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vocal music and dance
Some Aggies add vocal music to school
by Ann Ramsbottom
Battalion staff
Texas A&M doesn't offer a
degree in music, but that hasn't
stopped over 230 Aggies from
including music in their sche
dules.
Students from every imagin
able background come together
several hours each week to do
what they do best together —
make music. The Singing
Cadets, the Reveliers, Century
Singers, Women's Chorus and
the MSC-recognized Voices of
Praise each represent the Uni
versity with their own style of
music.
"We aren't a music school/'
says Patricia P. Fleitas, assistant
vocal music conductor, "but we
still try and compete with the
quality of other university vocal
music programs.
"Often, when a music prog
ram is offered," she says, "the
University choirs become the
dumping grounds for those who
just want to sing. Not here."
More than 90 years of tradi
tion and excellence stand be
hind the Singing Cadets, the all
male glee club directed by
Robert L. Boone. The group
traces its roots to 1894 when it
was known as the Texas A&M
Glee Club. Since its beginning,
the group has developed a repu-
tarion equalled by few.
The Singing Cadets present
Texas A&M in song to many dif
ferent audiences. The group has
become a standard at campus
events, ranging from the Uni
versity's centennial in 1976 to
various dedications of new
structures on campus.
The singers have appeared in
every major Texas city many
times and performed in dozens
of smaller towns.
During the past 20 years, the
Singing Cadets have performed
in the White House, on the Ed
Sullivan and Mike Douglas tele
vision shows and for seven con
secutive years appeared on the
nationally-televised Miss Teen
age America Pageant.
The singers performed in
Romania in 1974 on an "Ambas
sadors for Friendship" tour,
participated in an International
Music Festival in Hawaii in 1979
and traveled to Mexico this sum
mer to compete in an interna
tional music festival. They will
be on tour in Texas for a week in
January.
The 60 to 70 male members of
the Singing Cadets come from
A&M's military and non-
military students. The members
rehearse at least four-and-a-half
hours each week and must
maintain a 2.0 grade point ratio.
In addition to time spent in re-
hersal, the Cadets are on the
road for 50 to 60 performances a
year.
The Singing Cadets perform a
variety of music including:
popular tunes, Broadway hits,
operate selections, chmeh
hymns, patriotic pieces and
novelty numbers.
The Cadet's director and
Texas A&M music coordinator,
Robert L. Boone, is the 12th dire
ctor of the Singing Cadets. BH*
ginning his tenure Sept. 1,1960,
Boone has been with the group
for 22 years.
Boone stresses a truism on
which he personally relies: "The
only time a man fails is the last
time he tries."
Pianist Margaret McArthur
accompanies the Singing
Cadets. "Momma Mac," as she
is affectionately known, has be
come a popular addition to the
group. She has taught A&M's
only music appreciation course
for the past nine years.
Another group conducted by
Boone is the Reveliers, a vocal
jazz ensemble. The group, made
up of 12 singers and four alter
nates performs jazz, popular
and swing music at 15 to 20 per
formances a year.
In addition to the vocalist, a
lead guitar, bass guitar, piano,
drums and occasionally some
wind instruments accompany
the group. The group has work
ed with a variety of other in
strumentation.
Fleitas, assistant vocal music
coordinator, has directed the
CenSary Singers and the
Women's Chorus since her
arrival in the fall of 1978. In addi
tion to her choir work, she also
directs the MSC Madrigal Din
ners Program.
The Century Singers, a mixed
choir of approximately 60 mem
bers, have been in existance
since 1971. When women began
to enroll at Texas A&M, a choral
ensemble that included both
men and women students was
inevitable.
Initially called the New Tradi
tion Singers, the choir was re
named in 1976 to commemorate
the University's centennial.
The Century Singers perform
a wide array of musical styles at
approximately 20 performances
a year. Most of their perform
ances are local and include
church services, conventions,
campus events and special con
certs.
The Century Singers occa
sionally hold open rehersals in
the MSC lounge for students to
listen to. An open rehersal is
scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29,
before the home football game.
"Due to the nature of the
beast, we have a lot of music to
select from," Fleitas says, refer
ring to the large amount of liter
ature available to mixed choirs.
The Century Singers sing popu
lar, classical, sacred and jazz.
"Mixed choruses are a dime a
dozen," Fleitas says. "Our goal
is to achieve choral excellence in
a non-fine arts university."
As with the other choirs, the
Century Singers rehearse at
least four-and-a-half hours a
week and receive no academic
credit for their efforts.
The Women's Chorus is the
youngest group and the "newer
tradition" since A&M's conver
sion to a co-ed campus. Found
ed in the spring of 1979, the
group started with 33 women
and now has 55 to 60 members
per semester.
"The Women's Chorus is a
(see VOCAL, page 15)
Dance programs growing since 1972
by Nicole Williams
Battalion reporter
Dance has come a long way at
Texas A&M since the first class
was offered ll years ago by the
Department of Health and Phy
sical Education.
The dance program started
with the hiring of Kay Don in
1972. She was the first woman in
the physical education activity
program with the qualifications
to teach dance, says assistant
department head Emil Mama-
liga.
One section each of modem
dance and folk/square dance
was taught by Don in the annex
section of G. Rollie White Col
iseum.
That semester 42 people out of
about 5,600 in the entire activity
program enrolled in the dance
classes. Three of those 42 were
male students.
The next two years saw the
addition of two female faculty
members to the staff.
"We hired them with the
primary philosophy of increas
ing the variety of offerings in the
dance area, " Mamaliga says.
By Spring 1975 ten sections of
dance, including modern, so
cial, folk/square and aerobics
were being taught in the newly
expanded coliseum.
Today the department offers
34 sections of dance. Ballet, jazz,
country and western and tap
have been added to the four pre
viously offered programs. Inter
mediate classes are offered for
ballet, jazz, aerobics and mod
ern dance.
Along with the increase in
number of sections and number
of dance styles is an increase in
the number of student# partici
pating in the program, Mamali
ga says.
According to Fall 1983 figures,
the number of students enrolled
in the dance division of the phy
sical education department has
increased from 42 to over 1,100
participants. Approximately 20
percent of the students are male.
"These increases really go
hand in hand .. . the dance divi
sion would not have been ex
panded if we had not felt the
need shown by the growing
number of students interested
(in dance)," he says.
New teachers, teaching in the
areas they are most skilled, have
been added to the staff over the
years and include men as well as
women.
Joe DeBella, wrestling coach
and weight trainer, teaches so
cial dance. Lynn Berry, lecturer,
teaches jazz and modem dance.
Ginny-Lib Sulzer, lecturer and
director of the dance division,
teaches ballet, tap and folk
dance. Two graduate assistants,
Ann Poteet and Renee Ver-
malen, divide the aerobics clas
ses between themselves, with
Poteet also teaching square
dance and Vermalen also
teaching country and western
dance.
"Our instructors are well
qualified," Sulzer says. She says
all the teacher# have had exten
sive training in their specific
areas.
Most of the classes are held in
East Kyle where the spacious
facilities Include mirrored walls
lined with dance banes and a
wooden floor.
These facilities also are used
by non-academic dance organi
zations that offer evening clas
ses for students interested in
spending additional time in for
mal dance class.
Dance Arts Society, the
largest campus organization
offering dance classes, uses the
facilities Monday through
Thursday nights and has an ac
tive membership of over 200
people.
Vicki Tallas, a junior market
ing major from Sugarland, is
president of the society and says
anyone can join.
"Anyone who's ever wanted
to dance can come in and learn
in a non-pressured atmos
phere," says Berry, adviser to
the group.
The society offers classes in
tap, ballet, jazz, modern, techni
que and aerobics. Teachers for
these classes are recruited from
the Bryan-College Station area,
although the teachers usually
are students at the University.
Every spring the group gives a
performance.
When the group first began in
1976, it performed on the cement
stage at the Grove. Berry and
Tallas agree that the group has
come a long way.
A new dance organization,
the Health and Physical Educa
tion Dance Company, was orga
nized last spring by two physical
education dance teachers. Ber
ry, one of the creators, says this
program offers a more concen
trated approach to dance.
"We decided there was a need
for a more professional dance
approach," Berry says.
Berry says the 22-member
group practices Monday
through Thursday and on
weekends. Those interested
may talk with her about audi-
honing for the group.
The Free University program
offers country and western
dance classes for Students in
terested in improving their
skills.
Jana Scott, a senior account
ing major from Amarillo and
chairman of the committee, says
the program offers classes in
aerobic fitness, jitterbug and be
ginning and advanced country
and western dance.
The program currently has
enrolled over 1000 students, and
Scott says she believes the prog
ram will continue to grow.
Another group called the
Aggie Allemanders offers fun
times, good dancing and new
friends for the serious and not-
so-serious square dancer.
President Mark Miller says
the group dances on Monday
evenings at the Pavilion and
anyone may join. Miller calls the
Allemanders' style of dance a
"modern western" square
dance.
Caller for the group, Larry
Astal, teaches the beginning
classes prior to the club's regular
dance sessions. Approximately
20 students are enrolled in the
beginning classes in addition to
the club's 25 members.
As far as the future of dance
here is concerned, Mamaliga
and Sulzer say they hope it
won't be too long before the de
partment offers a program for
certification in dance. This
would enable a student major
ing in physical education to
emphasize dance. How long it
will take to actually implement
the program has not yet been
determined.
An additional goal for the de-
artment is to extend class
ours from 30 minutes to an
hour. Sulzer says she strongly
supports this because students
need at least that much time to
warm up and receive proper in
struction.
An increase in the number of
programs offered also is being
considered to make signing up
for dance P.E. classes a little
easier.
So, ye dancers of little faith,
have hope. Dance at Texas A&M
is becoming less of an Aggie joke
and more of a reality. Just keep
practicing your arabesques and
pirouettes because dance is
stayin' alive here.