| Message from the Chair: Spring/Summer 2010 | | Print | |
 
April 30, 2010 Message from the Chair
Dear students, New beginnings provide an opportunity to both reflect on the past and look toward the future. I stated this in 2001 when I was Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive and we were launching the 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Archive. Since that time, much has taken place. Some of the more memorable markers of time's passing include the following:1. The 20th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Ethnomusicology in 2009. 2. The 10th anniversary of the establishment of Jazz Studies within the Department in 2006. 3. The retirement of two dedicated staff members: Mary Crawford, our graduate advisor, in 2005, and Betty Price, our Management Services Officer (MSO), in 2008. 4. The passing of five talented performance faculty: jazz drummer Billy Higgins in 2001; jazz saxophonist Harold Land in 2001; jazz drummer Sherman Ferguson in 2006; Chinese music expert Tsun-Yuen Lui in 2008; and Japanese music expert Sensei Togi Suenobu in 2009. 5. The passing of two of our great leaders: Mantle Hood in 2005 and Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy in 2009. 6. The founding of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music (HASOM) in 2007. While the six items listed above have important meaning for our past, the launching of the new HASOM web site represents new beginnings. Although the Departments of Ethnomusicology, Music, and Musicology have existed as a school of music for almost three years, the new web site makes it “real.” Together, in one place, one can now easily view both the diversity and unity within our course offerings, student activities, and performance traditions. The new site also comes as an opportune time for the Department of Ethnomusicology because of the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Institute of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. The anniversary’s kick-off begins with our annual Spring Festival of World Music and Jazz (May 14-23, 2010), which coincides almost fifty years to the day with the first Spring Festival organized by the Institute in May 1960. In addition to regularly scheduled activities, in fall quarter 2010 the Department will host the annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), an international conference that attracts anywhere from 700-1000 registrants. During the week of SEM (November 10-14), the Department is also sponsoring an alumni symposium, dinner, and reception that will be held on Tuesday and Thursday (November 9 and 11). More than thirty alumni have agreed to come to Los Angeles a day early to participate in the symposium. In winter quarter 2011, our regularly scheduled activities have been programmed as anniversary events. The spring quarter 2011 highlights include a Fowler Museum partnership exhibition on jazz; a major concert, co-sponsored by the Latino Museum and the Departments of Ethnomusicology and Music, featuring the music of Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, our Regents’ Lecturer for 2010-11; and our regularly scheduled activities for spring 2011. Each quarter in 2010-11, the Ethnomusicology Undergraduate Student Organization (EUSO) will organize a concert featuring the talents of our students. For further details, click Celebrating 50 Years. The beauty and complexity of the web site with its fanciful colors and moving objects foreshadow the limitless possibilities to communicate and share new ideas with you in the future. We hope that you will visit the web site regularly to learn more about what we are doing. Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, |
