After years of working in the music tech industry, an alum has made her way back into the classroom this semester as the university’s first female music technology instructor.
Andie Cascioli, a 2012 graduate and current adjunct faculty member, remembers sitting in her core music tech classes here and noting the lack of diversity among the instructors.
“I’ve always kind of pestered them about it like ‘hey, there needs to be a little bit more diversity within the professors,’ just because I know I would have benefitted from having somebody that isn’t a straight, white male,” Cascioli said.
Now, she’s at the helm of her first class as an instructor: Live Sound Production, MUS-203.
In the class, students will be getting hands-on experience with live sound production as well as learning about professionalism and working with clients. Students will also be working with equipment in the class and will run a couple of WXCU Radio’s concerts this semester.
Casicoli said walking into her first class was a little nerve-wracking, because she felt the amount of weight that taking on this position held.
“I wanted my class to know off the bat that I’m there as a representation of them and what I wanted to see when I was a student,” Cascioli said.
After graduating from Capital, Cascioli worked in live sound at Victories, Scarlet and Gray Café, Big Bar, and a few other clubs around Columbus. She also volunteered with organizations like Girls Rock Columbus and We Amplify Voices that are committed to promoting diversity in the music tech field.
According to Cascioli, less than 5 percent of professional music industry jobs are held by women, and she said she saw that in her time as a sound engineer.
Although the field is mostly male-dominated, many non-profits and musicians, like Lizzo, have tried to make a difference by specifically hiring women and people of color.
Cascioli said that the other professors in the music tech department have been supportive of her, and she’s happy to be back at her “second home.”
“Hopefully this hire leads to more hires like that, whether it’s more women, more people of color or more queer people,” she said. “I was to see that not only in the music tech department, but all of Capital.”
