Hootie guitarist shares music experience with C of C students

When someone imagines a typical college classroom, he might envision a room with rows of desks filled with students listening to a professor talk about ancient history.

In recent years, a lot of colleges and universities have developed class offerings that fall outside of what is considered a traditional college course.

Case in point is the Introduction to Music Management being taught at the College of Charleston. The course attempts to immerse students into the music business, exploring booking, management and music journalism.

This semester, the college is offering students who take the course the chance to learn directly from someone who has experienced just about every aspect of the music business firsthand, Mark Bryan.

Most folks know Bryan as the lead guitarist for Hootie & the Blowfish. He is putting his practical experience and knowledge to work as an adjunct professor at the college.

Bryan recently talked by phone about his new job, although he was quick to say, "I don't really look at it as a job."

After looking at Bryan's syllabus for his class, which includes sections such as "The Tour," "Management," "Booking the Show" and "Technology/Innovation," I marveled that I had never had a college course this cool.

"Neither did I!" he said. "It's definitely a chance to impart some wisdom."

Bryan said Scott Shanklin-Peterson heads the college's Arts Management program. She and C of C President P. George Benson wanted to put a music program in place, which was what Benson had done when he was at the University of Georgia.

The collaboration led to Bryan getting a call to see if he was interested in participating.

Bryan was quick to answer.

"I said I would absolutely do it," he said, knowing that he wouldn't be touring this fall.

Bryan had already been involved with the college in the past, including help getting the campus radio station up and running. During his years as a student at the University of South Carolina, Bryan was a deejay at WUSC, the campus radio station in Columbia.

Although it had been awhile since he had been involved directly with College of Charleston radio, apparently his reputation as being willing to help preceded him.

Bryan says much of the structure for his syllabus comes from looking back on his experience as a touring and recording artist, but he also looked to others for help.

"I referenced the syllabus of Stanfield Gray, who taught a similar course in the past. It was my idea to cover all the different parts of the music business. A semester is set up in a way that it works perfectly to cover all the aspects of the business."

Students in Bryan's class soon found themselves immersed in the many different facets of the music business.

They are required to attend a live musical performance and write a critical review, as well as follow the career path of an artist of their choosing throughout the semester.

They also create a business model for a local artist that serves as a sort of final project for the course, and calls for the students to use everything they have learned throughout the semester.

According to the syllabus, students have had the chance to meet musicians such as Danielle Howle and Jay Clifford, as well as industry insiders such as local manager Jerrod Wilkins and North Charleston Coliseum General Manager Dave Holscher.

Holscher teaches a similar class for the college that focuses more on venue and event management.

Bryan tries to make the learning experience as fun and interesting as possible, which often means getting out of the classroom and into some of the actual environments connected to the music business. The semester is Bryan's first teaching the course, but he has already committed to teaching next semester as well.

Bryan says he is very happy with the student's reaction to the course.

"They've all been doing their homework, they all have understood everything that I've brought their way so far. You can tell that a lot of them didn't know a lot about (the subject) coming in, so it has been informative, and they have had good questions," he said. "But some of them even know stuff (about the business) that I don't, so I have learned from them a little bit too, which is cool."

College students have far more resources at their fingertips today, compared to when Bryan was a student at USC. The Internet has allowed just about anyone to be more closely connected to the music business.

So has the Internet made the business better or worse?

Bryan said it's a bit of both.

"You could answer that question either way. You could say that the immediacy takes away from the nostalgia element of the music, but you can just as easily say that the immediacy has its good points.

"I'm the type of guy who says, 'This is the way it is now, so you embrace that.' You grow with it."