LL Spring05.indd - Lehman College

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8
Composing Music
Can Be Child’s Play
Edgy driving rhythms, spicy dissonances
and bright melodic lines filled Merkin
Concert Hall in Manhattan this spring,
as Lehman faculty member—and
composer—Timothy Polashek debuted his
new jazz-inspired works. In the audience
were Lehman music faculty, including
famed composer and Distinguished
Professor John Corigliano.
Professor Polashek in Lehman’s
Electronic Music Center.
Professor Polashek, who directs Lehman’s
Electronic Music Center, has pioneered
new courses in the genre and also tells
educators how they can teach this type
of music without making a significant
investment in equipment.
“Children of all ages love computers,” he
says, “because of the graphic interfaces,
the variety of sounds they make and the
fact that the computer is a communicative
tool through the Internet. Students who
are learning music can jump right into
creative projects, even though all their
musical skills haven’t been developed.
“Children create and make up songs and
sing them all the time. They don’t know
how to notate the songs yet for musicians
to play, but they still know how to compose
them. Computers help them exercise and
develop this creativity.”
For more information on electronic music,
and to hear some of Professor Polashek’s
works, visit http://www.tdpmusic.com. ◆
Professor Spear (and His Website)
Win Prestigious French Award
French Professor Thomas Spear has won
the prestigious “Trophée de la Diversité
Culturelle” (Trophy of Cultural Diversity) for his
popular website “île en île” (from island to island).
Professor Spear, who was flown to France
for the award ceremony, shared the honor with
Sylvie Roussel Gaucherand of the non-profit Association
d’île en île, with whom he started the
website. The event, hosted by French television
personality Bernard Pivot, was held in Amiens at
a theater begun in 1889 by the writer Jules Verne.
The award—one of four “trophées de la
langue française” (Trophies of the French Language)
presented during the ceremony—is given
to an individual or an organization that has
contributed to the upholding or development of
cultural diversity in the Francophone world.
With biographies, bibliographies, photos and
texts, “île en île” (www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.
en.ile) presents authors from the world’s Frenchspeaking
islands, such as
Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe,
Madagascar, Réunion, and the
Polynesian islands. It also contains
an historical chronology
and audio recordings.
The website has served as
a teaching tool for educators
After the awards ceremony, Professor Spear (right)
chats with French Minister of Culture Renaud
Donnedieu de Vabres.
who want to present works by French-speaking
writers. “If you do your studies in French
literature in Senegal, you’ll only be studying
European literature,” says Professor Spear.
“I’ve been putting these authors out there so
people know they’re there. People can view
the writers and judge who’s good for themselves.”
Professor Spear also presents self-published
works on his site, as well as examples
of other diverse and popular forms of writing
often neglected by the traditional literary
establishment. ◆
FACULTY BRIEFS Eugene Chudnovsky (Physics and Astronomy) has written several
new papers and served on a National Science Foundation panel on Material Research Science
and Engineering. ... Eric Delson (Anthropology) and French colleagues continue their
research at the two-million-year-old fossil site of Senèze in central France. Last summer,
a team that included several Lehman undergraduates excavated for fossils and mapped
their positions as well as the geological stratigraphic context. ... Anne Humpherys
(English) was awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of London
from January through July 2005, which involves a series of lectures and presentations
across the U.K. ... A new study by Edward Kennelly (Biological Sciences), in collaboration
with researchers from the New York Botanical Garden and Columbia University,
found that an 85 year-old specimen of black cohosh root still contains many of the
naturally occurring chemicals that are believed to contribute to reduced menopause-related
symptoms. ...Andrew Robertson (History) is co-editor of the newly published Beyond the Founders:
New Approaches to Political History in the Early American Republic. ... Patricia J. Thompson (Specialized Services
in Education) has made several recent appearances in her “parallel life” as Yelena Vladimirovna Mayakovskya,
daughter of the famous
Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky,
and accepted the
Tower Award in her father’s
memory at a ceremony at
the Museum of the City
of New York. In her life
as a scholar and feminist
theorist, her “Hestia Triology”
was nominated by
Professor Thompson is interviewed
by Russian TV after accepting the
Tower Award.
Dr. Bei Jiang of Columbia University
and Professor Edward Kennelly
collaborate on the black cohosh study.
her publisher, Peter Lang,
for the 2005 Criticos Prize
from the London Hellenic
Society. ◆