February 4, 1975
Rumanian Folk Ensemble
"Amazing"
by Angela Lantz
Last Friday night Dana
Auditorium harbored one of
Guilford College's most excit
ing and novel Arts Series
Highlights. The Rumanian
Folk Ensemble was, indeed,
absolutely amazing!
Despite the rather alien
specificity of their music and
extraordinary talent, the six
musicians with their twelve
diverse instruments managed
to dazzle their captive
audience.
Aside from the visual
novelty of many of the
instruments, all of which have
historic roots in the peasant
.villages of eastern Europe, the
primary fascination of the
performance was derived from
the auditory effects. These
imaginative and highly skillful
blk musicians were not simply
Capable of such intriguing
nusical embellishments as the
slide whistle, a "breathtaking'
clarinet swelling by the
incredible George Pope, and
*he skylark whistling by
J>imion Stancio with the
panpipe and Benone Damian
faith the violin. The Rumanian
Folk Ensemble Musicians
were truly phenominal artists
in their precise mastery of
speed, coordination, and the
rapid variance of tonality
degree. The cembalo and
panpipe, especially, were
instruments of a versatility
fairly uncommon to most
■ -"•-J A- 1 " J, ' Bft
■ ■HHHaimMalw^i
mM^HIMWI—WWMWB
iiffii MlJinyiiiiiiiißin'ii lln r fir
I^mlS
liijgißl w r
F'
uwMm^wßßßßmm
I^^HhHHBHHHHHHHhB:
wMMCTnSafc.; t - R
jK
sa> 3* ■
western instruments. Certain
ly stunningly,,handled these
instruments, along with the
violin, gave forth sounds
ranging from the five beat per
measure, melancholy, shep
herd's Love Song to the
nineteen beat per measure,
loud, fervent gypsy dance.
The speed displayed by the
musicians was facilitated by
the fact that many of the
pieces including all of the fast
ones, used a pentatonic scale.
Thus, the leading instruments
had only five rather than eight
notes with which to worry. The
wide crescendo - descrescendo
range was particularly amaz
ing with the panpipe, whose
execution requires the difficul
ty of blowing through a coke
bottle. The coordination of the
performers was such that
several instruments would
often diverse from the leading
tempo only to come together
again at various points in the
piece. For western ears, this
technique made for a strange,
almost confusing perception of
on beat contrasted with off
beat. Fine skill was shown in
the mastery of this difficult
coordination of timing.
The six musicians conveyed
to their very receptive
audience with an infectious
energy and liveliness of spirit,
an authenticity of tradition
that gave not only immense
pleasure, but elicited a deep
awe.
The GuilfonHaa
*1 y
Community Senate Meeting
w
by Bob Johnston
The Community Senate
Meeting for January 28
opened with a moment of
silence. A bill was introduced
which would have Senate
choose two students to be
placed on the faculty commit
tee on budgeting and
planning, which is an advisory
! committee to the Administra
tive Council. This is an effort
on the part of the faculty to
increase student input on
important administrative de-
cisions, which has been a
cause for concern recently.
This committee was formed
shortly before Winter Vaca
tion, and there have actually
been suggestions from the
faculty already to restructure
the committee. Senate decid
ed to make at least a
temporary recommendation of
two interested students to the
committee, as it will be
meeting any number of times
in the next few weeks. With
their consent, John Beetle and
Page 7
Scot Oliver will serve the
positions.
Senate treasurer Carl
Wright reported on the joint
meeting of the Administrative
Council, the Community
Council, and the Clerk
Committee. The committees
are concerned with saving
money without cutting the
quality of the school. They
have made a tentative
resolution for various changes
in the College calendar for the
1975-76 school year. In order
to save money, the school
would be closed for four days
for a Thanksgiving break
(Wednesday, November 26 -
Sunday, November 30), and it
would close two days earlier
and reopen two days later than
usual for Winter Vacation.
The only academic day lost
would be the Friday after
Thanksgiving Day. The days
surrounding Winter Vacation
would be made up in a
rearrangement of the exam
schedule, which includes
eliminating reading days and
shortening exam periods from
three to two hours, in order to
be able to have three to four
exam periods per day, instead
of two. Students were assured
that they would not have more
than two exams per day, even
if special arrangements would
be necessary. Jim Newlin
indicated that a possible
$15,000 would be saved each
of the eight days. The new
College calendar was thought
to be ready and formalized by
tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb
ruary 5).
Everyone is reminded that
Senate elections are coming
up within the next couple of
months. Anyone interested
should contact Tina Zerilli,
Shore #2Ol (299-3724), chair
person of elections this year.