In the News
Faculty Development Grant Supports New Film Music Course
A Muskingum University faculty development grant provided Associate Professor of Music David Turrill with the opportunity to become a student again this summer while preparing to launch a new General Education course at Muskingum.
With support from the $1500 grant, Turrill enrolled in a history of film music course offered by Berklee College of Music. Berklee’s strong reputation in contemporary music, film scoring, and music production made the course an ideal opportunity to develop a deeper foundation in the history and evolution of music for film.
“The course and professor were amazing and gave me a solid foundation in film music, as well as resources and perspectives that I am already bringing into the classroom,” Turrill said. “It was also great to be back in a “classroom” again. Experiencing a course again from the student perspective was a terrific reminder of what we ask our own students to do every day.”
The experience directly supports MUSC 209: Music for Film and Video Games, a new Muskingum General Education course Turrill developed and is teaching for the first time this fall. The course broadens Muskingum’s General Education offerings in the arts and humanities while connecting musical study with movies and video games that are already part of students’ lives.
“Music plays such an important role in the way we experience film and video games, but it often works in ways we don’t consciously notice,” Turrill said. “The course gives students an opportunity to discover how music shapes what they see, hear, and feel while also exploring the history, composers, technology, and musical techniques behind it.”
The faculty development experience allowed Turrill to bring new expertise directly back to the classroom while gaining a fresh perspective as a learner himself. That summer experience is now helping shape a new learning opportunity for Muskingum students.
