Page 10
Summer Session Kansan
Friday, June 26,1964
Brass Choir Experiences Exciting Adventures
By Kathy Vaughan
After a fast pace of touring the Far East this spring with the KU Brass Choir, Kenneth Bloomquist, assistant professor of band, is spending the summer catching up on work missed and occasionally stopping to remember incidents and people he encountered during the trip.
A realization of the complex civilizations of the world and the knowledge of what a great country the United States is were two of the intangible things which Prof. Bloomquist thought all the group gained from the trip.
(See related pictures of Brass Choir on Page 9.)
"Most of the touring party thought that the most beautiful scenery they saw was the landscape of KU as they came home," he remarked.
THE CHOIR was formed in 1958 as a facet of music education for music students. The group was asked to represent the state of Kansas in a national music convention in 1961 and, as a result, auditioned for the tour through the State Department, which sponsored the group, and was accepted. Although the choir is unique from other university brass ensembles in that it plays for public concerts, its prime function is still educational.
Unfortunately, Prof. Bloomquist doesn't expect the Brass Choir to get an opportunity like this one again, since it has been a policy of the State Department to utilize as many university groups as possible. He
Hall Is Cited For Work In Mammalogy
A KU scientist is now one of only five living persons holding honorary membership in the American Society of Mammalologists, which has more than 3,000 members.
He is Dr. E. Raymond Hall, Summerfield distinguished professor of zoology and director of the Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Hall was so honored at the 44th annual meeting last week in Mexico City, He was cited for his teaching that has produced dozens of scientists in the field of mammalogy and for his four books and 270 technical articles reporting results of research in mammalology.
THE OTHER FOUR honorary members are Profs. Magnus Degerbol of Copenhagen, Denmark; V. G. Heptnar of Moscow, Russia; Gaylord B. Simpson of Harvard University, and Dr. Remington Kellogg of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Both Drs. Kellogg and Hall are KU alumni.
Dr. Donald F. Hoffmeister of the University of Illinois who taught at KU in 1944-46 is the new president of the society. Both he and the retiring president, Dr. Emmet T. Hooper, University of Michigan, studied under Dr. Hall at the University of California at Berkeley.
A FURTHER Kansas connection is that five of the ten elected members of the society's board of directors hold an advanced degree from KU and studied in the Museum of Natural History.
They are Dr. Sydney Anderson of the American Museum of Natural History, New York; Dr. Rollin H. Baker, director of museums, Michigan State University; Dr. James S. Findley, University of New Mexico; Dr. Bernardo Villa Ramirez of the University of Mexico, and Dr. J. Knox Jones Jr., assistant director of KU's Museum of Natural History. Dr. Hall is a 1924 graduate of KU. After earning advanced degrees at the University of California at Berkeley, he remained on the faculty there until he returned to KU to head the museum and zoology department in 1944.
In 1960 he was one of three KU teachers appointed to fill the first endowed professorships that recognize distinguished teaching and research.
said that although all the countries the choir visited invited all to return, it is doubtful that they will be able to do so, as there are many other groups worthy of representation.
THE BRASS CHOIR left Feb. 12, traveling to the Far East and from country to country by airplane. Inland travel was by bus and cars and proved to be triving at times.
One trip was from Ceylon to Indonesia, and it covered 1,500 miles. One driver delayed the group's schedule because he insisted on driving a "safe" 20 m.p.h. The bus stopped completely at one point in the tour and choir members pushed it a few blocks to the concert hall.
Once the Brass Choir members were jostled a bit by machine guns when they were mistaken for Communist infiltrators in Laos.
Losing a tuba can be a real problem in any country, and when choir member Richard Ellison discovered he had left his 70 miles away from the concert the only thing to do was to take a taxi back and retrieve it. Ellison arrived, with tuba, in time to finish the last four numbers on the program.
WHILE PLAYING at different universities, the choir members received many gifts, such as pins, from the particular schools they visited. Two musical gifts were a Ceylonese drum, which is oblong with skin straps from one end to the other, and a kan, a reed-like instrument from Laos which produces a sound similar to that of an organ. To each university the choir presented a recording of the Brass Choir.
The program the choir presented was geared to represent the type of music played on U.S. campuses and in concert halls. It consisted of all phases of music—classical, contemporary, American, European, light music, folk songs, jazz, and marches. Prof. Bloomquist said the more discriminating audiences appreciated the classical music and jazz, while the majority liked the folk songs and marches.
ON EVERY program, the choir presented two to five folk songs of the country they were visiting as well as the national anthem.
Prof. Bloomquist said the audiences appreciated this gesture, as they also appreciated the few phrases in the appropriate language with which he closed each concert.
Prof. Bloomkuist said the audiences appreciated this gesture, as they also appreciated the few phrases in the appropriate language with which he closed each concert.
The contrasts of the countries in the Far East with customs in the
United States provided interesting experiences during the tour. Housing and meals were some of the more obvious causes of some of these incidents.
ALTHOUGH THE KU caravan stayed in hotels, such places weren't all as run-of-the-mill as one might think. At one hotel huge crowds flew into the rooms and stole fruit from the tables, and in another little lizards called "chinchucks" lived in the rooms and acted as live bug repellents.
Community toilets in Okinawa were a new experience and shock to the travelers, but they received an even bigger one in Indonesia where toiletes were scarce to nonexistent. Also, at times, tooth brushing was done with soda pop.
It's no wonder that the troupe welcomed occasional touches of home, such as dinners with American businessmen in Ceylon, University of Kentucky professors in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, and luncheon at a KU alum's residence in Djakarta, Indonesia, as well as meals in their honor given by various dignitaries of the cities they visited. But, sometimes during their trip they ate rice three times a day and became quite accustomed to it.
ARRIVING AT THEIR first stop in Okinawa, the troupe played in cities ranging from 25,000 persons to larger cities. The concerts were held mainly in the population centers. Prof. Bloomquist said they found the students extremely influential in politics and that students are one of the few organized groups in a country.
"This way I feel that we reached a very important group," said Prof. Bloomquist.
Before going on to Ceylon and Thailand, the Brass Choir played for the Shuri School for the Blind, where the children had never heard brass instruments and the KU students passed the instruments around for the children to touch.
In Laos, a country which has a variety of percussion instruments and some one- and two-stringed instruments, the choir performed at a Communist school and, although there was no trouble at the school itself, they had to be back in the city limits by dusk because the Communists controlled the city after that.
AFTER VISITING Malaysia, the Brass Choir found a remarkable enthusiasm for America in Indonesia, with no hatred or disagreeable conflict with students. The only antagonism Prof. Bloomquist saw was a sign painted on a wall which read "Crush Malasia, colonialism, the 7th Fleet." The next day they discovered a sign beside it reading,
"Who is going to pay for all this?"
INDONESIANS, LIKE all of the South Eastern people, are extremely proud of their cultures and ready at a moment's notice to display it, according to Prof. Bloomquist. While in Indonesia, the Brass Choir was entertained by the Indonesian musicians after they presented their own program.
Despite the tensions that the people face, like those of other people in the Far East, they manage to separate the government problems from the old and new art forms. "They don't relate politics to culture in any way, shape or form," related Prof. Bloomquist.
All concerts in Ceylon were held outdoors because the people have no concert halls. The Brass Choir was the first U.S. concert group that the people of Ceylon had ever heard. It was in Jaffna, Ceylon, that the choir played for its largest audience—10,000 people.
A power strike threatened to stop a concert in Ceylon, but 4,000 to 5,000 people enjoyed the concert, which was performed partially from memory and assisted only by candles on each music stand.
LISTENING TO the music of the Far East, Prof. Bloomquist said that at first the music sounds interesting, but soon it seems to lack form and then it seems boring. It is after that that the music takes on form and becomes charming, complex and intriguing.
THE MUSIC isn't borrowed from Europe or England. It is mostly folk music that has been growing for hundreds of years. Some of it relates to the religions of the Far East, primarily Buddhism.
Prof. Bloomquist said the choir found many religions which it came to know as "sensible" religions. "Buddhism didn't contradict Christianity in its principles of life," he added.
SOUTHEAST ASIA is generally unfamiliar with Western music as it exists on college campuses, according to Prof. Bloomquist. He added that many Asians base their ideas of the U.S. way of life from movies and judge U.S. music by what they hear on the radio and records.
They are highly westernized in jazz, which they sometimes confuse with folk music, and know many of the songs of the World War II era. "They taught us many American songs," remarked Prof. Bloomquist.
The students know many facts about the United States that many Americans wouldn't know and are familiar to some extent with the segregation problems in our country. "Without exception they were friendly and inquisitive about the U.S. and campus life," said Prof. Bloomquist.
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