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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 1988)
TVe-.t'l.'i ~ jLi-M Photo by JayJanner Kelly Foster, a sophomore environmental de sign major, draws the Academic Building for one of his classes. The program is committed to exposing as many students as possible to the fine arts. “The arts offer a different way of learning — of developing critical thinking, ” Schultz says. “At the heart of a every good engineer or scientist is the creative spirit. Let us find another way of discovering that creative spirit. ” Schultz says the development of fine arts programs would be an asset to the University. “Our students would be better for it and the University would be looked upon in a better light, ” he says. Schultz comes from a liberal arts background, but billionaire businessman John D. Rockefeller also believed in the importance of the arts. “We need the arts if we are to be whole human beings — fully alive and in control of ourselves and our environment,” Rockefeller once said. “We need the arts as a key to the higher order of things — our cultural heritage, our gift of expression, our creative faculty. We need them if we are to have the truth — if we are to understand the problems that beset us, and if we are to understand ourselves. ” Two areas of fine arts that have recently been improved at A&M are music and poetry. The Department of Philosophy and Humanities recently expanded its music programs. It began by hiring Professor Wemer Rose in June. The department directed him to expand and develop courses in music, and that’s what he did. Rose has added several new courses, including Survey of the Concerto, Survey of Chamber Music and Music in the 20th Century, as well as ensemble courses in piano and stringed instruments. He says the ensemble courses are designed to further a student’s instrumental training. He says students often come to A&M after taking years of instrument lessons and had no more opportunity to improve. Now they can continue. He says it’s important for every student to study music and the other arts. “All art is significant to us as human beings,” he says. Art is an intangible product that relates to one of our senses. Music is art that relates to the ear. “We live in a world of sound, and it behooves us to understand that world in all of its dimensions, ” he says. Beside offering new courses in music, the music program has expanded the University Chamber Series to six concerts and holds free Brown Bag Concerts Wednesdays at noon. In an attempt to attract more students to the Chamber Series, ticket prices were reduced to $4 for students. “When you come to college there should be opportunities to broaden your understanding of any discipline,” Rose says. “We are working toward making those opportunities (in music) available to all University students regardless of major. ” While the music program has grown tremendously under the philosophy and humanities department, the English department has added more poetry and creative writing classes. It has also added a master’s degree in creative writing. Paul Christensen, English professor, says values of undergraduate students have changed, and more students are pursuing studies in the fine arts. “This generation began by being conservative, ” he says. “As those kids came of age, they discovered something missing in their emotional life that can be found in the fine arts. ” By limiting the fine arts to a few select schools, the Controlling Board is saying students at A&M don’t need the emotional experience that fine arts provide, Christensen says. He believes that, because A&M is mostly a technical school, it needs to provide the emotional experience of fine arts more than a liberal arts school does. While academic programs in the fine arts are slowly increasing, University clubs and activities have been bringing culture to A&M for more than 30 years. MSC Great Issues was formed in 1952 as the first attempt to bring a regular speaker series to the University. Today, programs such as the MSC Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA), the MSC Opera and Performing Arts Society (OPAS) and MSC Town Hall regularly bring nationally famous lecturers and performers to A&M. Stark says so many clubs offer cultural events that there is not enough time to see them all. “I don’t have any sympathy for anybody who talks about a cultural void at A&M, ” he says. All anyone needs to do is get off the couch and go, Stark says. There are also several art shows each semester at A&M. The University Art Exhibits program brings visual arts to A&M students, staff and faculty as well as Bryan-College Station residents not affiliated with the University. Hermona Dayag, University Arts Exhibits director, says the program tries to make students aware of what kind of work has been done in the visual arts. They present a wide diversity of styles and types of art in an attempt to appeal to everyone. “We want (students) visually stimulated while they’re being visually educated, ” she says. One art exhibit Dayag organized that attracted attention was the Texas Outdoor Sculpture show. The show, often remembered as the one with the dancing frogs, contained a variety of sculpture made from granite and steel as well as fiber glass and more complex materials. The sculpture “Three Frogs” sat atop Harrington Classroom Building and depicted one frog playing a horn while two others danced the tango. It generated a lot of discussion on the campus, Dayag says. “People either loved them or they hated them, but they all thought about what art looks like up high, ” she says. Dayag says viewing and thinking about art is educational. “It’s part of our education to confront and question, notjust accept,’’she says. “If a show is stimulating, it will pose questions to the viewer. ” Dayag believes that the development of more fine arts programs at A&M will benefit the University. Continued on page 11 Photo by Phelan Ebenhack Theater arts major David Roberto portrays the pirate king in the Ag gie Players production of “The Pi rates of Penzance.”