Traditional music degree on tap at UL. In a 1965 editorial, titled “They Call That Music??!!” Burton Grindstaff wrote in the Opelousas Daily World: “Cajuns brought some mighty fine things down from Novia [sic] Scotia with them, including their jolly selves, but their so-called music is one thing I wish they hadn’t.”
Now that UL Lafayette is poised to offer a degree program in traditional music (read: Cajun and zydeco), Grindstaff may be turning over in his grave. At the same time, there’s a good chance Dewey Balfa, Gladius Thibodeaux, Revon Reed and Louis LeJeune have played “Lacassine Special” and other Cajun standards in the great beyond countless times since the word got out.
Recently, the Louisiana Board of Regents approved a new bachelor of arts program in music with traditional music and music business as two areas of major study at UL. Now it’s up to the National Association of Schools of Music to grant it accreditation.
“In traditional music, there are very few programs like it in the country,” says Dr. Mark DeWitt, who joined the UL faculty in 2010 as the inaugural holder of the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music. “So we’re really doing something new here.”
And such newness will apply to the way traditional music playing is taught, and locally that means by ear as opposed to “academically” traditional.
“What I would like is this: Basically, yes, that the traditional music will be taught in an un-traditional way,” says DeWitt, who doesn’t see developing music books so students can read traditional music notes. “That’s not the point.”
However, lyrics are another aspect where singing in French and pronunciation are important, and DeWitt is cool with instructional books. “But as far as reading the notes, that’s not what I had in mind,” he says. “Now, for an accredited bachelor of arts in music, will they need to learn how to read music? Yes. So, my plan there is to propose that they learn how to read music, but not for their major, traditional instrument program.”
In the meantime, courses and camps have been around for years in the area teaching people how to play traditional music on the traditional instruments. Dr. Garth Alper, department head of the School of Music and Performing Arts, doesn’t see a problem.
“We already have a partnership with a lot of the same people,” Alper says. “We’re certainly looking to support all of those initiatives in the community and to have a partnership with the community.”
Musicians and instructors who have been teaching people how to play the music have nothing to worry about. Familiar names in Cajun and zydeco music circles, such as Kristi Guillory, David Greely, Al Berard, Wilson Savoy and Corey Ledet, are teaching at UL or will in the future.
“Really, one of the missions with the new degree is to support the musicians in the area,” Alper says. “And many of those musicians will be teaching here. It’s gotten a hugely positive response from the traditional musicians in the area and the community and the university.”
A final decision for UL’s new degree courses may not come until July, but that is not a problem for getting the program up and running.
“They’ve already given us permission to teach the classes. We just can’t officially call it by its title until we get their approval,” Alper says. “Even if the stamp of approval were delayed, we could still offer the classes.”
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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