Thursday, February 21,1985/THE BLUE BANNER/7
A bright note from humble beginnings
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By Chris Streppa
UNCA's Music Director
Joyce Dorr grimaces when
she recalls a conversation
she overheard last Novem
ber during the College
Night Program for area
high school students.
A prospective student
asked about the music de
partment on canqpus. "We
don’t have much of a pro
gram here," a UNCA student
answered.
The response stunned
Dorr. She remembers all
the hard work it took to
create a vital, successful
program in only six years.
Dorr nK)ved from New Jer
sey to North Carolina in
1978. "I came because my
husband [Dr. Laurence
Dorr, vice chancellor for
academic affairs] came
here," she says, "and I
was unemployed for a
year."
But it was not a year
without music. Dorr con
tinued to teach and play
piano and organ. The high
light of that year was her
organ recital in New York
City’s St. Patrick’s Ca
thedral.
She went to work for
DNCA the following year.
Her job was to build a
coB^rehensive music pro
gram on the foundation set
up by Dr. Frank Edwinn,
associate professor of mu
sic.
"We began by designing
and offering courses and
ensembles to students,"
she says, "and the re
sponse was fantastic!"
(There were 27 music ma
jors in 1982; this year
there are 64.)
The flourishing program
needed room to grow and,
two years ago. Dorr moved
from "ten^orary quarters"
in the Owen Art/Man^ement
Building into the old caf
eteria in the cavernous
basement of the Lipinsky
Building.
"At first," she says,
"it was just me and the
roaches." Dorr * s office
was the former salad bar
and, she explains, "it was
infested." She shudders as
she recalls the bugs that
dropped from the ceiling
onto her desk while elec
tricians worked on the
wiring overhead.
Insects were the least
of her problems. "I had to
figure out how to turn an
old food service area into
a musical facility," says
Dorr.
With the help of ramp^ig
maintenance crews, teiq)or- One simply threw up his
hands and rented a studio
downtown."
Kirby, an educator whose
credits also include com
posing, arranging, per
forming and audio en
gineering, joined the
staff in 1983.
"Somebody told me there
was a job here that fit
the description of what I
was looking for," says
Kirby.
The work is demanding
but department members
pull together, in5>rovising
whenever possible and ig
noring the insoluble pro
blems.
Together they have cre
ated a program that meets
the academic needs of stu
dents who are interested
in fields as diverse as
concert performing and mu
sic engineering technol
ogy.
The department now of
fers two bachelor of sci
ence degrees and three
bachelor of arts degrees.
More than 40 courses co
ver topics that range from
"microcomputers in music
and sound" to "voice pro^
duction."
An adjunct staff of 32
professionals backs up the
three permanent faculty
members; Dorr, Kirby, and
Edwinn. (Edwinn divides
his time between music and
humanities classes.)
The department is cur
rently interviewing can
didates to fill a fourth
position next fall.
Kirby adds that UNCA is
"one of the first schools
in the United States to
use digital recording in a
teaching program." The
equipment, though not
plentiful, is very sophis
ticated. And, says Kirby,
"we get a lot of mileage
out of each piece."
ary walls went up to con
vert the private dining
room and snack bar into
classrooms.
The refrigerator room
became an electronic music
studio.
The former kitchen now
serves as classroom and
Kitchen Koncert Hall com
bined. A framed poster of
assorted instruments wolf
ing down banana splits at
a luncheonette counter
hangs by the entrance.
Inside, colorful strips of
carpet dangle from wooden
tracks nailed to the
walls. They serve as
"acoustics."
"Practically everything
is on loan or donated,"
says Dorr; from $500 worth
of carpeting to the
$30,000 organ. "I had to
spend a lot of time being
nice to people and telling
them ny problems."
But some problems per
sist in spite of all the
hard work. Many rooms suf
fer from too much noise or
not enough heat.
The recording studio,
with $800 worth of acous
tical foam, still feels
cold and danq>.
They punched a hole in
one wall of the electronic
music lab (which smells
strongly of stale grease
and onions) to let in some
heat. "Unfortunately,"
says Dorr, "now the noise
comes through too."
Noise is also a problem
in the four practice
rooms. They aren’t sound
proof, which makes it dif
ficult for students to
concentrate.
"They hate the acousti
cal inadequacies," says
Dr. Wayne Kirby, assistant
professor of music. "It
drives students crazy be
came they can't practice.
DR. JOYCE DOKR A» ER. MASSB. URBY discuss the blue
print of their future "faoae." Staff photo by Sylvia Hawkins
is
I
A KTTOBDSN KELIC moAs sophisticated foaai In
the recording stodlo* staff photo by Sylvia Hawkins
There are several de- rennovations are due to
partmental performing begin in fall 1985. The
groups that afford music goal is to have the build-
students the opportunity ing ready for use in fall
1986.
This means the Music De-
It has also instituted will be home
less" for awhile.
to play or sing for an
audience.
several ccminunity events.
The Holiday Concert has
been a tradition for six building
'The architect advised
years. Last Christmas,
I-
A
while we rennovate,"' says
Cochran. He explains it
“SCSJk JBSES”: poster bf
UNCA performers moved the , , ,
concert to the Thomas take too much time
Wolfe Auditorium to accom- money to build, wire,
modate the standing-room- around an entire
department.
"One option," he says,
"is to see if we can lo-
week attended last year’s cate some space as close
Sumner Sings, where they to campus as possible to
enjoyed good music and rent; maybe a house or an
apartment.
^ "We hope to continue
of the Lipinsky Building semblance of opera-
wili mean permanent, more tion."
comfortable quarters for tenporary relocation
the ttisic Department, will certainly make that
Rooms will have adequate difficult for faculty and
light, heat and acoustics students alike.
But this department has
an edge. They’ve tackled
and
only crowds.
As many as 400 people a
picnics on the quad.
The upccndng rennovation
for the first time.
Dr. Tom Cochran, assis
tant vice chancellor for hardsWLps before.
Staff photo by Sylvia Hawkins academlc affairs, says the triunph^.