Music school marks 100 years

By Melissa Mitchell

The halls are alive with the sounds of music at the
UI School of Music, where faculty, staff and students
are making final preparations for next month's weeklong
celebration of the school's 100th anniversary.

The school's birthday bash kicks off on March 25, when
conductor James Keene strikes up the UI Symphonic Band
at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Centennial
Festival Week continues through April 2, with a series of
performances and lectures highlighting the broad range of
musical traditions and culture embraced by the school over
the past century.

Music-making at the UI actually predates the founding of
the School of Music in 1895, according to Ann L. Silverberg,
author of "A Sympathy With Sounds," a soon-to-be-released
history of the school.  In the introduction to her book,
Silverberg notes that "the university community had a
significant musical culture and a population of talented
individuals" well before 1895 - including members of such
ensembles as the Military Band; Mandolin, Banjo and Guitar
Club; Illinois Quartette; and Glee Clubs.

Throughout its rich - and sometimes radical - history, the
UI school has gained a reputation as one of the nation's
leaders in music education and performance. In 1994, a survey
published in U.S. News and World Report ranked the school
among the top 10 graduate schools of music in the nation.
Among the school's 6,000 living alumni are two Pulitzer
Prize winners in composition - Michael Colgrass and
George Crumb.

"The School of Music has always been well-known for its
approach to contemporary music, as well as its music
education, musicology and composition areas," said Don V
Moses, the school's director. "The school, a long time ago,
made the decision not to have a theory department, but to
have active composers on its faculty who would teach theory.
That's unique in the United States.

The UI music school was perhaps first thrust under the
national spotlight when the popular band leader and composer
John Philip Sousa declared the UI Concert Band to be "the
best college band in the United States" and immortalized
the institution in his composition "The University of
Illinois March." Under the direction of A.A. Harding, the
band also became known as the first in the nation to
entertain half-time football crowds by marching in formation
while simultaneously playing their instruments.

In the 1950s and '60s, the School of Music was widely
regarded as an incubator for innovation - especially in
the composition and performance of "new music" - and served
as a magnet for avant-garde composers such as John Cage,
Lejaren Hiller and Harry Partch.

Looking ahead to the school's second century, director Moses
anticipates a major movement in two main directions.

"One, of course, is technological changes - changes in the
way we teach music and in the ways we hear and perform it,"
Moses said.  Secondly, he expects "a great emphasis on
world music - not just on Western music as we have grown
up to know it."