Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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repetition of an historical and sociological phenomenon, with duo variations. For its corporate activities, the early Christian Church was forced to go underground before it was accepted and recognized. In modern times, early Music at Konyon is still in this stage, occupying the Catacombs, so to speak. We are indeed grateful that the Church is now in a position to grant asylum to music. However, is it too much to hope that Music at Kenyon will before long find a dwelling place of its own? ■ Page Twenty-ioven

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DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC PAUL SCHWARTZ Profinor of Music PAUL SCHWARTZ Whon the Department of Music was founded at Kenyon in the fall of 1947, it was housed in a so-called temporary building located between the Swimming Pool and what was then the Speech Building. This made for a pleasant and fruitful relationship with a Drama Department in search of incidental music on the one hand, and swimming coaches in need of spare offico furnituro on the other. To the innocent visitor, the Music Building appeared as a cleverly camouflaged toolshed, discreetly tucked away in an oak grove. Its architecture followed a style particularly popular during that transitional perioa, namely, G. I. Gothic. As time went by, it was observed that the building—-like some other units of similar construction—was becoming less temporary and more permanent every Soar. Aftor a number of stormy seasons, oods rushing down the eastern slope of the Hill had left heavy deposits of glacial sedimentation in the class room. The legs of two medium-sized Steinway Grands were beginning to grow roots through the floor boards. On the outside, rodents were engaged in a two-pronged attack on the edifice: mice were undermining its foundations, while squirrels kept the roof undor incessant bombardment. Not only was the musical equipment in serious danger, but teaching and learning were, under the circumstances, becoming increasingly hazardous occupations. Many a winter, after braving the icy descent'from Asconsion Hall, devoted mombors of the musical community would reach the comparative safety of the building only to find themsolves threatened by new perils: for some inscrutable reason the heating system would provido only two constant temperatures—95 or 35 degrees Fahrenheit. It became obvious even to the hardiest music lover that the department would have to find another refugo if it was to survivo the onslaught of the elements. Inspection of a building used only sparingly on wookdays yiolded the desired results; in February 1954 the department moved to the Chapel Basement. Here it occupies throo rooms: a good-sized class room with a concrote floor, a spacious office adorned with all the daguerrotypes expelled from the other offices on campus, and a room which serves as an incipient departmental library during the week and as the choir breakfast nook on Sunday mornings. I miss the friendly noises emanating from the Swimming Pool, but I can now hear the stern voices of Bexley students practicing their sermons upstairs. Instead of the sounds of the birds in the oak grove, I hear the organ pealing in the Sanctuary as some exploring freshman experiments with the stops. In all of this, it seems to me, there is a curious moral or at least the ROBERT L. CRONQUIST Assistant in Music Pag Twanty-sii

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