On Nov. 15 the Student Federation recognized Hillsdale’s latest student-led organization: The Camerata, a “pan-disciplinary” musical club named after the 17th century Florentine Camerata, which was comprised of the prominent thinkers of the day.
After discussing ideas for a club over the past semesters, seniors Kokko Chou and Jennifer Franklund with junior Viktor Rozsa and sophomore Jeana Ferguson decided to propose their idea to the Vice President of Student Life Dean Diane Philipp and the Student Federation.
“The idea came from a lot of different projects that musicians have discussed that we just don’t have the capacity to do right now,” said Chou, who is the president of the club. “We are not competing with the orchestra; we are just intending to explore different avenues of music.”
The purpose of the club, Chou said, is to bring together a strong academic pursuit of music with the opportunity for musician to perform a repertoire of music that would not be possible in the orchestra. Chou said he hopes that both elements of the group will be able to inform and support the other. For example, they would like to perform the baroque opera “Dido and Aeneas” in conjunction with the classics department, which could give advice on an authentic performance.
The performance would offer an opportunity that Hillsdale students have not been exposed to yet, Chou said.
“The symphony orchestra is simply too large to play certain orchestral repertoire. Often Baroque era music was written for small orchestras with only string players,” said Rozsa, the treasurer of the club. “The Camerata would sponsor and organize a small performance that would feature student soloists. It would be a way for more students get a chance to play concerto solos.”
But academic lectures on music would be just as important to the club as performances of a wider repertoire of music, Chou said.
“We know a lot of people who are not musicians but are interested in music,” Chou said. This was kind of envisioned as a way to get them connected into a discussion of music without actually having to be musicians, because we think that people who are not musicians bring a wider perspective to music that musicians don’t have.”
This involves encouraging a “pan-disciplinary” approach to performances and events.
“We tend to forget about other things like historical context, philosophy of music, philosophy of aesthetics, way that people from other departments could offer their expertise. The idea is to bring together people in a discussion and performance of music,” Chou said.
Rozsa said that the club will ask professors of other disciplines to give lectures on various topics in music. They have discussed ideas such as inviting a math professor to give a lecture on the mathematics of harmonics, a history professor to discuss the Pythagorean cult around music and integers, or even the musicality of pop artists.
Rozsa said there is a wide range of lectures that could be given, and they will gauge their decisions on interests shown by members. Chou said that the group would like to host at least one event per month.
The club now only has four members: Chou, Rozsa, Vice-President Franklund, and secretary Ferguson. The club’s adviser is Professor of Music Renee Clark. After the rush of the “Messiah” calms they plan to have a membership informational meeting.
The members believe that the Camerata will fulfill a need within the academic approach of music. Chou said that while the music honoraries do provide an opportunity to pursue music, the do not provide a comprehensive approach but focus more on social and charity needs, besides also being gender separated. Chou also said that it does not allow people without musical experience to contribute to the study of music.
“We like to think that everybody – whether you are a scientist, a poet, a historian, a physicist – you have something interesting to say about music. We are trying to bring the liberal arts tradition to music,” Chou said. “Music in most schools and even here is more narrowly defined, so we are trying to broaden that. A student organization has the freedom to branch out a little more than department do.”
