Summer internships essential to a complete education

Kate Hudson
Managing Editor
His eyes focus on the strings, and just as quickly as he picks up the violin, Josh Colucci whips through a Bach violin sonata as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. His experience and enthusiasm are evident. The sound resonates in the wooden arches of the high church ceiling, responding to his delicate improvisations and authentic Baroque-style bow.
A third-year student in York’s musical performance program, Josh is studying as a violinist and Baroque music specialist.

“I’ve been playing since before I can remember,” he explains. “The thought of going a day without music is just strange to me.” He’s really not exaggerating.
“If my iPod dies when I’m out for a walk or something, I can’t stand it. Music is my life.”
Besides playing in several ensembles at York, he volunteers his time at St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church at every 9:30 a.m. service to assist the gallery choir. Their repertoire ranges from Renaissance-era masses to original compositions by music director, Stephanie Martin, a professor at York. This summer, however, Josh will have the unique opportunity to be the church’s music intern.
Josh is pleased to have been accepted.
“It’s sort of natural, considering I am already a regular performer here and I want to go into music professionally,” he says. “I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to be doing something relevant to my career.”
“I know a lot of students have to work summer jobs in retail or something like that. It’s a really valuable experience when you can work in an environment with people in your own field. Already, I’ve learned things that I never would have if I had only studied music in school.”
Besides playing music outside the regular Sunday mass schedule, a lot of the duties of a summer music intern relate to organizing and communicating with other members of the church. The intern is required to email and follow up with ensemble musicians, keep the director up to date, schedule rehearsals and organize concerts.
“The organizational duties are definitely the most challenging part,” he says. “This is the reality of any professional musician. A lot of students are way too focused on playing their instruments, and forget that good musicianship is also about good business and organizational skills.”
Post-secondary education has been split between a traditional theory-and-discussion-oriented approach and a practical career-oriented approach. Some universities, notably the University of Waterloo, offer a co-op stream that allows students to intersperse work terms with academic studies. Although York does not offer co-op, the Career and Development Centre provides support for students to find summer internships like Josh’s.
A lot about finding a dream internship is about who you know.
“To be honest, the reason I got my internship was because I’m a student of Stephanie Martin, the music director at St. Mary Magdalene,” says Josh. “But I wouldn’t have gotten it if I hadn’t spent so much time as a volunteer. I think students who are looking for a great summer job should consider volunteering during the year. It’s a lot of work, but it can really pay off.”
Some programs, such as York/Sheridan Design, include an internship as part of the requirement to graduate. The program provides a course that assists in interviewing techniques, preparing portfolios, and learning what to expect in the professional world.
However, too much emphasis on career training at the university level is often met with criticism. In his book The Disciplined Mind, American educational psychologist Howard Gardner, famous for championing the idea of multiple intelligences, questioned the effectiveness of streamlining education for entry to the workplace in developing critical thinking skills. He cited the University of Phoenix, which provides streamlined job-specific degree programs, as an example of favouring efficiency over educational effectiveness.
In an episode of Richard Heffner’s The Open, Gardner explained that education should be about “falling in love with learning for its own sake. This is absent at the University of Phoenix. There’s no library. What does that mean, that there’s no library there? There are no tenured faculty. People are hired because they can help you [graduate] even more quickly and even more cheaply.”
While he enjoys the practical elements of his internship, Josh agrees that a theory-based approach to learning music at York is an essential part of his education.“One of my interests as a musician is understanding the Baroque musical style, and there’s no way I would be able to do that without the training in music history and harmony that I learned at York,” he says. “I think both practical and theoretical learning are important.”