Monday, October 27, 1986/The Battalion/Page 5
^language department
^'undergoing expansion
! Department can't meet student demand
crowd, wliicli ||
nal Grin's ct«vM
cett with a m By Olivier Uyttebrouck
Staff Writer
Place (,■
/Dr, G’s/GrinsillsThe number students majoring in
of the firsi|j modern languages at Texas A&M
I tomeinaml has almost doubled in one year and
"Lovettsaid although the Department of Mod-
important, If, etn Languages has five new faculty
town wherct, mem hers this year, it still can’t meet
1 come and Is; tfie demand for courses, says Dr.
te songs I»[' ljuis Costa, department head,
re a lotand^|fWh‘le several colleges, such as en-
t." jineering, have had enrollment de
horn the chi, dines in recent years, many depart-
I rememberilHhts in liberal arts have
Mr. Ghatti'sh experienced sharp increases, Costa
;gs Centerkh says. The language department may
tgular bast lie the most dramatic example of this
p in Klein, [jhenomenon, he adds.
beiiigafoiriPTho department will offer as
n, Lovett gic, ian' as four new languages over
;il j n f]uenc e t(iepext two years, Costa says.
)!/, B.W. Stei'll Chinese and Italian will probably
GrnZandt. be offered by Fall 1987 and Japa-
e in that he (4 | es ? and Portuguese are likely can-
sical no» (|i d;il '“ s for Fall 1988, he says.
. of In recent years, A&M has forged
re think 1 links with a number of universities in
e give up China, Costa says. But one of the big
hiin and problems with student exchange
agreements is that A&M has few if
countn any students who know Chinese well
of thesongi; enoLrgh to get along, at a Chinese
iditional cc unifersity.
are some' C hinese language courses will also
, songsomliti conjplement the planned Oriental
Studies Department announced by
re firstPresident Frank Vandiver at the
song opening address to the faculty this
single jun>: y eai
40 on the ci
Cilosta had hoped to have an Ital
ian course in the catalog for this year
but the professor he had engaged to
teach the course was committed to
another project.
Japanese is without a doubt one of
the most important business lan
guages in the world and this in good
part explains why the department
plans to offer the language in 1988,
Costa says.
The First course in Portuguese
should be offered about the same
time, Costa says. Portuguese is the
official language of Brazil, the larg
est and fastest-growing commercial
nation in Latin America.
In addition to the new' language
offerings and the growdng popular
ity of language courses, the pro
posed changes in the core curric
ulum may also increase the
department’s enrollment in the next
few years.
If the curriculum changes take
place, possibly by Fall 1988, any en
tering student without two years of a
foreign language will be required to
take one year here, Costa says.
If the curriculum changes took
place today, the added students
would be more than the department
could stand, Costa says.
But fortunately, House Bill 72,
the education bill passed by the Leg
islature last summer came to the res
cue by creating a language require
ment for high school students, he
says.
Costa expects that when the cur
riculum changes take effect, lan
guage enrollments will swell by
about 1,000 students initially, and
then fall off year by year after that.
But the demand for high school lan
guage teachers created by H.B. 72
has already brought a small army of
education majors into the modern
languages department, he says.
The demand for language courses
has in some ways been a surprise to
the department’s faculty. Costa says
the classical Greek course offered
for the first time this fall filled up
even before freshmen and sopho
mores had a chance to register for
the course, and the department is
looking for a second Greek profes
sor for Fall 1987.
Costa says the . department wall
probably add another six faculty
members by next year.
Russian, which had an enrollment
of about 50 students last year, has
110 students now. Costa credits the
professors teaching the course with
the language’s popularity. A single
teaching position in Russian is being
filled by a husband and wife this se
mester, who trade off delivering lec
tures, Costa says.
Costa says the number of students
who want to take Spanish is so much
larger than the department’s capac
ity to accept them that he can’t even
estimate how many professors it
would take to handle them all.
eeminglvinlftj
hat does Lore
ep writing so
g them on
being abk
oncert series at A&M offers
affordable’ chamber music
uly, the .V ip
(1 Lovett'sr/jl By Catherine O'Bryant
: the week. § . Reporter
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r of enter
ublk Libran
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at the colta
ion does wW
tatementsint
tants will bet!!
arils.
lis yeaChes*
lention ofite
1 ol $50. It:
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nounced ml
on Nov. lit
ption follow^
Biyan-College Station residents
^■he Texas A&M community can
expei lence chamber music at its best
ionight at the first performance in
^Hniversity Chamber Series.
1 Tie new concert series is the re
sult If combined efforts by the Col-
legelif Liberal Arts, the Department
of Philosophy and Humanities and
the Memorial Student Center Opera
pflPerforming Arts Society.
Tonight’s performance brings
well-known trumpet player Ar
mando Ghitalla and the Brazos Val
ley Sinfonietta together in the series’
semester opener.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. in
Rudder Theater. Tickets are avail-
beat the MSC Box Office. All tick
ets are general admission and are
(9.50 for non-students and $7.50
for students.
Ghitalla’s career includes 16 years
with the Boston Symphony Orches-
:ra as a principal trumpet player and
13 years as a soloist with the Boston
Pops Orchestra under Arthur
Fiedler.
The concert also will feature
lieces from composers such as Anto-
lio Vivaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn
iindOttorino Respighi.
The chamber music is primarily
classii 1, but features trios, quartets,
soloes or small chamber ensembles
lerfbrming instead of the larger
symphony orchestra, said Anne
llack. program coordinator for
OPAS
The idea of the chamber music se-
iesis to provide concerts in Rudder
Theaier at a lower ticket price than
vhat the other performing arts
(ibis are offering, Black said.
Tjckets for all of the chamber se-
ies performances will be under $10
ora regular ticket and between $5
indp7.5() for student tickets, she
said,
“Students are interested in classi
cal and chamber music and, if you
get the price down so that students
can afford it, they come,” Black said.
She said that booking performers
for the series is not as difficult as
some may think.
First-class facilities and the Uni
versity help enhance the community
and as a result help bring artists here
to perform, she said.
She added that Aggie friendliness
and a positive response to the per
forming arts are a help.
“Our reputation in the perform
ing arts community is good,” Black
said. “When that word gets around
we just don’t have trouble booking
people.’’
Ghamber music dates back to a
time when families had small, pri
vate ensembles perform for them in
their sitting rooms.
Dr. Herman Saatkamp, head of
the Department of Philosophy and
Humanities, helped found the Uni
versity Ghamber Series and ex
plained that chamber music was
originally an essential part of a per
son's life, similar to the essential role
eating plays in a person’s life today.
“Ghamber music is much more
closely related to one’s individual
way of living rather than a perfor
mance in a concert hall that is more
like an event,” Saatkamp said, “This
is something that is very intricately
tied to the way in which a person
lives, so it’s a smaller number of
pieces playing in an intimate set-
ting.”
The Brazos Valley Sinfonietta is
made up of 35 to 40 members.
The Brazos Valley Symphony Or-.
chestra has approximately twice that
number of members.
How many of those musicians
play at one time depends upon the
piece being performed, said Penny
Zent, a member of the Brazos Valley
Sinfonietta.
The University Chamber Series
got its start in November when Dr.
Daniel Fallon, dean of the College of
Liberal Arts, suggested that Hugh
Tinney, a famous pianist and winner
of the Santander Competition in
Spain, be invited to perform at
T exas A&M, Saatkamp said.
Saatkamp played a major role in
arranging the spring concert, and so
the chamber series was formed.
Tinney’s concert had an over
whelming number of people in at
tendance, with 500 on hand for the
performance, Black said. She esti
mates that 60 percent of the 500
were students.
Because of the good response to
the spring concert and the great
amount of support received from
the University, planning for the
chamber series started immediately,
Saatkamp said.
“T he support for such a program
is uniform across the board,” she
said. “The president’s office, the
dean of the College of Liberal Arts,
the MSC, everyone welcomes this
(chamber music) and is supporting it
in a significant fashion.”
Other performers for this series
include pianist Paul Hersh on Feb. 6,
the Western Arts Trio on Feb. 15
and Robert Guthrie on March 30.
ary tick
the
Class* 1
THE FLU VACCINE STUDY BEGINS
In addition to posible protection from
the Flu, your can earn at least $100. 00
a year for the next four years.
To Enroll or to check your Eligibility come to
the places below.
Come to: Beutel Health Center, Room 03 10am-4pm
Commons Lounge 10am-6pm
Monday-Wednesday, October 27-29,1986
Corps Lounge "D" Tuesday, October 2810am-3pm
Dr. John Quarles
College of Medicine
I
I
“The greatest
living performer on
the trumpet...absolutely
unexcelled today
by anyone.
THE BOSTON HERALD
Master trumpeter Armando Ghitalla and the Brazos Sinfonietta will open the exciting
new University Chamber Series Monday, October 27 at 8 p.m. in Rudder Theatre at
Texas A&M.
Ghitalla played solo trumpet with the Boston Pops Orchestra for 13 years under Arthur
Fiedler. He was also principal trumpet for 16 years in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
His extraordinary talent will make this a bold, dynamic performance. The Brazos
Sinfonietta is the chamber ensemble of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra (BVSO)
conducted by Franz Anton Krager, music director and conductor.
The University Chamber Series is the newest performing arts series at Texas A&M
dedicated solely to chamber music at its finest.
The University Chamber Series is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the Depart
ment of Philosophy and Humanities and the MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society.
Tickets are $9.50 for non-students and $7.50 for students at the MSC Box Office, 845-1234.
VISA and MasterCard accepted.
The.
University Chamber Series
1985-86 Yearbooks
are available to be
picked up at the
English Annex 8:30
am to 4:30 pm, Mon
day through Friday.
★★★★★★★
Attention Freshmen
and Sophomores:
Freshmen and
Sophomores can be
photographed until
October 31.