Music Department

Ever since Charles Kim began composing music at age 11 or so, he has done what most composers do: struggle to get his original work heard by as many people as possible.Kim has given recitals at which he played his own music. He has composed soundtracks to his friends' independent films. He has posted his compositions on the Internet. "There are all the traditional ways of getting heard: You can set up your own performances, scrape together enough money from your other jobs that actually pay to get someone to perform your music, or just hope someone will play your music," he says.

Baltimoreans are editing volumes on composersWe would know so much more about the music of Bach, Beethoven and other great composers if someone had written a book on the subject while they were still alive. That thought has occurred many times to Baltimore composer and percussionist Stuart Saunders Smith, who is also professor of music at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. To help ensure that opportunity isn't missed with today's composers, Mr. Smith and his wife Sylvia are editing a new series on contemporary American composers for New York's Excelsior Press.

Musician Doug Byerly helped pay for college by performing the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, yet he always left room in his nightclub shows for Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann. "If I'm at a club and I start playing 'Gilligan's Island,' invariably it's like karaoke," said Anne Arundel Community College's music director and performing arts chair. In 10 years, Byerly has launched the school's opera and jazz programs, student ensembles and a gospel choir, but he also conveys his passion for the art by blending traditional songs with classic TV show themes.

W hen it opened in the spring of 2006, the Performing Arts Theater in the University of Baltimore's Student Center boasted an attractive, intimate ambience and good acoustics - not to mention a new, nine-foot Steinway piano chosen for the room, by no less than eminent pianist Yefim Bronfman. Different classical music enterprises have come and gone in that 200-seat space, including a chamber series featuring Baltimore Symphony Orchestra players and a piano recital series. Nothing has taken hold.

The steel drum sounds that filled the room at Catonsville High School were so infectious that students playing the instruments couldn't help but dance. Music teacher Jim Wharton, the cavorting leader of the impromptu jam session, was steadily beating a cowbell when he stared out a nearby window and spotted a truck driver looking in while reversing the vehicle. "Come on," Wharton beckoned, motioning the driver to pull over and join the troupe. Even though his calls went unheeded, the 62-year-old child at heart resumed getting his groove on, savoring the Caribbean flavor he helped introduce to Baltimore County schools more than 20 years ago. After teaching music in the county for nearly 40 years, Wharton is retiring.

The McDaniel College department of music will begin its holiday season of concerts this week with three performances. A piano recital by the students of David Kreider will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Levine Recital Hall. Student performers include Myfanwy Jacob, Jane McIlvain, Heather Kirkwood, Kristen Ion, Neil Bozievich, Sarah Lantz, James Gibbs, Jessica Bradford, Alexandra Hill and Stacy Fitzwater. Music will include compositions by Haydn, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Ginastera and Schubert.

"Have you got any of that thar New Age Flamenco Sweat Lodge gittar music?" Er, maybe. In fact, yes. It sounds like Hank Williams stamping out a fire in a wigwam, but we've got it. Always wondered who listened to this stuff. "An' is he usin' gut strings? Cain't stan' them wire things." Er ... "An' he don't use them low strings too much, do he?" This very choosy gentleman is known to his hapless victims as the Hillbilly From Hell. Roughly once a month, he gets out of his rocking chair, puts away the shotgun, turns off the radio (permanently tuned to the local Native American Flamenco station)

Nathan Carter, director of the world-renowned Morgan State University Choir, sweeps through the university's new $40 million arts center like a king showing off a conquered castle, proudly pointing out every nook and cranny of what might become the premier performing space in the city. Carter would likely dismiss the royal comparison. Although he is considered by many to be the inspiration behind the center, he's quick to share credit for its construction. But he won't quibble with equating the imposing building on Argonne Drive with a castle.

The odds weren't the only thing stacked against them. There was the church sexton who inadvertently locked them out of a concert. There was the huge asbestos curtain that came crashing down five minutes before performance time, wiping out the conductor's podium and cello stands. And there were the audiences outnumbered by the players onstage. But none of these things kept the musical forces behind the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra from sticking to their task, despite a lack of financial resources and the fact that new orchestras have about the same chances for lasting success as new restaurants.

Sara Joanne Byrd Rogers has been married to a guy named Fred for 49 years as of today. This is not all Joanne has accomplished in 73 years of life. She's a concert pianist, for starters, which is no small potatoes. She also raised two sons and has two grandkids. She's on the board of trustees at Rollins College in her native Florida, where she calls the president by a pet name. She's the bee's knees of a best friend, say her pals - the kind who calls just to check on a little thing that was bothering you. She loves the word "love," and often says "I must say!"