Musical Technique

Among the University's many musicians are those talented performers who use their skill in the band, orchestra, or other groups. Of these, a few are music concentrators; all developed their ability despite the Music Department's policy of offering course in musical history and theory, but none in application.

The Department admits the importance of keyboard technique and requires concentrators to play Bach's easy preludes and sight-read simple four-part chorale harmonizations. For those who fail, it provides free lessons. But there are no further provisions for those who wish to further their mastery of the piano or any other instrument. Playing ability remains at a relatively low level while a student studies advanced harmony, counterpoint, or composition. Private lessons, in addition to their expense, require time which a full schedule of liberal arts courses does not permit.

In a comparable situation, the Fine Arts and Architectural Science Departments offer instruction in such applied subjects as painting and drawing. Thus a concentrator in either field can supplement his theoretical knowledge with more practical courses, while a music concentrator can receive no such aid from a Music Department which claims that instrumental instruction has no place in a liberal arts college. "We must have undiluted liberal; education here," one music professor recently said. "The spirit of a class and the spirit of a private lessons are quite different things." In this effort to prevent any so-called trade-school atmosphere, the Department refuses to institute a program similar to those of the Fine Arts and Architectural Science fields where they have worked well for several years without marring the College's liberal arts policy.

A maximum of two instrumental instruction courses would be of great benefit to those concentrators who wish to develop their instrumental talents. The Music Departments should permit such students to take courses at an approved local conservatory, perhaps at the Longy School of Music or the New England Conservatory. It is impossible to claim that music exists only at the pencil point of the composer and not the fingertips of a pianist.