Tuneful Living

In a scene from the recently released movie musical Fame, a lunchroom full of talented high-school students spontaneously erupts into song without the slightest provocation, without even the conventional motivation of the stirrings of heated passion. Pretty far-fetched, right? Perhaps not, if what goes on in Channing Cox, Dartmouth's newest, apartment-style dormitory, is any standard. There, on any given night, some of the 16 students enrolled in Music 83, an experimental living-learning community, might be percussing on the specially installed pianos, banging on the pots and pans and glasses, strumming the banjo, or blaring away on the trumpet - in short, making ad hoc music.

What they're participating in is not anarchic cacophony but a course designed, in the words of its student initiators, to promote the "integration of life and music." In practical terms that means that the informal curriculum an exploration of new musical skills and a refinement of old ones has been lifted out of a strict classroom setting and incorporated into a student's total college experience. Members of the class study with one another in seven groups, such as sightsinging or jazz, and also work as individuals or in small combinations focusing on more personal interests.

Two students, for example, might meet after dinner to transcribe a flute and piano duet, then join the Celtic music group for a collective lesson, and end up in a coffee-and-doughnut, midnight rap session on the philosophy of rock V roll. On other evenings, all 16 eight men and eight women might have dinner with the three faculty advisers, and then proceed to a specially arranged lecture a performance by a local fiddler or visiting professor of music.

According to organizers Edward Morgan, Roger Pollak, and Billy Vitalis, all seniors, the inclusive nature of the program made it essential for the group to live together. The students room in four adjacent apartments and often eat, drink, and party in concert. Their proximity, they say, allows them the convenience of working whenever they choose for however long they choose, with enough time left over to discuss and evaluate their progress.

The idea for Music 83, they explain, grew out of the final project that Morgan and Pollak' prepared for an alternative education course they attended in the summer of 1979. Inspired, the organizers wrote a seven-page proposal, won Music Department backing, and then lobbied for and won Housing and Dean's Office approval - no mean feat in the maze of Dartmouth bureaucracy. Each of the 16 members was then hand-picked from a slightly larger number of applicants with the goal of putting together a class of diverse interests and talents.

This diversity is clearly evident in the types of music one hears coming from Music 83 gatherings. Vitalis is known for his classical guitar work, Morgan sings and plays the tin whistle, Lynn Curtis '83 blows the oboe, and Fraser Smith '81 is a banjo aficionado. Moreover, to supplement these talents, the group has sponsored several visits to Dartmouth by professional musicians. Farel Johnson spent two autumn weeks in Hanover demonstrating his drumming techniques and discussing the life of a modern musician. He was followed by a musicologist, a harpist, and two voice instructors.

The advisers - professors Jon Appleton, Bill Cole, and Melinda O'Neal - have let the group pretty much find its own day-to-day way while keeping a watchful eye on each student's progress. Normally, they meet with class members on a regular basis and often travel down to Channing Cox for relaxed dinners among those tempting pots and pans. The faculty is currently reviewing a student proposal to offer the course next fall.

In the meanwhile, this term's group keeps "cranking those tunes," as today's student is apt to say. Pollak said that they hope to live together for the rest of the year even though the course officially lasts for one term only. That just makes sense, he says, because life and music don't end with finals.

Pilobolus came back in early November to where the group originated, to present two performances in Thompson Arena.