Classical music is alive and well.

That's the message Dr. Erich Stem is sharing with his audience.

“Classical music is not something that died in the 1800s,” said Stem, who is director of The New Music Project and an assistant professor of music at IU Southeast.

“There are plenty of classical music composers out there who are producing new and innovative music every day,” Stem says.

Stem is passionate about bringing contemporary classical music to a broader audience. He envisions a future where classical music is as readily adopted and understood as today's pop music. Stem believes that broader exposure, coupled with better understanding for the classical music tradition, will open doors to more musical creativity and scholarly research.

In pursuit of that goal, Stem submitted a Commitment to Excellence (CTE) proposal in 2005 to launch The New Music Project , a program dedicated to the discovery, preservation, study, and dissemination of new and innovative classical music. The proposal was accepted and $18,000 in CTE funds was appropriated for the project. The funds are renewable for up to three years.

With funding in hand, Stem worked to jumpstart The New Music Project. His goal: release a CD as soon as possible. A new record company, New Dynamic Records, was promptly created and Stem began to enlist the help of innovative composers from around the country who were willing to share pre-recorded compositions.

“I wanted the first CD to be a compilation of pre-recorded works from both established and emerging composers,” said Stem.

“Generally, recording companies feature either established composers or emerging composers, but not both on the same CD,” said Stem. “My goal was to give listeners a taste of the stylistically diverse music of today.”

In February, 2006, the first CD under the New Dynamic Records (NDR) label was released. That CD, Influence , has received positive reviews from critics and hundreds of copies of the CD have been distributed.

Influence was so named because of the many “influences” that can be heard on the CD. The keen listener will hear fragments of Chinese folk music, jazz, Stravinsky, and even pop music.

Stem is pleased with the success of Influence . However, for the next release he will explore other venues of distribution. “We are facing the same problem as other record labels because sales of CDs are falling in preference for downloadable music,” said Stem. “For our next CD we will probably offer downloads from various websites.”

The website for NDR is www.newdynamicrecords.com.

Working Together

The New Music Project and subsequent creation of NDR generated a lot of excitement at IU Southeast. Immediately after the CTE funding was approved, Stem put together a team of students eager to help with the launch of NDR.

Graphic design students came up with an identity and logo for the newly created NDR as well as a jacket cover for the first CD, Influence. The logo for NDR was recognized by the Louisville Graphic Design Association and the student who created that design won a Silver Award from the Association. At about the same time, the Louisville Advertising Federation bestowed their most coveted award—the Louie—on two IU Southeast students who created the cover design for Influence.

Additionally, music students helped with the production of the CD, business students worked on marketing and promotion, and students in computer science were instrumental in launching the NDR website.

“This entire project has given our students a unique opportunity to gain ‘real-world' experience,” said Stem. “It's been fun for everyone involved and very rewarding to see our work come to fruition.”

Even so, Stem acknowledges that there is still much work to be done. Introducing contemporary classical music to the ears of the average music lover will take patience and tenacity.

“Little by little, we are winning people over,” said Stem. “In fact, when people hear the theme music from movies like Platoon, The Shining , and Jaws , they are listening to contemporary classical music.”

Stem says, “Today's classical music is not your father's classical music. We just have to get people to listen and explore.”