Our people: A passion for music and teaching

A 2017 essay about Jason Paulk, the head of Eastern New Mexico University's vocal music programs, on the ENMU website, includes this quote from Paulk: "At the intersection of great passion and focused discipline can be found great art."

Paulk is a believer in the value of the work ethic and discipline that music instills in serious students, as much as he is a believer in music itself.

Notice he didn't say "talent," but he does not deny the value of talent. More on that later.

Paulk is a person of passions, led by music and teaching.

On Wednesday, he shared his ideas and feelings about music, education and the impact both can have on students, performers and teachers alike.

Here are our questions and his responses, starting after Paulk played an excerpt from "St. Francis in the Americas: A Caribbean Mass" by Glenn McClure, which includes Spanish, Greek, Italian and English lyrics:

Q: You say humans should be "open." Could you elaborate on that?

A. As human beings we should be open to diverse opinions, cultures, other diverse walks of life and beliefs. It's important we understand that our perspective is only our perspective.

Q. And how does this apply to art?

A. We can use a work of art to help understand lots of different cultures, and understand ourselves better through the working of other cultures. I think in general that's what great art does for us anyway.

I want to help students break out of a frame of mind that they've always been comfortable and move into territories where it is not always comfortable. It's not always easy, not always safe but they know they can explore those within the boundaries of higher ed, and they know the world better.

Q. What is the result of this expansion?

A. When they leave here, they're going to be global thinkers, creative thinkers. They'll be in a place where, hopefully they have the creativity and the curiosity tackle life and bring new ways of thinking for our civilization and the next generation. That's one of the reasons I love teaching.

Q. How long have you been teaching professionally?

A. I started my teaching career in Florida. Then I went to get a doctorate at the University of Oklahoma in conducting. I began my teaching career here in 2005.

Q. Would you rather perform, conduct, compose or teach music?

A. The answer is "all of the above." I'm not a great composer. I've composed a few things. Sometimes you compose things and keep them under wraps. I don't compose a lot.

My most happy place in the world is in rehearsal. That's where the real joys, the real chill-bump moments, happen. It's where you breathe life into cold inanimate object, the black and white on paper. It becomes alive and sings back to you --this wonderful sonic resonance we have in singing with other people. We missed a lot of that during COVID, and I think all of us are really inspired to be back.

Q. You seem to favor teaching. Where does that come from?

A. I think at my heart, I'm a teacher through and through, since seventh grade. I was inspired by a chorus teacher Charles Nelson. He was a mentor through middle school and high school in Cartersville, Ga., where I grew up.

I was selected to be the student director of our choir because I could play piano.

I could lead other students to learn notes, but the beauty of that was if you can teach your peers, you can teach anyone. If you can gain the respect of people who are your age and experience, if you can rally them around a cause, you're in good shape.

Q. What is your goal in teaching?

A. We all want to be in a space where we can have our voices heard. My true focus is empathy for others and allowing them to share their gifts. I want people to know they have a voice, and they can share that voice. Not everyone is a soloist, but everybody has a voice they can share. I encourage everybody to get involved in an ensemble and keep on singing. Hopefully, the last choir concert they have in college is only the beginning.

Q. What has kept you at ENMU for 18 years?

A. I didn't anticipate staying in New Mexico for 18 years. I thought' I'd come for a couple years, and move on to greener pastures, but I couldn't find any that were brighter green.

I had other job offers, many other people trying to get me to "bigger better schools."

The point is that art is where you make it. It's made in a place where you feel the freedom artistically to make something beautiful happen.

I love the students we have here. They come and their eyes are wide open. They're ready to be inspired.

Q. You mentioned the administration earlier. Could you elaborate?

A. I like the administration at ENMU. They give you creative license to spread your wings and help students soar.

I have stayed because of incredible administrative support. Administrators don't get enough credit for enabling their faculty to do their jobs. It's a huge attribute of administration here.

Former president Steve Gamble, our vice president of academic affairs Jamie Laurenz and our current president James Johnston have all been very supportive.

Patrice Caldwell, our most recent chancellor, is amazing. She has been one of our most ardent supporters of the arts. She has served for more time than I can even tell, two decades, as president of our ENMU Friends of Music. She's at all of our performances. She is there to make sure we have exactly what we need financially. She's an incredible supporter.

Q. What are some of your successes at ENMU?

A. Last year, our chamber choir performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. Our choirs have been all over Spain and other places in Europe and Asia, including Paris and London. We've brought notoriety to the school just by having invitations and the opportunity to perform around the world.

Q. What about your colleagues in the Music Department?

A. We had an amazing dean, Michael Sitton, who retired. Our current department chair, Dustin Seifert, who is the director of bands, has been the chair for 14 years. Their support and friendship have been unending. Having colleagues like that makes it all worthwhile. Especially when you have good colleagues who are great musicians and great teachers. They inspire you and challenge you. We sharpen each other and that's fun.

Q. Could you talk about your quote "At the intersection of great passion and focused discipline can be found great art?"

A. I must have been having a good day that day.

I always tell my students we could have been endowed with great talent, but a person who has great work ethic and discipline is going to oupace, outperform and outrun great talent alone about 99.9% of the time. Discipline moves us into a realm that gives life to our talent. You can't just rest on talent, you've got to develop the discipline to be great.

Q. What else makes ENMU special?

A. What makes Eastern so special. I think, is that you're going to feel like an individual who matters, because you do matter. Secondly, you're in an environment that's supportive and allows you to have mentors all around you that are going to help you achieve exactly what you want.

If a great singer comes in, maybe they don't want just to be a great singer, but they might want to go into music therapy. At Eastern, we'll uncover that early on. We'll give them voice lessons and allow them to minor in psychology so they can go into a music therapy program.

I think sometimes education puts people in a box. We try to be sensitive to exactly what the students' goals and aspirations really are.

Q. So, you're saying there are better opportunities for individual attention at ENMU?

A. In our music department, we give one-hour solo lessons and an hour of vocal coaching with a coach and accompanist every week. We also have ensembles and regular coachwork.

The opportunity to be involved in that much intense solo work is really important. And they study with the faculty, with all their professional experience. They are experts in their field.

Students who go to a big school are likely to study with graduate students. They're going to get the experts here.

Q. What was your educational background between high school and your doctorate?

A. My undergraduate experience was very special and very informative. I went to Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. It's a special place with a great school of music.

I won a national conducting competition in 1997. It was a huge boost for me as I was starting to apply to graduate schools.

I was able go the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. on an assistantship, so I got to go to school for free.

Then I got my doctoral degree at Oklahoma.

Q. What do you do when you're not involved with music?

A. I attend the First Baptist Church in Portales and I work out at the Fitness and More gym downtown.

I love to travel and I love to fish. I love to go to the San Juan River for trout fishing, even though I don't get to go very often. I like golf, but I don't get to do that often.

And I like to play poker. I like Texas Hold 'Em. It's not gambling. It's very mathematical and appeals to my science side. And I like people, so there's the human element. I apply game theory, which combines the human element with the math.

Q. Where does your family live?

A. My mother Terri Paulk lives in Cartersville, Ga., My father Jerry Paulk lives just north of Atlanta. My brother Alex and his family live in Alpharetta, Ga.