J.L. Bailey is an unclassified graduate student. He can be contacted at [email protected].At 7:30 p.m. last Friday, the College of Education and Department of Music presented an outstanding joint concert featuring the Wind Ensemble with conductor Elva Kaye Lance and the MSU Choirs with conductor Bruce Lesley.
The concert preceded the celebration of the grand opening of the new Band and Chorus Rehearsal Hall.
The Wind Ensemble played diverse selections, a favorite of mine being “Irish Tune from County Derry” by Percy Aldridge Grainger.
Former director of bands Peyton Crowder guest-directed the Wind Ensemble and Concert Choir in “Maroon and White.”
Both the ensembles and choirs revealed that MSU music students and directors are talented individuals. Students in both the ensembles and choirs reveal diversity in areas of study. For example, 38 percent of band members are engineering majors. There are even six graduate students, two of whom are studying veterinary medicine and one pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.
While sitting in the audience, I recalled attending summer band camp at MSU many years ago. We stayed in Evans Hall and were always treated graciously. I also remember these camps being held in mid-August during times of sweltering heat.
One glaring aspect of camp was the size of the band hall; it was tiny.
Amazingly, it remained this way without renovation until the beginning of this semester. When the small band hall facility opened in 1954, it was viewed as a temporary facility. It was used 53 years.
Last Friday night, as celebrations abounded at locales both in town and on campus, the concert in McComas Hall provided a night of substantive entertainment.
The Band and Choral Rehearsal Hall grand opening began with a welcome by Michael Brown, head of the music department. Additionally, College of Education dean Richard Blackbourn spoke about the many individuals who contributed financially, noting that there were no huge gifts involved in the planning and construction of this long awaited project (he did mention that gifts of millions of dollars were certainly welcomed).
In the audience on this warm evening were band and chorus alumni, retired music department faculty, retired university administrators and a handful of local residents. There were friends and parents of the concert performers. I even spotted a handful of students.
A ribbon cutting ensued and tours of the new facility began. Band and chorus students directed visitors and answered questions.
Brown remarked before the ribbon cutting ceremony that for many years, prospective band students heard the line: “You have all reason to believe that there will be a new band hall by the time you graduate.”
These words, anticipating a new facility and presented with honorable intentions, were recycled for many decades.
Amid the congratulations and celebrations of this historic evening at MSU, a few questions involuntarily entered my mind.
Why weren’t more people interested in attending this event, which had been publicized for a long time?
Why did it take so long to provide those who enroll at MSU in order to participate in band and choral programs such a long time to finish the project?
The simple answers are not so simple. Sure, there were other activities for students, faculty and administration to attend last Friday. But tell me which had more significant or historic meaning to MSU?
Friday night’s ceremony should have generated sufficient interest requiring reservation of the Hump.
But on Friday nights before Homecoming, we find better things to do.
And to my shock and dismay, this wonderful celebration did not even rate a flyover.