Gold Campaign To Benefit Erskine Music Program The music program at Erskine is alive and growing, and music faculty members are confident that Gold Campaign plans to renovate and expand Memorial Hall, the school's historic music facility, will contribute to more growth for the department and the college. Music at Erskine College is not just for music majors. In a student body of just under 600, more than 100 students are now active in the music program, and additional instrumental and choral ensembles have been formed or reintroduced during the past several years. "We've added Women's Chorale and the Erskine String Quartet," said Dr. John Warren, director of choral activities. "Also, Sweet Fleet and the Fleetones had gone dormant, and we revived them." Dr. Matthew Manwarren, chairman of the music department, who has taught at Erskine since 1992, has seen a number of changes in the music program during the last decade. "The most obvious change is that the number of music majors has more than tripled in my time here," he said. Manwarren also recognizes the growth of overall participation in the music program. "When I came here in 1992, we had three full-time faculty and two part-time faculty," he recalled. "Now the number of part-time faculty teaching applied music has grown to around 10. I attribute this growth to the number of students who come to Erskine to study music or participate in our ensembles, even if they choose not to make music their life's profession." The Choraleers alone claim 55 students, a 72 percent jump over just five years ago. Warren, who came to Erskine in 1999, has seen an increase in what he calls "depth of talent" in the last few years. "We had good music students when I came here, but we just have a lot more of them now, both majors and minors," Warren said. "The other change is the growth in numbers, both majors and non-majors, participating in the music program." Participation in Sinfonia, the instrumental ensemble started by the late Dr. John Brawley, has exploded, increasing 400 percent over the past five years. Dr. Stephen Emmons, who directs Erskine's instrumental programs, said when he joined the faculty in 1999, about 10 people had signed up for Sinfonia, which now has 40 members. "It's a whole lot better and bigger than it was," he said. Emmons, Manwarren and Warren, along with a number of adjunct professors, provide music instruction for music majors and non-majors, and Memorial Hall has served them as a performance venue as well as a place for practice and teaching, but the needs of the music department have outgrown the capacity of the 7,000-square-foot building, constructed in 1912. "The instructional space in Memorial Hall has long been inadequate," Manwarren said. "We do not have enough practice rooms for students, and we do not have sufficient teaching space for adjunct faculty. At times, applied lessons take place in practice rooms or on the stage of Memorial." This semester, with some renovation work beginning in Memorial Hall, professors and students welcomed the newly installed central heat and air, and adjusted to the upheaval. "While we are undergoing renovations, our department is spread out all over campus," Manwarren said. "My office is in the Daniel•Moultrie Science Center, and most music instruction and faculty offices are in the Reid Building. Some of our instruction takes place at the Due West ARP Church, and our students practice in the Sunday school rooms there." Manwarren expressed appreciation for use of the church's space and said his science colleagues "have yet to complain about hearing the noises from the piano that come from me and my students." For music faculty and students, the present disruption in Memorial points toward the future. "Right now is an exciting time, as a committee is being formed to review the plans for the building," Erskine alumnus and staff member Bobby McDonald said. "A layout of the facility has been drafted, but prior to construction these plans must be reviewed and updated to confirm that the new building will meet current and future needs." Manwarren said the planned addition to Memorial Hall will house a state-of-the-art classroom for theory and music history classes, a listening center and library, an electronic music lab to benefit composition students, and a piano lab. He is also excited about the renovations to Memorial Hall. "There are tremendous possibilities to make this a first-rate concert hall," Manwarren said, noting that the surrounding community could benefit. An improved and expanded Memorial Hall could also play an important part in student recruitment, especially the recruitment of music majors. "With the new building, we can compete with our rivals, because many of them have state-of-the-art music centers," Warren said. "Our program, students and faculty are competitive but the facility has not been." "We know that there are students who are interested in Erskine but look at our facilities and go someplace else," said the Rev. Robert Glick, associate professor of music at the college and associate professor of church music and worship at the seminary. "We have a good music faculty, and we think we can be competitive, but the new facilities are absolutely essential." "Music students look very closely at practice space, available instruments, and performance areas," said McDonald, a former Choraleer. "When the new annex and the renovations are complete, the facility will no longer be an issue for these prospective students." For Erskine's burgeoning music program, the completion of renovations to Memorial Hall and the addition of a music education building will preserve Memorial for generations to come, provide a technology upgrade and offer room to grow. McDonald said that among people who have contributed to the Gold Campaign with Memorial Hall in mind, it is evident that the music program at Erskine has touched many alumni. "In every era of the college, music has played a significant role," he said. "So many have been active with the mixed chorus, the choraleers, the band or the orchestra. Soirees, convocations, and even commencement were once held in Memorial, so many of our alumni have a connection to Memorial Hall." "Students come to Erskine knowing they have opportunities to participate in music in ways that they would not be able to at larger institutions," Manwarren said. "I see the Memorial facility having a great impact on all students at Erskine, not just music majors." McDonald said committee review of the plans for the Memorial project "does not mean groundbreaking is just around the corner." That will not occur until the project has $4 million pledged toward it, he said. McDonald is working with Memorial Hall subcommittee chairmen Mary Lou Pearson of Gastonia, N.C. and Bill Ranson of Huntersville, N.C. Other members include Glick and Manwarren; C. Jan Westmoreland of Waynesville, N.C., honorary chairman; John Moore of Columbia; the Rev. W. Chapman "Chap" Lauderdale of Due West; Norman "Trip" McGill of Kings Mountain, N.C.; and Elizabeth Patrick Coleman of Travelers Rest. "This step — reviewing the plans — should indicate we are moving closer to that mile marker," McDonald said. "It should also indicate that we need everyone to get involved and see this project to the next and final level, construction." "I think the Memorial project will be one of the best things that has ever happened at Erskine College," Emmons said. "I think the student enrollment will increase. I really believe we're going to have more majors. "We're anticipating with glee the day when we can break ground and build this fine facility," he said.