Let's look constructively at UMM's music department

Here's a photo I took several years ago of the Humanities Fine Arts building in winter.

 
I had occasion in the last few days to speak with a member of UMM's music discipline. UMN? 

I had something positive to share, which is that I had noticed the new music website. Looks fresh and new to be sure. I might claim that the update is belated. UMM held onto its old site with pictures of departed faculty members (e.g. Miller and Campbell) for too long IMHO. 

More importantly, the "upcoming concerts" link had become unreliable. I hate to come across as a complainer. I am inevitably a loser in these discussions. The only exception is the discussions I might have with people in UMM's Development Office. Those discussions are always amicable and I sense a receptive ear. Oh, now you'll jump on me and complain that the only reason I think that, is that the Development Office takes my $. Well touche then. 

Yours truly and UMM have always mixed like oil and water. 

I remember a couple years ago when the UMM choir had an end-of-tour homecoming concert and there was no heads-up on UMM's music website. Sometimes Del Sarlette gives me a heads-up re. concerts and that is nice. But the music website ought to be fully user-friendly. Why is that asking so much, when you'd think it's in the obvious best interests of the UMM music people to have the public know about their concerts? Isn't that the way it's done at other institutions? 

Answering that, we might weigh how UMM music proceeded last spring, when the big combined band/choir concert was held in Alexandria and with no repeat performance here for the usual constituencies. I might suggest this was stranger than fiction. 

UMM's stuffed-shirt advocates would give me no satisfaction, I'm sure, about being right on that. It appears scientifically impossible for me to be right about anything. 

I suppose I should write "symphonic winds" instead of "band." 

Let me get back to my encounter in the last few days with a UMM music person. OK it was at church coffee. The best that can be said is that the person listened politely. But his body language wasn't accommodating. I wonder if the website issues revolve around whose job it is to manage it, if it's anyone's job really. So for me to bring it up is to suggest that someone just go ahead and do it. That's ANATHEMA for people working under a union contract. 

I have fought unionized education people all my life, my cross to bear. I haven't been run out of town yet. I have to wonder why my thoughts make me an outlier so often. Why not comment constructively about the music website? Why not alert the music people when promotion and PR appear insufficient? Why not raise a red flag about last spring's scheme with Alex-only? Here's part of an email I sent to a UMM-oriented friend:

 

So I'm guessing: the recital hall is small and intimate, and their fear is about covid? Well, the problem is that UMM never had a true concert facility built. Of course there was the plan for Humanities Phase III. Embarrassing that that was ever put on the drawing board to be talked about.

The Morrisons unloaded a ton of money for Edson or whatever it's called, but hardly any music discipline stuff happens there. Logistical problems with equipment being at HFA I suppose. But when my father directed, I suppose the stuff was at the current multi-ethnic building. 

Plus, parking is inconvenient for Edson, especially for the semi-handicapped or elderly folks.

And now we have to look out for the "Pine Hall" parking signs across from HFA.

 

Who knows what is bubbling in the background, the back rooms, about UMM's future. (UMN?)  Forget that Steve Sviggum was clumsy as hell in how he spoke about UMM. Everyone knows he "stepped in it." That aside, he perked up everyone's attention about how things are going at our Morris campus, with the hemorrhaging in enrollment. 

And do not think this is an issue not greatly concerning for the people who determine the school's funding. I have suggested that maybe the Crookston person is mapping out something drastic pertaining to our future. That was based on the person having the title "executive chancellor" in connection to Morris. Wrong again, I guess. An anonymous person commented to my blogs that the Crookston connection means zero. 

"Strike one," I guess. 

Sviggum has a significant background with the MN legislature. His comment pricked up the ears in the legislative hallways, I suspect. In the final analysis, the sanctimonious talk about liberal arts might mean nothing once the legislature realizes the ball is in their court. And with all the power that Republicans have these days, look out. 

Democrats don't mind indulging educational interests to an extent. Don't look for Republicans to cut such slack, they of the "abolish the income tax" credo, and to transfer everything to a "consumption tax," a sales tax. It's a regressive tax just like your local property tax. So let's hit the middle class and poor even harder, eh? And Republicans won't look favorably on throwing money at liberal arts. 

Let's add that the old "paternalistic liberal" Democrats have become an extinct species. Technically the Dems are holding their own in MN. I'm looking at the broader picture with ideologies. 

Here's a recent news snippet that adds to the skepticism about so much of traditional college studies:

 

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed his first executive order on Wednesday, announcing that 92 percent of state jobs no longer require a four-year college degree. According to a news release, this impacts 65,000 positions with the State of Pennsylvania. The order instructs the office of administration to emphasize skills and experience in job postings. It also orders a review of the remaining 8 percent of jobs that currently require a degree.

 

Did I mention that the new UMM music website does not have an "upcoming concerts" link on the main home page? You can bet the athletic department makes sure schedule info is readily accessible. I told Erin Christensen at UMM that the new site in and of itself is fresh and nice. In the next breath I expressed concern about lack of the concerts link in an easy-to-find place. 

In an email to a different contact, I argued thusly: 

 

I want to sound positive about the new UMM music site but I cannot find an "upcoming concerts" link. Let me clarify: I tried with "recital hall," to click on that. I scrolled down and then I saw a link for "current concerts and music events." I clicked but I got "page not found." Even if it was there, it would be hard to locate just being under "recital hall." So I wonder what's up with that strategy. They really do not want concert-goers? What would Jim Carlson say? 

 

So let's focus some attention on the building you see at the top of this post. I took the photo with my old "film" camera. Pictures put on "CDs" for a time until even that became obsolete. I'm a name-dropper with the U president at the start of this email. Then we talk about the HFA:

 

I see where Joan Gabel got into a bit of controversy by getting on the Securian board. Is she being assessed OK by U of M backers? I wonder if she looked at the HFA on our campus and said "who the hell designed this place?" The hallway which is like a big New Mexico cavern dominates the place. And then there's no true concert hall, just a "recital hall." As I have explained in my blogs, the HFA along with the crazy science auditorium were designed during a period in our cultural history when everything was "avant garde." Don't dare design anything just to be practical. I went to college when this attitude even seeped into journalism. We were taught that "if you see obvious bulls--t, write about it." That is not the attitude or zeitgeist of today - today is the opposite.

I have told the Morrisons that I really don't sense any difference in the art gallery since before they gave the $. Liz said some of the money actually went toward programs and that's fine. Also I was told that some pipes or ducts along the ceiling were covered up but if that's all, was hardly worth the money. I don't look up. 

 

I'm letting my emails do a lot of my work today. To quote some more:

  

I shared with Warrenn Anderson on Saturday that the whole design of the HFA is terrible. A huge hallway that dominates the place. A hallway is just supposed to be functional. I told Warrenn that UMM should have an HFA that is an ordinary building with ordinary hallways and a "decent concert hall."

People who designed the HFA wanted to make a "statement" with its architecture, to be brave and different and all that kind of bulls--t. People thought like that back then, the 1970s. And look at the quirky science auditorium. That was considered "cool" back in the day, it's just (expletive) now.

No spring concert at the HFA? In what alternate reality are we living?

 

Let's take a breath and close out this post. I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? The winter is getting long for me, tedious, arduous, whatever. I suppose I'm an "incel." The stuff going on in politics infuriates me. All I can do is observe, like "Mongo" in "Blazing Saddles." "Just pawn in game of life." 

What I conclude with here, are probably the most pertinent thoughts about UMM's HFA building. These thoughts are from a knowledgable friend of mine. He's not in a union. Please read:

 

Yes, HFA is an albatross. Somebody’s progressive idea back in the 70s. Impractical and ugly. I remember Clyde (Johnson) talking about Phase III back then, how it was high on the list of “projects” the U of M was considering for our campus, dependent upon funds. I think Phase III was as high as #2 on that list, and Clyde was optimistic about its construction. Then other things came into play that the “boys upstairs” thought were more important, and the addition continually dropped in ranking, until it eventually fell off of the list.

 

And "Mongo" just carries on.

 

Addendum: I checked with Google just prior to publishing, typed in the music dept. and got a result that had a sub-link for current concerts. I clicked on that and got a page from the old website and there were no concerts announced there. It is late January and we can assume they have some concerts coming up. So I rest my case. Everything on the web is so fluid of course. Things might start happening just because I'm speaking out. Wait 'til spring and I can get outside, my mood will improve.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com