Point Counterpoint

In a letter printed elsewhere in this column Mr. A. Tillman Merritt makes some encouraging statements concerning the Music Department. That the Department is planning to test a music theory course for non-concentrators this summer is evidence of a sensitive and progressive attitude toward its responsibilities to the College.

The receptiveness of Mr. Merritt and his faculty to suggestions might lead them to a further examination of their department's course offerings, for theory is not the only area in which non-concentrators are at a disadvantage. Only Music 1 and one other course are available every year for any but semi-professional musicians-i.e., those who have not had any theory and do not play an instrument. The other non-concentrators' course varies from "The Symphony" to "Chamber Music from Haydn to Brahms," but only one is offered each year.

Lack of adequate funds is doubtless responsible for this limited selection of courses for those outside the field, but the excuse, however true, does not alleviate the annoyances of the situation. The department should badger the keepers of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' purse strings until enough money to pay another full-time staff member is forthcoming. This would provide non-technical instruction just about in accordance with the growing musical demands of the College.

Criticism of the Music Department should not obscure its intelligent habit of self-examination. On this and other occasions Mr. Merritt and his fellows have displayed the rarest of academic virtues: the recognition of flaws in one's own armor. If every department in the College were to do the same, weaknesses, archaicisms, and inconsistencies would be fewer than they are.