What makes a great musician? As a guitarist, pianist, composer, professor, and the longest-serving director (2002–16) of the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM), Edward Smaldone has an opinion. “A musician–whether composing an original work, performing, writing a concert review, or putting together a lesson plan–has to think critically,” he says. “Our students learn all aspects of music, including theory, history, music analysis, and performance.”
Their classes provide the foundation that musicians need to excel, says Smaldone, himself a Queens College alumnus. “Our graduates know and hear music in a way that is distinct because of what they learned at QC.”
This approach to music education must be working: ACSM alumni and faculty members have collected nearly 100 Grammy nominations and awards. Carole King, Paul Simon, and the late composer Marvin Hamlisch have international acclaim and, in the classical world, Samuel Rhodes of the Julliard String Quartet and conductor JoAnn Falletta are stars.
At the ACSM students have almost limitless opportunities to perform, a requirement for the BA. “We produce almost 300 concerts a year,” Smaldone says. “Students demonstrate in real time, engaged and ready, like a batter in the ninth inning at Citi Field.”
Today Smaldone primarily teaches courses in composition. During his 14-year tenure as director, ACSM nearly doubled its enrollment; developed four new certificate programs in Performance, as well as a Digital Recording certificate, three Master of Music degrees, and the first online music courses; began private lessons for all music majors; nearly doubled endowment accounts for music scholarships; and developed international exchange agreements with conservatories in China, Italy, and Denmark.
Smaldone also established regular Study Abroad programs and personally led music majors on trips to England and Italy. The students soak up the local art, music, and culture and produce three concerts—one of them the students’ original composition.
The ACSM Jazz program, founded 25 years ago with such legendary musicians as Jimmy Heath and Sir Roland Hanna on the faculty, has doubled in enrollment and attracts budding jazz artists from all over the world.
“Our students find us because of our unique combination of opportunity and affordability,” says Smaldone. As one of six children, Smaldone knew that “getting a big bang for the buck” was crucial. A guitarist in a rock band who also studied piano during his high school years, he was getting serious about music and knew that he wanted a high-quality education, too.
At ACSM, he found a home: meeting his future wife in his first music class at QC, developing his performance skills so that he could earn money playing guitar professionally at hotels, and, after graduating in 1978, staying to earn his MA in Music and PhD in Composition while teaching as a QC adjunct.
Smaldone has received composing commissions from Jacob’s Pillow and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Festival; had his music performed by international orchestras and ensembles; and was named Composer of the Year, 2016, by the Classical Recording Foundation. But he is most proud of receiving the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which is “given annually to young composers of extraordinary gifts.”
“When I showed up on campus in 1974, I had little experience, but I was eager, passionate, hard-working, and fortunate enough to encounter a program and a faculty that made great demands,” says Smaldone. “My colleagues and I take great pride in building students into the best musicians they can become.”
