ENTERTAINMENT
October 25,1984
Page 6
The University Daily KANSAN
100 YEARS of the MUSIC DEPARTMENT
KU music has notable birth
It all began in two rooms on the third floor of old Fraser Hall, which is about all there was of the University of Kansas in 1884.
By DOUGLAS H. CHANDLER Staff Reporter
Discords and confused scales brought complaints from students and teachers conducting class in the neighboring rooms. They probably did not consider those notes and the people playing them as paving the way for today's KU music majors.
"A CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY is a time to contemplate our future as well as our past," said Mary, chairman of the department.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of KU's department of music.
Actually, the first music courses
at KU were taught in 1888. But the purpose of the piano and vocal music classes was to teach education students how to teach music. Students who wanted to pursue music as a career had to go to another school to get a degree.
C. E. Hubach, professor of voice, Jean Bowersock, violin instructor, Charles Sanford, professor of piano, and Carl A. Preyer, professor of guitar, made up the entire music department in 1983.
So in the fall of 1884, J. A. Lippincott, then chancellor of the University, appointed William MacDonnell, a 21-year-old graduate of University Conservatory of Music, as the first dean of the department of music.
In the first year, the school had 35 students - seven violin majors, two flute majors, one cornet major, and twenty-five "vocal culture" majors.
students could perform. Until the department got more pianos, students had to practice in private homes.
ALL THE DEPARTMENT had up two right pianos, and MacDonald was constantly campaigning to replace them. He even offered to give up both pianos for one genuine grand piano on which his
And three years later the department produced its first graduate. Mabel Gore received her bachelor's in music for the piano in 1887.
The department put on its first concert on December 16, 1884. It was a Christmas concert, the grandfather of the Christmas Vespers programs that are still presented each year.
J. Bunker Clark, professor of music history, has documented the history of the department in his book on music at KU. It's called "Music at KU: A History of the University of Kansas Music Department." Clark found it was difficult to pin down the exact dates that different bands, orchestras and choruses started.
ALTOUGH SMALL choruses had existed since music classes were first taught at KU, the first University Choir wasn't formed until 1890, when George Barton Penny, then dean of the department, combined the Men's Glee Club and the Ladies' Choral Choir, both of which had been formed that year.
The first University Orchestra was formed in 1891. KU's first marching band on record began in 1878. The Marching Jayhawks of New York that was organized and run by students and played almost exclusively at athletic events. The first professional band director was J. C. McCanlies, who was hired in 1907.
According to Winnifred Gallup, who graduated in 1941 with a degree from the music department, the most noticeable change is growth in the music department in both its size and its quality.
"IT WAS A VERY good school at that time, within the limitations of the post-dePRESSION era, but the school has had a tremendous growth in its quality since then," said Gallup, who is the organist at
her church and who accompany students in Swarthout Recital Hall. "It was a lot different. In the early 40s we still had elderly professors who reached back into the 8th century. They were sort of a list of the more important classes are concentrating more on contemporary music."
In 1957, the School of Fine Arts moved into its present home when Murphy Hall was completed.
Robert Foster, current director of bands, started the jazz program in 1971, and it has grown rapidly under the direction of Ron McCurdy, assistant professor of music and instructor of bands.
However, before Foster brought the jazz program under his baton, jazz was looked down on by the traditional music staff, said Reginald Buckner, a 1961 graduate of the department.
"WHEN I WAS AT KU, I was afraid to play jazz in the practice rooms," Buckner said. "Im-provisation meant you weren't practicing what you were supposed to play."
Buckner, who is treasurer of the National Association of Jazz Educators and a professor in charge of research and exploration of music at the University of Minnesota, will play a jazz concert on March 24 as part of Recital Hall on March 18 in the Alumni Recital Series.
Members of the 1903 orchestra line up for a picture.
"Last time I played in the recital hall, I was frightened to death, and that was classical music," he said. "I remember thinking 'Jazz will come back' to me. Now come back and play a jazz concert there is incredible."
The department that started out with 35 students and two pianos now has more than 400 students and hundreds of pianos. And from the vantage point gained from 100 years of experience, the department and Shumway are planning for the future.
From KU to Carnegie and back Wehr to launch Alumni Series
By CHRIS CLEARY Staff Reporter
"Hello. No one's here to talk to you right now . . . "
The message on the answering machine sounds typical except for the fluttering of musical notes that runs into a resonant piano recital.
David Allen Wehr, a 1977 University of Kansas graduate who finished his doctoral work in 1980, has been a professor at the university his 27 years, and he's not sure why.
"I have no idea why I love it."
Weir said Tuesday, "It's one of the little mysteries. Certain people are drawn to certain things, like sports. I am drawn to piano. It gives me an immense amount of satisfaction."
WEHR WILL PLAY at tonight's opening concert in the University of Kansas Alumni Recital Hall at 8 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall. The series is part of the year-long celebration applauding the 100th anniversary of the music department.
Wehr said he was looking forward to returning to KU after being on the job.
"First, it's the opening concert of the centennial for the music department," he said. "Second, I will be doing two of the works of KU music theory professor John Pozdra."
Wehr will also play "Variations in a major" by Hummel, "Eroica" by Beethoven, "Ballade No. 2" by
Chopin, "Etude No. 11" by Debussy and "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6" by Liszt His concert is free and open to the public.
MAKING MUSIC is nothing new to Weir since melodies and harmonies have always been a key part of his family.
Wehr said he was reared mainly in Idaho although he and his family lived in several places around the country. While college hunting, Wehr looked at many schools. However, the artists-in-residence program was instrumental in his decision to attend KU.
"I come from a family of professional musicians," said Wehr, who is the oldest of three children. "My father is a widely published composer."
"They bring in concert pianists for a few days each month." Wehr said. "I also had a regular weekly teacher. No other university had a program to the extent that KU did nor people I wanted to study with."
"A young musician has two options," Wehr said. "They can go to a music school where each student eats, sleeps and breathes music, or learn in university, where they're one kind of person in a whole range of people.
MORAL SUPPORT and the variety of students at KU struck the right chords in Wehr's mind.
"I roamed with a pre-med student one year and an English major one year. I benefited a lot from being in a less exclusive atmosphere."
Wehr's flair for tickling the ivories recently delivered him to the doorstep of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Three weeks ago, Wehr played in the Carnegie Hall recital hall. Last year, Wehr played in the Carnegie Hall as a finalist in the Naumberg International钢琴 Competition.
"It was fantastic," he said. "The accoutres are phenomenal. And all the history! When you think of every great musician in the world has played on that stage, it's a humbling experience."
WEHR SAID HE COULD not name a favorite composer or a favorite song because he had dozens of favorites.
"If I put something on my program, I like it," he said. "What ever I'm playing, I try to convince the audience that is the greatest song at that moment."
Wehr had to surrender a great deal of his time to music, but he said the music was good.
"I probably do give up things, but I've been so busy that I don't notice," he said. "I'm very happy with my job, but what I've always wanted to do."
Becoming a professional musician is no easy task but students should have faith in their talents and abilities, he said.
"Take stock of your gifts," he said. "Believe in your own talent and sacrifice everything to accomplish that goal."
Drum majors for the 1933 Marching Jav Hawks