COMPOSER SABRINA PENA YOUNG | MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | FILM | CLASSICAL | OPERA

Grades and Stress: College Professors were Students Once Upon a Time First off, full disclosure: I was once a college student . Shocking, yes, I know, but every professor that you know has sat in your shoes in some form or another. Now you might be studying online while juggling work and family, or maybe you go part time or to a community college or are studying something entirely different than your professor, but the reality is that when it comes down to stressing out about grades, every professor has sat in your shoes, whether it was a few years ago or during the Stone Age.  What does that mean for you, the college student?  Most likely your professor has rose-colored memories about their time in college, especially those that chose to pursue their careers in academia and higher learning. Your professor was the kid in college that not only enjoyed learning about business or humanities or biology or computer science so much that s/he decided to spend the rest of t...

While attending an online faculty meeting, I was asked about the changing roles of students and faculty. I thought I would share this response to changes in education and academics. I think that the role of the faculty and students have changed equally. The students have graduated into a poor economy that leaves half of them unemployed despite thousands of dollars of student debt.  On the flip side, academia has suffered budget cuts and tenured track jobs are difficult to get and rapidly disappearing as online education   becomes the preferred mode of learning.  I myself originally thought I would be in academia full time and now find that I am an independent contractor instead (composer/writer/artist). I find it ironic that many of my friends who chose to become band directors instead of composers because of job stability in education are now scrambling to find work while I have career success and job flexibility in the artistic field.  Stud...

I suppose we all have those days, when no matter what your good intentions, a good day starts out ok and then slowly spirals into mayhem. For some reason, our best efforts melt by the wayside, tiredness kicks in, your smile melts into a frown, and you wonder if you will ever be able to balance the thousand self-inflicted projectiles that you are attempted to juggle.  I guess that is how I felt today, trying to balance online classes with my three-year-old, finishing up a video and getting ready for a music class tomorrow, trying to clean the house for visiting friends, and dressing for affiliation with Sigma Alpha Iota , the international music fraternity for women. And I guess that's when I realize that I am trying to fill the roles of several people - mom, wife, musician, teacher, friend, and I can't do it all, all of the time. Some days I will fail, like today when I found my head almost literally spinning in circles. All that was missing was the pea soup.  I ...

Image via Wikipedia Seasons change, and it's time for me and my family to leave Murray, Kentucky , which has been our home since relocating from South Florida three years ago. I have enjoyed the people and the students that I have met here. What an amazing jewel in America's Heartland, with the Athena Festival, Murray State University , the Murray Art Guild, and a thriving arts community. Tuesday night was my last concert with Murray State University, the New Music Concert. My students presented nine different electronic works, from clarinet and tape to more contemporary electronica. We even had a fun jazz piece or two. I also presented a video version of Movement 1 of my Creation Oratorio, originally performed live by the Millikin University Women's Choir and Millikin University Percussion Ensemble. Moving will be hard. I am giving a lecture next week Ohio, then returning to Murray to finish packing. Such incredible craziness! Goodbye, Murray! I will miss you! Related art...

Another exciting semester has begun at Murray State University . Right now the Synthesis Studio is full and I have a few private students. We are getting ready to work in Garageband and learn some MIDI Basics, then off to exciting work in Logic Studio mid-semester. The Murray State University New Music Concert is scheduled for November 20th. I also will be hosting an IAWM lecture/recital at the beginning of November, which will cover tape works by talented women. I am teaching an online Music History course which I redesigned this semester. I am very excited to teach this music survey course, which has a new textbook that incorporates an online music lab. Very cool, very interactive, very tekky. I continue writing for Easy Ear Training.com and am working on several other music writing projects for a number of national and international companies. My most recent releases include a series of ringtones and a couple of singles - Light and Revolution Devolution .