3p, one sided pages, mimeograph on matte off white paper. Announces the plan for the summer institute of 1944. Staple in top left corner, 3 horizontal folds.
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE COMMUNITY BULLETIN
College Year 11 Bulletin 12
Monday, December 13, 1943 (Christmas Vacation Issue Number 1)
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
As a result of the December elections the new Student Officers are: Sam Brown, Kathryn Carlisle and Jane Robinson Stone.
Eric Bentley’s review of “The Heritage of Symbolism” by C.M. Bowra will appear in an early December issue of the Nation. Eric Bentley’s next Nation review will be of Romanticism and the Modern Ego” by Jacques Barzun.
Black Mountain College plans to have during the Summer of 1944, besides the Summer School and the Work Camp, a Music Institute and an Art Institute.
The Music Institute will have as its basic idea the problem of interpretation.
This problem will be approached:
By courses on special styles of interpretation according to historical periods and to different instrumental and vocal forms and ensembles.
By rehearsals attended by students of all groups
By tutorials
By performances that will be given by:
The staff of the Music Department of Black Mountain College.
Guest teachers
The guest teachers will be artists who have unusual authority about the problems of interpretation and style through long experience as performers as well as through research on this question in writing and in teaching. Among the guest teachers will be:
An oratorio singer
A string quartet
A pianist
A harpsichordist
Counting on the cooperation of all the teachers, the students and the other members of the Black Mountain College Community, the Music Department is planning performances of:
Classical and Modern Chamber Music
Fragments of Opers by Monteverdi
Biblical Scenes
Middle Ages and Renaissance A Capella Music
Bach Concertos for two, three, and four pianos
(Some details on the Art Institute will appear in the next bulletin)
A SUGGESTION:
As a recent meeting of the Faculty Eric Bentley suggested to the teachers that those who are interested in contributing an essay to a book on Education Today, a Black Mountain College anthology, should hand in their efforts to him immediately after the Christmas vacation.
When he has all the material before him, he can judge if it is worth presenting to a publisher. If it is, the publisher can judge if he wants to take it.
What is required of each contributor:
Not an essay on Black Mountain College
Not an essay about himself
Not an essay about teaching his own subject
But:
An essay that presents his view of education in the modern world and its possibilities
An essay that presents his view of the place of his own field among the four fields of learning.
Said Eric: “It has often been said that everyone at Black Mountain College has his own philosophy of education. The projected book
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN – 1943-44 BULLETIN #12- Page Two
Should present each important viewpoint, not by way of disputation but as a contribution to the discussion now being conducted everywhere: Where is Education Going?
“I suggest that all writers become acquainted with the chief positions taken in the discussion: that of Dewey and that of Hutchins, in particular. Especially recommended is Sidney Hook’s reply to Hutchins in the Antioch Review, Volume 1, Number 1” ‘The Counter Reformation in American Education’- recommended also is Jacques Barzun’s review of a book by Maritan in the Sunday Times of two weeks ago.”
REPORT OF THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE:
The following is the tentative schedule of entertainment for the Winter Quarter:
January 22: Concert by Gretel and Edward Lowinsky (if they are willing)
January 29: Mozart Opera, in recordings, and with pictorial libretto
February 5: Readings conducted by Eric Bentley
February 12: Valentine Ball
February 19: A Picture Concert by Josef Albers
February 26: A concert by students
March Readings, conducted by Eric Bentley
March 11: Schoenberg- Byron “Ode to Napoleon”
March 18: A History of Dancing in Examples
April 1: The Winter Quarter Dramatic Production
April 8: Easter Choral Concert.
Frederic Cohen, Chairman
WITH FORMER STUDENTS:
New Addresses:
A/C William C. Berry A.S.N. 14175101
Squadron 4, Flight 44, Class 44-4
Selman Field
Monroe, Louisiana
In the Mail:
Bill Berry writes from Louisiana: “I’m in advanced navigation now, which doesn’t mean a lot, since I have fifteen weeks to go…..The course is pretty tough, with a lot of hours, but we get a lot of interesting material. When I graduate, I’ll be a good navigator, if I graduate. We learn to stay on course by checking ground points, radio learnings, stars, and dead reckoning by computation of wind of velocity.. I haven’t done any flying yet. That starts next week…”
Betty Kelley writes from Garwood, New Jersey: “I shall return to Black Mountain College on January 18…. For me, any length of time spent at a job up here was intended only as an interval between my college years, an interval in which I hoped to gain new experience, learn about a different side of things, broaden myself and perhaps ‘toughen up’ a little bit….I have quite a good job in the office of a large defense plan in Elizabeth….”
Irene Sagan writes from Long Island: “I am looking forward to being back at Black Mountain College in January.”
BMC COMMUNITY BULLETIN-1943-44 BULLETIN #12- Page Three
Ann Mangold writes from Mexico City: “I’d like to mention a thought I’ve had for a long time about the Community Bulletin- a thought which, unfortunately, would just mean more work, a trouble for someone: Like everyone else, we certainly look forward to it- gobble it up. From time to time, however, I find it a fearfully tantalizing experience: when the titles of speeches are given. Such things are among the things that we miss most; and I wish at least a hint could be given as to the main points of the speaker, or his general point of view. In fact I even wish it could be a retroactive arrangement, as I still wonder about “The English Mind” and even Miller on Japan long ago. I am sure this is fairly cruel suggestion so, unless someone has a strong urge to try this particular brand of journalistic effort, forget it was even mentioned.”
(Note: It is planned, from now on, to have each speaker write a brief summary of his speech, with direct quotations, for the Community Bulletin.)
VACATION BULLETINS:
There will be two more vacation issues of the Community Bulletin. They will include, as have the usual bulletins, College plans, alumni notes and excerpts from letters’ they will include also, the vacation activities of the students and teachers: lectures and addresses given, trips taken, parties attended, money raised.
COLLEGE NOTES:
Several people have requested that the College publish from time to time a list of items not now provided for in the College budget but which are needed by students and teachers for more effective work. The following list is in response to this request:
Subscriptions to: Accent, Books Abroad, The New Statesman and Nation (London), The Rocky Mountain Review, The Theatre Arts Monthly, The Virginia Quarterly, and the Yale Review.
Among the more important on our list of needed books are:
a). Encyclopedia Britannica, Fourteenth Edition
b). Histoire de la langue at de la literature francaise P. de Julleville (Eight volume)
c). A Cultural History of the Modern Age, Egon Friedell (Three Volumes)
f). The Book Review Digest
g). The Complete works of Henrik Ibsen
h). Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Latest edition)
i). Supplement to Charles B. Shaw’s List of Books for College Libraries
