THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSA
Bandz are gettin’ silly
Silly Bandz trend makes way to campus. JAYPLAY | inside
Students spend time in China
Donors footed the $31,000 bill to send the engineers abroad. ACADEMICS | 6A
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 12
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Struggles make an artist
Professor of music to compose a flute concerto for Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
KU music professor James Barnes teaches music composition, orchestraction, arranging, and wind band history and repertoire courses. Barnes has been commissioned to compose a piece of music for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sarah Hockel/KANSAN
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
Imagine sitting at a piano. A blank piece of white paper stares at you from the music stand and the white and black keys rest untouched below your fingers.
You write a note on the page and begin to hear music. Not coming from the piano, but from your head. At once you hear an entire orchestra playing what you write.
This is what happens in Professor James Barnes' head.
This is why the internationally renowned Berlin Philharmonic commissioned Barnes to compose a flute concerto for its 2012-2013 concert series.
"I've got this little orchestra in my head and I just write what they're doing." Barnes said of his method for composing pieces. "It's an acquired effect."
Andreas Blau, long time flutist for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, had heard one of Barnes' symphonies and contacted Barnes last fall about composing this work. After initial shock and disbelief, Barnes met with him in Munich to discuss the offer.
He said being commissioned for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is the most prestigious offer he has ever received, but he doesn't want to approach this piece any differently than other compositions.
Barnes began composing early in life. He started writing his own music by ninth grade. You might think a teenager with this natural skill would have gone to an art school in New York, but not Barnes. You can tell by his accent.
He grew up on a cattle farm in western Oklahoma and his father knew nothing about music.
"He is like an interesting combination of somebody who is one of the most literate and knowledgeable musicians I've ever known, yet someone who also is very much from Oklahoma," said Brian Haaheim, associate professor of music theory and music composition.
Haaheim has worked with Barnes for almost ten years. He said Barnes is known as one of the world's most renowned wind ensemble composers. He also said
that nothing about him would lead you to believe that.
"He doesn't tend to blow his own horn," Haaheim said. "He just does the work and continually puts out exceptionally good music."
Barnes has been living in Lawrence ever since coming to the University for his undergraduate degree. His experiences in Oklahoma and the skills he learned at the University shaped Barnes into the creative person he is today.
The death of his father when he was 21 and the earlier death of his mother when he was eight affected Barnes deeply. Without his father, he was left to support himself throughout college. He said if nothing dramatic happens to a person in life, then they really don't have much to say.
"It's the wear and tear of life that makes an artist," Barnes said.
The deaths of his parents forced
him to look inward. This self exploration enhances his creativity and translates directly into his music. When he is composing, Barnes says he is writing music that conveys emotion and that is saying something. It's not simply notes on a page.
Barnes received his master's degree in 1975 and has been teaching at the University for 37 years now. He teaches music composition, orchestration, arranging, and wind band history and repertoire courses in the School of Music.
It is a process everybody faces, says Barnes, to look at nothing and create something.
Barnes has no set process for composing his pieces. He never writes two the same way. Some
"I've got this little orchestra in my head and I just write what they're doing."
JAMES BARNES Professor of music
he writes from ending movement to beginning, some from beginning to end. He believes if there is too much of a set process, the creation turns out bad. He tries to share that with students now at the University.
"Jim Barnes is, in many ways, the heart and soul of the KU School of Music," said Forrest Pierce.
He also serves as the director for the division of music theory and composition.
assistant professor of music composition.
Pierce has worked with Barnes for five years and is amazed by Barnes' mastery of large ensembles. Pierce also said Barnes is "exceedingly humble" despite all
of his accomplishments.
Barnes has performed and conducted at music halls all over the world, including Carnegie Hall and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, as well as guest conducting in Japan more than 35 times.
As far as the concerto for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Barnes says he'll "be done when it is finished." Although he likes working under deadlines, he doesn't want to put a specific date on when the work will be completed.
He was confident, talking through a thick cigar pinched between his teeth, that he will begin the three movement concerto in January, and will eventually have it done on time for Berlin, which is quite a distance away from his roots in western Oklahoma and his home in Lawrence.
Edited by David Cawthon
WATCH AND LISTEN TO SOME OF PROFESSOR BARNES' SYMPHONIES ONLINE AT KANSAN.COM.
Medical ministry offers affordable health care
HEALTH
BY SAMANTHA COLLINS
A woman who has no home, no job and no money walks into the health clinic. Four dollars fill her wallet; she needs at least 20 dollars to pay for her much needed medication. She questions whether she should choose food or pay for the medication. But the New Hope Medical Ministry can help.
scollins@kansan.com
This is just one of the scenarios the New Hope Medical
"It's a way for us to give back to people," Gray said. "God's done so much for us and this is a way we can do it."
Ministry will face after it opens on Wednesday, said Paul Gray, pastor of New Life in Christ Church. The church launched the ministry, located at 619 Vermont St., to provide minimal-cost health care to Lawrence residents and students with limited incomes.
"The job of the church is to help the needy and aid the community," Stewart said.
The clinic does not charge for examinations. It does ask for a $25 donation to help cover expenses. Gray said the clinic did not want to place a financial burden in the church so all funding for the clinic came from donations outside the church. The clinic asks patients to pay for any additional treatments like vaccinations or
did exactly what a church should
do; care for others without bias
Erin Stewart, a graduate student from Houston and a member of the church, said the church
medical tests to help reduce cost for the clinic. But, the clinic does not force payment if the patient cannot afford the medical treatment or medication. This new clinic now provides Lawrence with its third low-cost health clinic. Unlike the other two clinics, Health Care Access, 330 Maine St., and Heartland Medical Clinic, 1 Riverfront Plaza, the New Hope Medical Ministry does not require patients to show financial papers, Sale said.
"We don't hold people's feet to
the fire" Gray said. "If you say you can't pay, then you can't pay."
Dennis Sale, the primary physician for the clinic, said the clinic would welcome students to receive the health care. Sale said the clinic could provide a low priced alternative form of medical care for students compared to the services of Watkins Health Center.
"If they are very poor students we probably won't charge them,"
SEE MINISTRY ON PAGE 6A
ENVIRONMENT
Water reservoirs face algae problems
BY GARTH SEARS gsears@kansan.com
The water may taste a little less funky, but problems with Lawrence's drinking water supply have only just begun.
The Kansas River is pumping smelly water to town from an upstream reservoir, Tuttle Creek Lake near Manhattan according to the Kansas Health and Environment Department.
Usually, Clinton Lake is the source of weirdness in the city's water because of a blue-green algae bloom in the lake that creates the smelly compounds MIB and geosmin. But this time, the guilty bloom is in Tuttle Creek Lake.
The bloom will die soon and Lawrence residents will have temporary relief from the awkward taste and odor. But the funky water is just the beginning of ways that Lawrence — and cities all over the Midwest — is facing the limitations of reservoir water.
"They try to build reservoirs for a specific life span, assuming in 100 years we'll have found a different solution," Don Huggins, an aquatic ecologist at the Kansas Biological Reserve, said. "The problem is some of our reservoirs are filling faster than what's projected."
Every reservoir — including Clinton Lake — is slowly filling with sediment from in-flowing rivers, and will eventually be unusable.
"We ought to be focusing, right now, on what we can do to prolong the life of the reservoir," Huggins said. "That means better watershed management and better lake management."
Taking steps to fix aging reservoirs through methods like dredging them are often too expensive for cities to perform without more money.
"The shallower our reservoirs get, the less water we'll have available for our use, and probably the water quality will get worse — not only in terms of supporting recreational fishing and aquatic life, but also of drinking water."
The shallower the lake is, the more opportunity for wind to stir the water, throwing the settled nutrients up from the bottom. That allows more blue-green algae to grow, so expect funky water more often as reservoirs fill up with sediment over time. Even if the algae isn't terribly dangerous, the increase in the blue-green algae's presence is an indication that the reservoirs are getting older, Huggins said.
And that means time is running out.
"That's where we get involved. You have to start thinking about how you use water and how you waste water," Huggins said. "I know that's the last thing people want to consider. 'Why can't I have all that I want? It's a natural resource' — but
SEE WATER ON PAGE 6A
index
Classifieds...6A Opinion...5A
Crossword...4A Sports...10A
Cryptoquips...4A Sudoku...4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Quigley, Sands to carry ball in first football game
Sixth-year senior Angus Quigley won the top job, but Deshaun Sands will see plenty of time as the back up running back. FOOTBALL | 10A
weather
TODAY
83 53
Scattered T-Storms
FRIDAY
Scattered T-Storms
8048
SATURDAY
Sunny
存
81 54
Sunny
weather.com