Monday, 6/9/97 New palette of programs broadens arts studies
ARTS: Changes reflect trend toward merging disciplines
By Nerissa Pacio Daily Bruin Staff From Michelangelo to Picasso,
Mozart to Bob Marley and "Hello Dolly" to "Jesus Christ Superstar,"
it’s pretty much a given that art imitates life and social change.
And, proving that the inverse is also true, UCLA’s own arts
departments are broadening and diversifying in response to various
changes in the artistic community in recent years. In fact, while
many seniors reminisce about having grown up the past four years as
they anxiously await the excitement of upcoming commencement
ceremonies, the arts departments on campus have their own stories
of growth and change to share as well. The departments have their
very own type of graduation to talk about – that is, the changes in
the curriculum and ideology that have and will take the arts
departments and majors to a whole new level. Beginning as an
interdepartmental program 25 years ago, the world arts and cultures
(WAC) major has grown into a full-blown intensive study of
international art genres. A relatively new major that began two
years ago, WAC offers classes in cultural studies, design, dance
and art, to name a few. "We are crossing over departmental
boundaries by offering courses in relationship with the design
department, Native American Studies Center and even the
ethnomusicology department, because our students don’t think and
create within departments," says Judy Mitoma, chair of the WAC
department. "Students are expansive in feeling art. They can’t be
confined in that way." The dance department merged with WAC just
two years ago. In an effort to create a type of dance training
unique to UCLA alone, the dance major now offers more types of
dance classes. Modern dance is not the only focus anymore, with
other types of ethnic dance incorporated into the curriculum.
"We’re offering options of how to create art. For the first time,
our dancers are using texts. Before, dancers never said anything on
stage," Mitoma says. "We’re including a more collaborative range of
creation." The ethnomusicology department has also recently
expanded, with its biggest accomplishments being the establishment
of an undergraduate major five years ago, branching off from the
music department and the start of the jazz studies program this
past Fall Quarter. "Ethnomusicology, or the anthropology of music,
brings the traditional study of music to a whole new level," says
Timothy Rice, chair of the ethnomusicology department. "We serve
students who are not interested in just classical music. We bring
in kids interested in rap, pop music, or those who play traditional
ethnic instruments." Under the leadership of Kenny Burrell, the new
jazz studies program is the biggest and most recent addition to the
department this year. With jazz greats such as Gerald Wilson, Billy
Childs and Burrell, the program promises to be a progressive one.
"The teaching is unmatched here because our instructors are
themselves established musicians and bearers of the jazz
tradition," Rice says. "They are from the inside of the music
business." As opposed to the two jazz history classes and two jazz
bands that existed before the program began, the jazz studies
program has widened the ethnomusicology program by creating more
small jazz combos and establishing many jazz lectures. Such
lectures include a host of guest speakers, including keyboardist
and composer Herbie Hancock, who taught and performed at UCLA this
year. "Jazz is such an important part of American culture," Burrell
says. "It’s used in dance, opera, symphony, popular and even sacred
music. Our students wanted the program to happen. It makes sense
that it’s here." Musical theater is yet another addition to UCLA’s
fast-growing arts world. Although it’s not a major, over time, UCLA
music professor John Hallhas developed a sporadic weekend class
into an intensive musical theater workshop. It has now become a
performance organization in its own right with regular meetings two
times a week. However, with the 1990 split of the School of the
Arts (which added architecture in 1994) and the the School of
Theater, Film and Television, musical theater has had difficulties
branching off as its own major. "Theater is a whole other college,
so it’s a lot harder to combine music and theater than it used to
be," Hall says. Still, this workshop offers solid training for
those interested in pursuing musical theater, regardless of the
major of those who want to participate. "I like teaching to
nonmajors because they bring a different view about how to perform
music," Hall says. "The nonmajor keeps it more in the realm of
communication whereas the music major gets bogged down with the
rights and wrongs of it and if it’s the perfectly prepared tone."
Even as a two-unit workshop, the class continues to expand with the
goal of performing with a live orchestra next year and this year’s
accomplishment of performing three musicals as opposed to just one.
"Students can take this class over and over again," Hall says.
"It’s never the same and that’s one of the greatest joys of
teaching it. I watch a lot of students come back year after year
and I feel like I’m part of their growth." With all the changes
that have recently occurred and the trend toward diversity and a
broader curriculum in the arts departments, it’s easy to assume
that progress has just started to happen. Actually, the
ethnomusicology department has been progressing for the past 30
years, with UCLA as the only school to establish an ethnomusicology
major. And no other schools have the type of musical theater
workshop or WAC/dance major that UCLA offers. So, are the arts
departments really moving along with progressive trends? "Diversity
and multicultural awareness has always been important to UCLA,"
Mitoma says. "Yes, we’re expanding, but I don’t see it as a trend.
It’s a tradition."