Staff
Fifty one out of 52. That’s how many top tier national colleges and universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report have orchestras in their curriculum. The one that doesn’t? That would be Pepperdine.
In a surprise decision at the end of last semester, Seaver College Dean Dr. David Baird announced that the Pepperdine University Community Symphony Orchestra would be dissolved after the spring 2002 semester to rebuild a program that relies more heavily on music majors.
The current orchestra is a forum for music majors, non-music majors, alumni and community members. Fourteen of the 56 members are music majors.
While we have suspicions that the reason for the cancellation was tied to the professor and the budget, Baird assured us that these weren’t the issues at all.
Instead, he said that our current orchestra is not the most productive environment for music majors. He argues that they would be better served playing with other music majors in exclusive small ensemble groups that offer a more intense experience until his ideal orchestra can be installed.
This seems to be some faulty logic.
The advantages of a small ensemble that Dr. Baird cites are indisputable. With fewer members involved, students will receive more individual attention and accept greater responsibility. Small group size ultimately promotes higher standards – a wrong note is heard loud and clear.
But an orchestra environment also has irreplaceable advantages. The orchestra retains and perhaps increases the accountability of students, requiring 56 members to play in harmony. A missed note may be dim, but students cannot hide as timing and tune are thrown off. Students are also offered the achievement of seeing a production or concert succeed.
In the years beyond their education, the benefits of an orchestra live on, preparing students for careers in music once they graduate. It’s difficult enough to make it in the competitive music world, but to go out of the Pepperdine bubble without the experience of playing in an orchestra makes the chance of success even more minuscule.
Undoubtedly an orchestra is necessary, but even Baird’s future orchestra — a group founded on music majors — won’t do. What we need is our current community symphony format that leads to greater diversity and success.
Incorporating non-music majors and community members produces undeniable benefits for the whole orchestra.
There’s something to be learned from the community members, alums, professionals and non-music majors, those who play for the pure joy of music.
The alumni and hired professionals who fill vacant roles offer music majors a professionalism and experience that cannot be found in Baird’s plan. Why not learn from those who know what it’s like in the real world?
Thus, with the community format, music majors learn to combine professionalism with genuine passion for their work, something rare in a small ensemble of music major concerned with grades and resumes.
But it’s not only the music majors who reap the benefits. The benefits for non-music majors are also irreplaceable. Some play simply for pleasure. Others play because music is their passion in life, but due to the competitive music world they major in something more practical to ensure survival after graduation. Why deprive these students of something so valuable?
We’re not saying small ensembles are a bad idea. Instead, we advocate participation in both forums. After all, the request to spend more time on their chosen major doesn’t seem unreasonable. Pepperdine has always prided itself in hands-on learning. New programs are being developed every year to promote learning in the community — we have the Volunteer Center, service learning, and now vocational training.
And at the heart of it all, the mission statement promotes education “where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service and leadership.” Why take away a program that promotes exactly what the university preaches?
While getting rid of the orchestra is a bad deal for its members, ultimately it’s a bad deal for the entire university. At Seaver College, a liberal arts school with no symphony orchestra seems like a joke. We’ll lose prospective students who contribute to the diversity of the Seaver environment. Future employers will begin to doubt the value of not only a music degree, but of all degrees that are the result of a distinctly narrow liberal arts education.
We want to take Dr. Baird’s word for the reasons behind canceling the orchestra. But no matter what the reason, Pepperdine states that the school is “committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values.”
Ultimately, the orchestra move affects everything the university represents.
Dr. Baird, please give us our orchestra back.
January 24, 2002