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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1996)
Pagel er 5, 199i Page 3 Tuesday • November 5, 1996 jr vision woul juced by Vicl wer chapter (d church ity youth hese dramas! ez said, s and to gai a lot of visi : play as n avoids ce gap :alif. (AP)- today glossa gap in theOJ | ne of the dis I the foundatM | jp theory ai 's acquittal« The Sound gory Mathesai ention of blo« ye red from tt< d the day )n and RonaJ iered, the de question li , ex-wife Nice* Ronald )n of causiri sld liable into | se. jurors caJi| damages. & Lows cpected Hid 9°F ;x[)ected U 8°F r)rrow's md High 0°F of Science Texas A&M Physics professor Robert Kenefick blends his hobby and profession to create a symphony of scientific sound. Photos by Dave House By April Towery The Battalion B issociated Pres ryan-College Sta tion Chamber Or chestra violinist Robert Kenefick, Ph.D., said there is a correlation between science and music. “It is well documented that people who are scientists are very I lopsided in that they are first-born children,” / he said. “The first-born children are the ones / who get the music lessons.” / Kenefick never paid for music lessons. Forty- nine years ago, his grandfather, also a violinist, taught him to play. "My first violin cost $5 at a pawn shop,” Kenefick said. Since his first violin, Kenefick has played a violin craft ed by his great uncle and another instrument made by his colleague and biochemistry and biophysics profes sor Joseph Nagyvary, Ph.D. “Nagyvary makes violins, violas and cellos,” Kenefick said. “He gives them to me to break in because I play kind of heavy.” Kenefick played violin in the symphony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the graduate school he attend ed, Florida State University. Kenefick moved to College Sta tion with his family in 1965, but the orchestra was not orga nized until 1973. The orchestra, conducted by Marcelo Bussicki, is comprised of 50 people, including students, professors and local musi cians from neighboring towns Madisonville, Navasota and Huntsville. When the orchestra plays concerts with OPAS, up to 800 people attend. For concerts such as these, Kenefick said the orchestra brings in 30 to 50 more musicians to “fill the holes.” The orchestra has a variety of instruments including strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Kenefick and cellist Ellen Hornpr are the members of the orchestra who have been a part of it since it originat ed. Horner said she has been impressed by Kenefick’s talent as a musician. “I have found him to be a very congenial person,” Horner said. “He has a wealth of knowledge and is an accom plished musician.” Kenefick also plays the viola, which he described as “a violin on steroids.” He has played chamber music in string quartets, violin and piano duos, string trios and piano and string quartets. Kenefick said that although A&M has had a faculty piano trio since 1968, there has yet to be a faculty string quartet. He said he likes the diversity music offers. “I enjoy the feel and the sound of it,” Kenefick said. “It is technically and musically challenging to make it sound the way it might be inter preted. I’ve really enjoyed playing symphony because I got to play a lot of big works like Brahms, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. I never thought I’d be able to play all this as an amateur.” Kenefick has been teaching a three-hour musical acoustics course at A&M since 1984. The course will be offered this spring if enough students register for it. “It doesn’t make every year,” Kenefick said. “With 43,000 students at A&M, it’s hard to get 12 in that class.” He said a musical background is not necessary for the course. “It is very selective and picks out the kids who have lost sight that college is a place to learn,” Kenefick said. “It is not intended to be a prep course. Students who take the course are almost always guitarists who play in a rock band. Nine out of 10 people who graduate from music school end up doing something else.” The Bryan-College Station Chamber Or- “It is well documented that people who are scien tists are very lopsided in that they are first-born children. The first-born children are the ones who get the music lessons.” Clockwise from the top: Dr. Robert Kenefick, an A&M physics professor and a violinist in the Bryan-College Sta tion Chamber Or chestra, makes his in strument sing. Kenefick plays a Nagyvary violin, crafted by Joseph Nagyvary, an A&M biochemistry and bio physics professor. The violinist uses a Chin bow, made by a master craftsman from China who worked for Herman Kleerekoper in the bi ology department Robert Kenefick Bryan-College Station Chamber Orchestra violinist chestra plays at Rudder The atre, Bryan Civic Auditorium and Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater. Kenefick said he expects its next performance will be in late November. City Editor tor ^rts Editor tor ITOR mn Editor istie Humphries rtney Wa/teF & las, Aaron Meia , Colby Gaines, i Goodwin, Marti' son, Sean McAiS' yan Rogers; loodwin, Dave of Student P# . Newsroom -web.tamu.edu, or campus, local ;ing offices are i» py of Ttie BattaW 3, MasterCard,!*' i semesters and s) at Texas A&M angestoTtie Bat NOW AVAILABLE •96 YEARBOOKS, '96-97 CAMPUS DIRECTORIES S TUDENTS: if y ou o r d ere ^ a 1 996-97 Campus Directory, stop by the English Annex (between Heaton a a nc j ^ ^| ue water t ower ) f rom 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday 1° P |C U P y°ur copy. (Please bring Student ID.) If you did not order a Campus Directory as a fee option when you registered for Fall '96 classes, you ° co Py for $3 plus tax at the English Annex (by check) or in room 0 a McDonald Building (by cash or credit card). D EPARTMENTS: if y°^ ^ P°* order Campus Directories, you may charge and pick them up at the Eng is Annex. Cost is $3 per copy. (Please bring a work request with your part num er, PAMlS account number, account name, billing address, contact person an phone number where the directories should be billed.) The Campus Directory includes listings of departments, administrators, faculty, staff, students, other information about A&M, pi us yellow pages. P ICKING up your 1996 Agaieland is easy. If you ordered a book, just bring your Student ID to the English Annex (between the blue water tower and Heaton Hall - look for the maroon banner), and show it to one of our enthusiastic staff members. Hours: 8:30 <5.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you did not order last year's yearbook, you may purchase one for $35 plus tax. Checks are accepted at the English Annex. To pay cash or charge on your VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, go to room 015 (basement) Reed Mc Donald Building. 864 pages - Let the memories of the 1995-96 school year come rolling back.