Friday, October 15.1976
9
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Creative and novel job searches keep fine arts graduates occupied
Graduates of the School of Fine Arts and the department of speech and drama at the University of Kansas may be creative in more ways than one.
Paul Grav. 1969 graduate, owns local music store and leads Dixieland band
Besides applying their creativity to music, acting, painting and design jobs, many of the graduates exhibit creativity when they are looking for jobs.
that, literally, produces some焕
and oftentimes novel searches for jobs.
*PERFORMANCE IS so much a matter of opportunity—being in the right place at
By Bill Calvert
Staff photo by JAY KOELZEI
Staff Writer
Except for in the department of music education, there is no formal placement service for fine arts and drama graduates. That, naturally, produces a frantic
the right time," James Ralston, associate professor of choral music said.
He said most music graduates relied on faculty members who had contacts with potential employers, while other students, in the higher education centers as New York to find employment.
"Students interested in performing often have to work in a bank or sell shoes while attending school," said. "Performance is a tough life. Many graduates wind up teaching in colleges."
Paul Gray, a music education major who graduated in 1968, is well-known in the world for his work with The Gang, a Dixieland band, and as the owner of Paul Gray's Jazz Place, 282 Massachusetts
Gray said he found the professors in the music department very helpful when he worked with them.
Gray said working with people in a musical environment was his most work experience.
"ALWAYS FELT it was a great school," Gray said. "I learned a lot. I had a lot of good teachers who taught me organization."
Carol Wilcox, a voice major who graduated in 1968, said the best preparation she received for her career as an opera stace at KU, is the opportunity to perform on stage at KU.
"Being on stage helps you to test yourself." she said.
THE GENERAL music background Wilcox received in music theory courses, plus liberal arts courses also helped her career. she said.
While Wilcox was attending school, she got to perform semiprofessionally, she said, including a State Department tour of Eastern Europe in which she sang opera, performed of speech and drama was instrumental in her this opportunity, she said.
"I'm happy with my background there," she said. "You have to be a well-rounded person, and a background in the liberal arts certainly doesn't hurt you."
Wilcox went to New York in 1969 after her graduation, and landed a job singing with the New York Metropolitan Opera. She is also a performer, Mo., now in the opera, "La Traviata."
Barnes said that when he was in high school, he knew he would make a career of writing music, and that KU provided an excellent opportunity for him to do so.
JIM BARNES is a KU graduate who worked close to home. Barnes, a 1974 music composition graduate, is assistant director of KU bands. He writes music for the bands and directs a KU jazz band, the band that plays at basketball games.
Although the School of Fine Arts is strong academically, it is not perfect. Barnes said, because the school was overly academic and not practical enough in composition.
Barnes contrasted KU's philosophy with the teaching philosophy of music conservatories, which teach their students individually. Students who graduate from a music conservatory they don't know what's going on when they professionalize with an orchestra, he said.
“IT STRUCK ME that they were preparing me to be a music theory teacher and not a composer,” he said. “But later on it would be a different kind of teacher.” could teach me to comembece except me.
KU provides good experience for playing in ensembles, Barnes said, an essential experience for a person who plans to play professionally with an orchestra.
Drama's counterpart to the music conservatory is the academy. Tom Rea, professor of speech and drama, said KU's teaching philosophy was opposite of a
drama academy's, which primarily teaches acting.
"THE TOTAL package is geared to exposing the student to as much as possible of the total theater environment," he said. "A student who is into acting, for example, should know about the other elements of acting, including character and production methods and technique."
Rea said the theater department had a large production program in which students could practice using the production methods they learned in the classroom.
RUTH FORMAN, who spent five years doing shows in Hollywood and Los Angeles, came back to her home town, Kansas City, Mo., to attend "Solid Gold Cadillac," a theater she runs. She credits the director she worked with at KU with the success she has had in acting.
Like the music department, Rea said, there is no formal placement service for theater graduates, but students need not bead for cultural centers to find jobs.
"I gained more knowledge of theater in my two years at KU him I did in five years in Hollywood," she said. "The directors at KU are truly creative, interested people. The faculty is very diverse with some exceptions, were interested only in the commercial aspects, not in talent."
Another KU theater graduate is Charles Kephart, who is now director of the Salina Community Theater. Kephart received his master's degree in 1960 and went on to establish the Salina theater, which, he said, had its theater in Kansas with its own facilities.
KEPHART, WHO HAS directed most of the plays at the Salina theater for the last 17 years, said KU prepared him well for his directing responsibilities.
The business management program in the theater department has improved since 1978.
"There are so many opportunities for a graduate student to participate in acting and research activities," he said, and the students in his activities prepare students well for careers.
"They have good teaching in all areas of theater directing and do a good job of preparing students for jobs," he said. "Of course, whether or not a student gets a job depends on the student. They still have to have that get up and go."
The only deficiency in KU's theater department that Kephart noted was its inability to prepare him for management and public relations responsibilities.
"One of the reasons I came back was because I felt I had a good graduate experience."
JAMES V. OWENS
Retail
Liquor Store
Open to serve you
9:00 a.m.
to
11:00 p.m.
Wright said other aspects of the theater department were as good as they were when he was a child.
After teaching at the University of Texas, in Austin, Texas, and the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Okla., Wright returned to KU this year.
9th & Iowa
at 620 W. 9th NEXT TO OWENS FLOWERS 841-2256
"OUR EFFORTS are always to improve that area," he said. "We will contine to place emphasis on theater management and promotion."
RICHARD BRANHAM, associate
SECREATIVE page 11
said, who attended KU from 1969 to 1989, when he received both his M.A. and his B.S.
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