Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 11, 1995 TAG: 9509110035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When Roanoke College decided this spring to merge two departments and cut its staff by half, it didn't take much to realize that something would have to give.
The question for months was: What?
The answer came in June. The college's private music lessons, part of the Preparatory Division, which has been around 35 years, would have to go.
"Something had to go. And No.1, it was the most easily replaced [program] in the community," said Bruce Partin, Fine Arts chairman and acting Prep Division director.
Replacing it is what violin teacher David Thacker is trying to do in the form of his Te Deum School of Music, which opens today.
Thacker admits his school won't mirror the college's defunct program. But it will be pretty close.
Ten of Thacker's 15 instructors are former Roanoke College music teachers. He'll have most of the same offerings, from string instruments to horns. And two-thirds of Te Deum's students came from the Prep Division, too.
The major differences are the price - it went up $5 an hour, to $30 - and the location. Te Deum - a Latin phrase that's come to mean a song of rejoicing and praise - is on the third floor of the Raleigh Court United Methodist Church.
Thacker, who taught violin at the college for nine years, opted to turn entrepreneur about a month after he heard the college was discontinuing its program.
"I knew I could continue teaching; it wasn't like I was going to have to stop. The question was where and what format," said Thacker, who plays for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. "My home isn't conducive to having 25 to 30 kids coming through here."
And he couldn't just move to another school. There is no other school in the valley with offerings as extensive and professional as Roanoke College's, Thacker said.
His only option, he said, was to start a school of his own. So, in the spirit of American capitalism, he seized the opportunity. Yet, a part of him was disappointed that the opportunity existed, he said.
"Even though it benefits me, I think it was a foolish decision" for the college to discontinue its private lessons, Thacker said. "Their short-sightedness is frustrating. ... Their focus has changed from wanting to have a prep program to other things."
To some extent, he's right.
Before the college pieced together its 1995-96 budget, its leaders rethought its priorities.
Vice President of Business Affairs Richard Hemberger said three things topped the list: student quality and financial aid, technology, and compensation for faculty and staff.
To begin raising money for those items, four support staff positions and one management position were eliminated, tuition was raised, and fees for parking and graduation were added.
Those priorities had a trickle-down effect. Two of the positions cut were in Olin Hall, which oversees the Prep Division and other art activities. So, the college merged two departments. The result was two people doing the job of four.
"Now, the problem was time," said Ed Whitson, associate dean of academic affairs.
So, a luncheon performance series was cut, and the performing arts series - which features such acts as the Acting Company - went from three performances to two. Next year, the college may restore the third performance.
"We're going to continue to be offering quality programs. We just might not have as many," Whitson said.
Of the Prep Division's three community offerings - the children's choir, dance program and private music lessons - the music lessons were the most labor intensive, because of the scheduling, payroll, bookkeeping and clerical work involved, Whitson said.
Annually, between 125 and 140 students - mostly children - took lessons, out of about 450 students in the entire Prep Division.
"Nobody feels good about taking music lessons [away] from these people. That to me feels like a loss," he said. "But the other side of this is - how do we minimize it and do everything that we can to keep things that matter to the people in the community?"
The music lessons did matter to Jean Self. Her son has taken violin lessons from Thacker for nine years. And Thacker is one of only two Suzuki violin teachers in the valley, Self said. Suzuki instruction is a method in which music is taught like a language, with more initial emphasis on sounds.
When Self heard that the college was pulling the plug on its program, she started to worry.
"There was going to be this number of students dumped into the community. And I wanted to make sure my son was at the head of the pack. I was asking Mr. Thacker all the time what direction he was leaning in," Self said. "We didn't know what we were going to do."
Kim Davidson, director of the children's choir, saw what happened to the music lessons and is a little worried that the choir could be next.
"As far as I understand, we're on a one-year trial basis to see if we make money and to see if we break even. They want to make sure we're totally tuition-funded," Davidson said.
Choir tuition ranges from $190 to $250 per year, depending on which of the three choirs a student is enrolled in.
The choir's parents' association is planning for the worst. They've put out feelers for a possible sponsor in case the choir suffers the same fate as the music lessons.
Davidson said the choir's needs are simple: rehearsal space and secretarial support.
"But the children's choir will not end, no matter what [the college's] decision is," she said.
Since the announcement of the music lessons' demise, Partin said he has heard countless rumors about the Prep Division's fate. The impending end of the Children's Choir is one of them, but Partin said there is no reason to worry.
"No, it is not on a trial basis. ... We intend for it to be a success," said Partin, who admits his patience has run thin with the barrage of questions. He said the dance program also is secure.
Hemberger also says Davidson's and others' fears are unfounded - for now.
"There's no talk of changing anything else. No one has laid out a timetable saying this year cut this, this next year, this the next," Hemberger said. "But history tells us things don't get easier. We've got to look at everything every year."
by CNB