The Music Department at CSUN is ranked in the top 25 accredited university programs in the nation. There are more than 20 different instrumental and choral performing groups and the department currently has more than 500 students pursuing degrees in music.

Eleanor Baxter has been volunteering as coordinator of the CSUN Arts Council office in Cypress Hall for more than 15 years. “Interacting with the students and staff, that’s the fun part,” she said. “The enthusiasm they have or the excitement when they find a piece of sheet music they’ve been looking for, it’s nice.”

She has herself gone to at least 50 recitals by the students. She volunteers her time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays every week to organize records and sheet music that have been donated by the staff or community and sold to students at a greatly reduced price. Her husband, a retired research scientist, likes to collect records and sheet music and she enjoys playing the piano.

She would accompany her husband when he would travel for business and they always made sure to see a live musical performance, traveling nearly everywhere you can think of. “I’ve been to Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain, Northern Europe, Venezuela, but I haven’t been to the far East yet.” Adding that it is because she has not had the right amount of time available to go but still hopes to someday make the trip.