Of the colleges listed below (Table 1.), eight offer Aural Skills for 2 credits and the remainder offers the course for 1 to 1.5 credits. None of these schools offers the course for 3 credits. The class hours were, on average, the same as Suffolk’s (2.5 hours per week). Half of the colleges met for 2.5 or more hours per week. Since Suffolk’s Aural Skills does not cover material above and beyond what is taught in typical Aural Skills courses and does not meet for more hours, we should bring the credits in alignment with other schools. This will facilitate transfer both from and to Suffolk’s music program.

A large part of the Aural Skills courses is individual practice and testing

must be done one-on-one. Therefore, the students have less lecture time with the professor than in the other 3-credit music courses such as Music Theory and Music History. This is similar to Piano I and II (MUS124,128), which also require a large amount of individual practice and one-on-one testing. The focus of the Music Department’s 2-credit courses (Piano I, II, and all the performance ensembles) is practice and performance.
Table 1.

Aural Skills Credits at Four Year Colleges/Universities

School	Number of Credits for Aural Skills	Number of class hours per week
Suffolk	3	2.5
SUNY Fredonia	2	2.5
SUNY Stony Brook	2	2.3
Five Towns College	2	2
Hofstra University	2	1.83
SUNY Purchase	2	1.6
Queens College	2	3
CUNY Brooklyn	2	2
Ithaca College	1.5	2.5
CW Post	1	2.6
Adelphi University	1	1.6
SUNY Potsdam	1	1.6
SUNY New Paltz	1	2.5