4B - Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
4B - Thursday, September 23, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
MAPS
From Page 3B
happened is maps started to be more
scientific. In a way, science kind of
took over, and that's fine because
the maps are more accurate, and
that's great and very important. You
want to have an accurate map."
The Map Library where Utter
works is on the top floor of the
Hatcher. The lesser-known room on
campus is full of wide filing cabinets
with shallow shelves for maps of all
sizes. It hosts the largest collection
of maps in the state, with more than
320,000 maps (celestial, topograph-
ical, electronic and more) and 8,000
atlases, both historic and modern.
"Here at Hatcher, we collect any
kind of map, anything that has to do
with maps - anything," Utter said.
"It could be a baseball with a map on
it. We have playing cards with maps.
We have a set of playing cards from
the late 1600s with maps on it."
According to Utter, we can learn
just as much from modern maps
made in the lastcentury as ones that
a hundreds of years old.
"Some of my favorite maps are
road maps from the 1920s, '30s and
'40s -cthe early years of the automo-
bile," Utter explained. "And what is
really interesting to me are some of
the advertisements and images of
people on them. The intention of the
oil companies was to get people off
trains and into cars,
cultural switch. An(
these big, beautiful
how comfortable it
women to be in car
alone."
Utter emphasizes
maps can be narrati
that maps tell stor
geography, culture a
of Utter's favorite m
the more interesting
"It was done by a
1940s, a guy named
pictorial map of his
by-the-Sea," Utter e
so he has images of a
the town, his dog. H
tory there of the tow
the 1700s. He's got
which is a big he's got little jokes. And it's almost
d so they show like a little novel about this town,
restrooms and but it's done graphically. It's a very
would be for pictorial map and his drawings are
s and to travel sort of cartoonish and very nice."
The Map Library in Hatcher is
the idea that open six days a week, with carto-
ve. He believes graphic specialists to answer ques-
ies of history, tions and pull out any map for closer
tnd travel. One observation. The public's apprecia-
aps tells one of tion for map art is growing, as the
stories. library recently received a donation
an artist in the that will allow it to expand the col-
Jo Mora. It's a lection even further. Eventually, it
town, Carmel- will move into the second floor of
xplained. "And Hatcher, increasing its visibility and
lot of people in accessibility, accordingto Utter.
e's got the his- Still, what makes people look at
n going back to maps when they're not lost or plan-
tourists ... and ning a trip?
"There is a problem today, where
people think maps exist to get you
from point A to point B," said his-
tory of art Professor Celeste Brusa-
ti. "Maps had millions of purposes,
and still do today. They are a sign."
Brusati specializes in visual cul-
ture of the Netherlands - where
many cartographic advancements
took place, including the creation
of the famous Mercator projection
by Flemish cartographer Gerar-
dus Mercator. Brusati rejects the
notion that art and science cannot
intermingle, explaining that while
maps are more likely to be seen in
a history museum than an art gal-
lery, there was a time when the dis-
tinction between the two wasn't so
obvious.
"In history, scientists either
needed artists or needed to be art-
ists in order to record their stud-
ies," she explained. "Because early
printed maps were very difficult to
JAKE FROMM/Daily produce and created the need (for)
many people, it was a collaborative
The Clements Library map collection has nearly every pre-1820 map of the Americas.
process."
While today, people are more
likely to google directions or plug
an address into their GPS, Utter
believes maps are making a come-
back as people start to recognize
their historic, educational and artis-
tic value.
"I obviously love maps, and I'm
really excited now because maps
seem to be very popular again,
which is really nice," Utter said.
"We're getting a lot more use and
especially by artists. We've prob-
ably talked to five or six different art
classes over the school year."
While you're surely already
familiar with the practical applica-
tions of maps and atlases, the col-
lections at Clements and Hatcher
encourage the public to rediscover
maps and develop an apprecia-
tion for cartography in the artistic
sphere.
"People say art is self-expression,
art is beauty," Brusati said. "But
art is also truth and there is a lot of
truth in maps."
This map is among the favorites of Tim Utter, access and information librarian at Hatcher's Map Library.
PAT
From Page 1B
schools because of its position within a
larger, well respected university.
"I'm still getting a full degree from the
University of Michigan, and so it's a little
bit more well rounded than just, 'I went
to a trade school, here's what I learned,'"
Raymond said.
Underdown pointed specifically to the
University's four-year bachelor's degree
program as a reason to choose PAT; small-
er recording technology programs tend to
offer two-year associate's degrees.
"There are a few schools that have elec-
tronic music degrees, or they have sound
recording and production degrees," Corey
said. But the University's program means
more.
"What really makes it unique is the fact
that it's interdisciplinary, and that it's
where we're situated - the fact that we're
on the Michigan campus, the fact that
we're in a school of music that has 1,000
students, and that (PAT) students get to
take classes in Engineering and Screen
Arts & Cultures and Art & Design."
Though Performing Arts Technology
majors cross disciplines in their studies,
they don't all go about it in the same way.
PAT is divided into four tracks, each with
its own focus and set of expectations -
prospective freshmen apply to one track
specifically, but it's possible to switch
once accepted.
Curriculum A requires that its stu-
dents take lessons in voice or some classi-
cal instrument. It's the only PAT track to
award graduates with a bachelor of music.
Tracks B and C both give bachelor of fine
arts degrees.
"B and C have quite a bit of overlap,
except that I would say B concentrates a
little bit more on music and C lets students
have a little more flexibility in what they
can concentrate on," Corey explained.
"It's not just music as performance art,
it's any interactive art that you can think
of: installations, media art, stuff like
that," Essl said of track C.
PAT D gives a bachelor of science in
sound engineering degree and is a popu-
lar choice among aspiring music produc-
ers and audio designers. Raymond is in
track D; Underdown is in B but hoping to
switch to C.
Combined, the four PAT tracks have
just 80 students, but the gender ratio is
heavily skewed.
"It's probably 15-percent female to
85-percent male," Corey estimated, but
"my sense is that I'm getting more inqui-
ries from prospective female students
this year than before."
Raymond gets to see a good cross-sec-
tion of the PAT program outside of class.
The chair of the University's student sec-
tion of the international Audio Engineer-
ing Society, Raymond noted that most
attendees at AES-sponsored workshops
are students in PAT.
The workshops Raymond helps plan
give PAT students (and anyone else inter-
ested) the opportunity to learn more
about the audio production world outside
of school. Last semester, the club invited
Michael Gould and Joseph Gramley, per-
cussion professors in the school of MT&D,
to speak.
"They came over and held a drum-tun-
ing workshop in the audio studio," Ray-
mond said, "and talked about preparing
drums for recording, and how to get the
best sound out of them." At other work-
shops, company representatives from
Yamaha and Sound Studio Logic have
showed off new products and features for
the AES group.
AES is one way for PAT students to
figure out where to go after graduation.
As they will discover, there are lots of
options out there waiting for them once
they've earned their degrees.
Engineering a Job
Graduates with creative arts degrees
often find themselves face-to-face with a
fiercely competitive job market in which
hiring decisions are based heavily on sub-
jectivity. Rooted in hard science as much
as art, PAT leaves its graduates with
something more practical and career-
applicable.
"Just listening and learning to listen,
and to hear things and evaluate some of
those qualities is a big piece of the whole
program," said Jeff Vautin, who graduat-
ed in December 2006 and now works for
Bose Corporation.
After spending three years doing
acoustic and electrical design on head-
phones, Vautin now works on audio sys-
tems for cars.
"In the PAT program I was looking at
(music) from the compositional end of
it - when you're putting together a mix
that somebody's going to listen to, how
do you want to present all that informa-
tion," Vautin said. "And now I'm looking
at it from the other end. I'm looking at the
ARTSY GREEKS
From Page 3B
PAT concentrators can choose among four different tracks, each with its own curriculum.
playback - when somebody goes to play
back a mix somebody's made, how can we
present it as accurately as possible. So it's
a very related challenge, but coming at it
from a different angle."
While there are certain PAT skills that
Vautin uses daily at work - specifically
from the timbral ear training class he
took with Corey - he attributes much of
his quick job-hunt success to his second
major, electrical engineering. Accord-
ing to Vautin, electrical engineering was
more attractive to employers because
they got it - whereas with PAT, the sub-
ject and name of the department are both
fairly new and specific to the 'U,' and thus
confusing to companies.
"Until the sound engineering program,
the Performing Arts Technology curricu-
lum, is better understood, that will be a
limitation of it - employers not knowing
exactly what it entails and the similarities
between it and its overlap with electrical
engineering," Vautin said.
Michael Eisenberg never had to face
that limitation. Also a member of the class
of 2006, Eisenberg found employment
instantly, with nothing but a BFA from PAT
C. Eisenberg, then in Raymond's current
position heading AES at the University,
traveled to New York for an AES convention
over spring break of his senior year.
"I was told to meet Abe Jacob, who was
the man who kind of was able to get the
title of sound designer toa theater," he said.
"And he wanted me to come to New York
and work for him, soI made the move."
Eisenberg now does theatrical sound
design and engineering in NYC. Cur-
rently, he's doing sound engineering for
the drag-queen musical "La Cage aux
Folles" on Broadway and the Hitchcock
adaptation "The 39 Steps" off-Broadway.
As associate designer, he's working on
a revival of a Mamet play, "A Life in the
Theater," and a grown-up "Alice in Won-
derland" sequel musical called "Won-
derland," which will begin previews on
Broadway in March.
"The designer will say, 'I want to do
that,' and the associate will say, 'OK,
this is how we do that,' " Eisenberg said,
describing his various jobs. "The sound
engineer is the one managing the crew
and making sure everything happens
properly."
As with Vautin, it's the general Per-
forming Arts Technology mentality that
Eisenberg finds most useful to him now.
"Michigan's audio program doesn't
focus on anything related to what I do," he
said. "However, the principles in every-
thing that they teach all wrap around and
directly affect what I like to do. So it was
great preparation to be able to go through
all of (PAT) and basically know how to
listen."
Raymond and Underdown don't know
where they'll be in a few years' time. But
they've got plenty of options: Accord-
ing to Corey, recent PAT grads have gone
on to work in recording engineering, in
website design, with the microphone
company Shure and with the digital sig-
nal processing company Analog Devices,
among other things.
"You can even go into the (video game)
industry and make the, you know, squeaky
sounds that you need for the games," said
Essl.
Back in Professor Furr's classroom,
LSA junior Adam Fink says he'd like to
switch into the Performing Arts Tech-
nology program if possible. But most of
Furr's students aren't bound for the vid-
eo-game squeak industry or the behind-
the-scenes Broadway life.
In PAT 201, they're getting just a taste
of what Raymond, Underdown and the
rest of the PAT majors do every day. But
as Furr finishes her explanation of the
assignment and the class immediately
starts fiddling with synthesizer key-
boards and controls, it's clear that while
the students are still learning about com-
puter music techniques, they're com-
pletely absorbed in this tech-art hybrid of
a subject.
KKNV
Fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi and sister
sorority Tau Beta Sigma help out any and
all band organizations - University band,
campus band, marching band, etc. - with
a focus on expanding musicianship across
campus.
"We create a brotherhood within the
band of people, people who want to ser-
vice the band ... and we are also here to
create a better social environment for
people in the band," said Sierra Cain,
president of Kappa Kappa Psi. Cain plays
trombone in the Marching Band.
Members of Kappa Kappa Psi act as
souped-up cheerleaders for music orga-
nizations on campus. Part of the frater-
nity's purpose stems from the hope that
their efforts will bring more awareness of
student musicians' presence and, in turn,
benefit everyone.
"Music is one of those things that's all-
encompassing," said Alexandra Genia,
vice president of Kappa Kappa Psi and
trombonist in the marching band. "It
sounds really cheesy to say it's a language
that everybody understands, but it's true.
So by servicing the different band orga-
nizations on campus, we are allowing
those bands to put forth their best effort
in order to create this music and pass it off
to other people.
"For example, the School of Music's
various ensembles actually have free con-
certs that you can basically walk into and
watch," Genia added. "And I kid you not,
some of this music is incredibly beauti-
ful, it's absolutely wonderful ... It's one of
those great college experiences that you
can only get by showing up."
Recently, the fraternity bought new
televisions for Revelli Hall, the band
headquarters on Hoover Street.
"Instead ofgettingthis terrible presen-
tation on a crappy TV, now things look a
little slicker," Genia said.
The fraternity aids in band recruit-
ment and holds smaller-scale morale-
boosters to keep student musicians happy,
including an annual ice cream social for
the marching band. Cain also explained
that when things start to get stressful,
like during long rehearsals in the rain,
it's always members of Kappa Kappa Psi
keeping people positive and upbeat.
Kappa Kappa Psi is interested in
extending its musical outreach beyond
the University. Last year, the group start-
ed the Musical Outreach Program, which
works with different high school bands
in the Ann Arbor community. The frater-
nity hopes the program will broaden to
include schools in Ypsilanti and eventu-
ally across Michigan.
Cain said the group also tries to bring
music to those who aren't normally
exposed to it, and every year it goes carol-
ing to senior citizen homes.