The Dally Tar Heel Thursday, November 19, 19875
Mixing talent with imMrtoWmMOektiB
By BETH MILLER
Staff Writer ' .-
In a small studio in Hill Hall,
programs from musical performances
by former students smother a bul
letin board and pictures from trips
to Canada cover the side of a filing
cabinet. An old clarinet stands on the
lid of the grand piano. "Studios are
very telling." says the clarinet's
owner. Donald Oehler. an associate
professor of music Oehler is as busy
as his studio looks.
"What you do is based on what
you've done. I was in the Peace Corps
in the "60s." Oehler said. "Everyone
else was signing up for the draft, but
l wanted to get out of it. I was coming
out of Juilliard in '68."
The Teheran Philharmonic Orches
tra needed a clarinet, and Oehler got
the job through the Peace Corps. "I
learned Persian for three months." he
said. "When I went no one knew
where I was going. I lived right next
to the American Embassy."
And it's an experience he doesn't
regret.
"I highly recommend the Peace
Corps." Oehler said. "We were helping
the local people teaching them our
trade. That was my first real job
it started me teaching. I seriously got
interested in chamber music. It gave
me the bug to travel. Then l came
to Carolina."
The diversity of his career did not
stop at Carolina. "I'm a performer
I lead a musical life." he said. But
as a teacher at UNC. Oehler does
much more than perform. "A whole
side of my career is involved in
teaching. I don't think it's unlike
sports at all. You get so involved in
teaching over a period of time."
Oehler works more intimately with
his students than most coaches do.
"You meet with each student each
week one on one. and this goes on
for eight semesters. The student and
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Donald Oehler, associate professor of music
teacher have a lengthy relationship."
Oehler says he enjoys watching and
helping his students through the
transition years of college. "The
commitment goes well beyond the
four years." Some of his students who
graduated still call him for advice. He
pointed to the bulletin board, saying
This Newspaper
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that he asks his former students to
send back their programs, which he
displays to encourage his present
students. Most professors, he says,
do not keep up with their students
so well.
But then most professors do not
coordinate their teaching strategies
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either. "The work of another studio
is closely related to how my students
do. It's a real teamwork effort."
As a clarinet player. Oehler said.
"Rarely do you walk out on stage
alone." His students learn how to play
with other musicians and what to
expect from them. Pausing a moment
in his explanation, he listened to a
trumpet playing downstairs. Refer
ring to the trumpet professor, who
was singing along with his student.
Oehler said, "Sometimes we sing back
and forth to each other."
Oehler said that while he instructs
students, he realizes that he learns
from them, too. "I have learned so
much from my students over the
years that I have stacks of things that
I've written. Maybe someday if I'm
really clever. I'll accumulate it."
Oehler's teaching and performing
are directly related. "I know of few
musicians who don't teach." he said.
"As musicians, we look at our
performances as our research. I'm
constantly searching for better ways
to play my instrument and to
improve. You can't just stagnate. It's
very difficult. You learn from your
students."
Oehler also conducts the New
Music Ensemble, which he says varies
from semester to semester, accord
ing to who wants to play, who can
play and who is needed for the specific
songs. "I want to use only students
- with guests." he says. "I'm particu
larly interested in only students."
The group plays "modem contem
porary, serious art music." Describing
the repertoire. Oehler said. "This is
what some people call weirdo music.
It's thoughtful music." And in refer
ence to the audience, he said. "They
don't have to like it. If it makes them
think, then we're successful." For the
group. Oehler chooses songs written
by great composers, who he said are
"sort of the Bachs. Mozarts and
C4POLINK
Ssptir?n-- presents
Admission Night
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Really Terrible Movie Night
Saturday, November 21
0 Godzilla vs. The
Starship Invasion
High School Confidential 10:30
Mendelssohns of the 20th century."
Other than his work for the Uni
versity. Oehler said. "I do a lot of local
work. I conduct the Piedmont Youth
Orchestra. It meets on Saturdays."
A few weeks ago he played at a
wedding, an unusual job for a clarinet
player, and he also performed in a
polka band for the Oktoberfest.
He visited Belgium and England a
month ago. "I recorded a program
of clarinet music with the Belgium
Radio Orchestra (in Brussels)," he
said. "That was a very serious job."
In England he worked more on a
project which he started a few
months ago: "I wrote this course
it's called Clarinet International. The
idea is to take students from around
the United States and take them to
study clarinet in Europe.".
A traveling man, Oehler also said
he goes to Canada every summer to
teach at the Saskatchewan School of
Arts. He became a member of the
faculty there in 1976.
Oehler also teaches weekly at Elon
College as a visiting professor, plays
chamber music here on campus and
in the area, and teaches some stu
dents at home. He says that, like
most musicians, he goes from job to
job continuously.
"I have a stand up desk. 1 don't
have the time to sit down."
But. as his studio office suggests,
he wouldn't have it any other way.
Death is forever.
Heart disease
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Film Committee
D
3
3
Fri, Nov 20
7:00, 9:30,
12:00
Tickets: $150
mm
Smog Monster 7:00
8:45
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