SHSU Update for Week of April 9

• Music Has Colorful Week
• Dancing Downtown
• New Web Magazine
• Swingin' At Sam
• Teske to Speak at Vigil
• Embarrassment Expert
• Puebla Field School, Saturday@Sam, Golf Tourney, Student Recitals

Music Has Colorful Week

The Sam Houston State University Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Carol Smith.

Firebirds, love songs, a Grand Canyon octet, and even some tiger music should make for a colorful and entertaining week of concerts at Sam Houston State University.

Events include a Horn Choir Concert, Friends of Music Spring Gala, and a performance by the Sam Houston State University Symphony Orchestra.

The Horn Choir, under the direction of Peggy Demers, performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday (April 10) in the Recital Hall. The program includes Ronald LoPresti's "Fantasy for Horn Quintet," Edward Gogolak's "Folk Song Settings," Eric Ewazen's "Grand Canyon Octet," and a Jack Gale arrangement of "Tiger Rag."

The Horn Choir includes Kevin Gandy, Eloisa Guzman, Richard Rameriz, Melissa Scott, Suzanne Scott, LeAnn Stover, Julie Wareham and Emily Wood.

An all-star cast of instrumental and vocal musicians will present the traditional Friends of Music Spring Gala Tuesday (April 11) at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall. This year's tribute to the department's best supporters is entitled "An Entertainment," with a reception to follow in Austin Hall.

The program includes Brahms' "Liebeslieder (Love Songs)," words by Georg Friedrich Daumer with translations by Emily Ezust. An example:

"O women, O women,
how they melt one with bliss!
I would have become a monk long ago
if it were not for women!"

The "Love Songs" will be performed by Julianne Best, Mary Kay Lake, Wayne Barrett and Robert Best, with accompaniment by Marie Miller and David Fleming.

Also on the program are Beethoven's "Sextet," with performers Robert Walzel, Tamara Raatz, Scott Phillips and Peggy DeMers, and guest artists Scott and Marcie Walzel.

The program concludes with Brahms' "Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto," performed by Andrew Wilson, Aaron Bielish, Peter Kempter and Clive Swansbourne.

The SHSU Symphony concert, entitled "Miniature Masterworks," is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday (April 13) in the Beto Criminal Justice Center Killinger Auditorium, with Carol Smith conducting.

The program includes Leonard Bernstein's "Suite from 'West Side Story,'" which is often called an operatic musical and some of his most beautiful and memorable melodic examples, in which he injected when possible the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic idioms of American jazz."

Next on the program is Philip Glass's "Fascades from Glasspieces," a "minimalist" composition written for a film of images and music with no narration, principal actors or dialogue.

Claude T. Smith's "Prelude on an Early American Folk Tune" was written by Smith while a composer and conductor at Southwest Missouri State University, and is based on the hymn "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need."

Also on the program is Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une Infante defunte," the title of which is said to have been selected because Ravel simply liked the sound of the words, which have no special meaning.

The closing "Firebird Suite" by Igor Stravinsky is considered the first modern ballet, setting the precedent for composers consulting both the choreographer and decor artist during the work's creation.

Stravinsky's well known and liked piece celebrates the firebird, or phoenix, the symbol of regeneration, and is full of vivid color, romantic melodies and wild emotion.

Dancing Downtown

This will be the scene for "Arrivaltown," a blend of dancing, singing, sculpture and music scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday (April 13) and Friday (April 14) outside the Town Theater on 12th street in downtown Huntsville.

The performance is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Town Theater and SHSU departments of theatre, dance, art and music in a celebration of the ongoing restoration of the theater.

Participants will include the SHSU Dance Spectrum company, the SHSU Concert Choir under the direction of Brian Miller, students from the music department and sculpture and masks from the art department.

Admission is free, with seating available. Call 936.294.1875 for information.

New Web Magazine

"The Lounge" offers surfers a chance to see what's going on in Huntsville, the SHSU campus, and the world.

The site is set up like a virtual lounge. There are six rooms that each offer different types of articles and information.

The stories in the Locker Room focus on the college and professional sports world, as well as health and fitness. The Dining Room gives readers a chance to check out restaurant reviews and entertainment suggestions in the area. There will be stories on national and local news in the News Room, and if readers want a chance to check out a college student's perspective on certain issues they can visit the Room With A View.

The magazine also offers readers a chance to respond to the producers through e-mail by dropping by the Mail Room.

"We are building a foundation for future journalism students to gain experience in electronic media," Lonnie Taylor, one of the producers of the magazine, said.

Jason Barfield, another student working on the publication, said, "on-line media is the future of information, and we're getting great experience in the future today."

The information on "The Lounge" will likely change every few weeks, and the magazine will have links to sites related to some of the stories.

The students producing "The Lounge" said they are excited and are enthusiastic about starting something that will allow them to leave their mark.

Swingin' at Sam

It's the dance that was so popular during the Big Band era and has found its way into the heart of dancers around the country today.

The Office of Continuing Education at Sam Houston State University is offering dance classes featuring instruction in swing, waltz, and country and western. For groups of six or more, classes in other types of dance such as line dancing or Latin dances may be offered.

In addition to enrichment courses, Continuing Education offers food handler courses every two weeks. Courses are also offered in a variety of programs that lead to a particular certification or prepare students for a career change or advancement.

For more information, call the Office of Continuing Education at 936.294.3701, or view the Continuing Education calendar online.

Teske To Speak at Vigil

The Seventh Annual Montgomery County Candlelight Vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the west side of the Montgomery County courthouse. The theme for the event is "Victims' Rights 2000: Dare to Dream."

An organizer of the event is Joy Triplett of Houston, who in 1997, with her husband Jim, established the Sarah Janine Cleary and Michael Griffin Cleary Criminal Justice Endowed Scholarship at Sam Houston State University.

The scholarship honors the Tripletts' daughter, Sarah Cleary, a Westfield High School graduate who was murdered in June, 1997, and the Tripletts' son, Michael Cleary, a 1997 SHSU criminal justice graduate.

Embarrassment Expert

Answering the question, "Why do people blush when they are embarrassed?" Miller says that blushing may be a symbolic, nonverbal way of acknowledging a mistake and seeking forgiveness.

"You can't fake a blush, and you can't control it," Miller is quoted as saying. "Blushing allows us to offer an authentic apology."

The article explains that when you become embarrassed the brain sends signals that cause blood vessels in the face, ears and neck to expand, and receive more blood--resulting in a blush.

Puebla Field School, Saturday@Sam, Golf Tourney, Student Recitals

- END -

SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
April 9, 2000
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu