+
KANSAN.COM
7
ARTS & CULTURE
+
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
University professor Purnaprajna Bangere performs at Spooner Hall this month.
Professor and musician fuses 2 unlikely subjects
COURTNEY BIERMAN
@KansanNews
Bangere came to the United States to pursue a doctorate in mathematics at Brandeis University, after which he came to the University of Kansas. Bangere said his playing mimics shapes and concepts that appear in his mind as he's improvising. "This thing is kind of new"
Mathematics and music professor Purnaprajna Bangere is an accomplished musician and composer, having studied violin at the famous Parur School of Music in India in his youth.
Since coming to the United States, Bangere has been featured in every major Indian music festival in the country as well as some in Canada. It was at these festivals that he became acquainted with fellow classical Indian musician Amit Kavthekar and jazz musician Jeff Harshbarger.
"This thing is kind of new," he said. "It's neither Indian nor Western."
The first part of the concert will include four classical Indian pieces but will mostly be improvisation between Bangere and Kavthekar. The second part, "East-West Musical Dialogue," will feature both Kavthekar and Harshberger and will be an "experimentation based on geometric principles" in which Bangere combines math and music.
Bangere will perform at the Commons this month in a concert titled "An Evening of Indian Music in Two Parts." Kavthekar and Harshbarger will accompany him.
“[Math and music] are converging now,” he said. “I'm playing mathematical principles to music actually.”
They have collaborated before, but their performance at the Commons will be nothing like their past projects. It will be a combination of music and mathematic principals — what Bangere calls "musical no-man's land."
Bangere was born in Mysore in southern India to a mathematician father and a "musical" mother. He showed an affinity for music at a young age, and his parents signed him up for singing lessons when he was just seven years old. At 10 he picked up the violin.
"I love the violin. Since I was a kid, that was the one instrument which I used to love," Bangere said. "Just the sight of it used to make me really emotional."
Bangere was first a student of H.K. Narasimha Murthy, an acclaimed violin instructor in India, after he started at the Parur School at age 14.
Several of Murthy's students, including Murthy's son, have played at some of the world's most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House. Murthy himself is a student of "legendary" Carnatic musician M.S. Gopalakrishnan.
Bangere and Murthy established a close relationship during their years as student and mentor. Murthy said he considers Bangere to be his "first son." Bangere visits Murthy on his trips back to India and they speak over the phone twice a week.
Bangere's training at Parur under Murthy was rigorous. The day would start at 6:30 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. as Bangere jug-
gled music lessons and school. He practiced for at least five hours every day for 18 years to master his instrument. At the encouragement of his father, he listened to three hours of Western classical music every Saturday.
Western classical music differs from Indian music in that Indian music is based on a system of "ragas." Every raga has a scale up to seven notes. One raga is like "the skeleton of a human being." Bangere said. Indian music uses hundreds of scales as opposed to only a major and minor scale.
"Think of raga as a human being," he said. "You need flesh and blood. That is actually given by what is called microtones. A microtone is found in the interval between two standard semitones of a scale. Microtones are not a common part of most Western music."
Phrasology completes the raga. A musical phrase is a series of notes that is able to be played on its own and sound complete. If microtones are the flesh and blood of the raga, phrases are the circulation.
Indian music depends as much on the musician as it does musical theory. Phrases complete the raga on paper, but Bangere said that style is what gives it life.
"Indian music is very individualistic," he said. "Each person [plays] the raga in his own way. Each person needs breathing."
style is the dream.
Bangere, Kavthekar and
Harshbarger will be at the
Spooner Hall Commons at 7
p.m. on Sept. 24.
Curators busy during Art Museum renovations
- Edited by Scott Chasen
... Each person needs breathing.
Style is the breath."
SAMANTHA SEXTON
@SamBiscuit
With the museum under renovations, art curators for the Spencer Museum of Art are feeling the strain of not working in their home museum — but that doesn't mean they aren't hard at work.
"It's hard to explain to people that just because the building is closed that we aren't working even harder to plan, coordinate and bring to life new pieces, exhibits and shows," said Elizabeth Kanost, communications coordinator for the museum.
+
Renovation plans for the art museum have been a long time coming, but the institution finally raised enough money to
ZOE LARSON/KANSAN Kris Ercums, a curator of the Spencer Museum of Art.
see the plan into action last year. The revamped art museum will be completed next year, according to the museum. "The only difference is that the curators can't get at their physical works, but that does not stop anyone from continuing to catalog, research and educate," Kanost said
Curators oversee and manage artworks kept in museums, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics. They also "help conduct the institution's research projects and related educational programs."
Kate Meyer, a curatorial assistant, is still doing what she can to help students learn about the arts.
"I think it's really important, especially now that the museum is closed, that the first-year students know that they can rely on us as a valuable resource. We definitely don't want them to miss out," Meyer said.
Meyer has managed works on paper for the past 10 years
and her specialty is with prints, drawing and, to some extent, photographs. She said she enjoys helping students learn about history and art.
Part of Meyer's job is to understand what professors want to teach and curate educational material. She also gives presentations on campus to better explain her work as a curator.
"Being away from the materials makes it almost impossible to help professors in their classes, but I still am giving presentations." Meyer said. "It's so hard to not be able to go in there and see my babies.
at KU that use my work and I help to organize exactly what it is that they may need to study," Meyer said. "Of course, not only KU students use our resources so I look forward to getting back to my work to help others to learn."
"The pieces that were too big or too precious to move out of the building have been carefully enclosed in a safe area while
Many curators on the staff are professors or instructors on campus and those who aren't busy with students are busy teaching in other ways.
Meyer said Kris Ercums, another curatorial assistant, is still teaching a class that covers Asian contemporary art.
Some of the curators, such as Stephen Goddard, associate director and senior curator, have been displaced because of the renovations and have had to share office space with their colleagues. The lack of space has made working situations difficult but still workable, Mever said.
One of the largest renovation projects is finding a space to frame and display the artwork in the new area. One of the new features in the museum will be a series of large windows. Museum pieces will need to be carefully placed because of the potential for overexposure of the more sensitive works.
"There are many, many classes
the renovations are going on — but they're still my babies."
READ MORE