by Kristyn Proctor
Copy Editor
Few people except music majors would know that hidden away in the cold, lower levels of Rudd Auditorium lies the office of a man we all know of but few get the opportunity to know well. This week, you sent your anonymous questions to be answered by Dr. Mel Wilhoit, professor of music and chair of his department.
Besides teaching music, he has served the Bryan community since 1980 by teaching the 400-level general requirement Introduction to Fine Arts, both here at Bryan and at Saints Bible Institute for the Italy semester. You may also recognize him for leading the student body in hymn singing for chapel. In the spring, he is slated to take a well-earned semester-long sabbatical. Here are your questions and his answers.
What will you be doing while you are on spring sabbatical?
Well, I’ll be in my office for a couple of months. I’ll be doing some writing: I’ve been asked to write a couple of articles for some upcoming publications. I’m going to try to write something for Wikipedia, actually. There are a number of articles I would like to update there. And then in March we’ll go to Italy for the Bryan Italy semester, but then we’re going to stay there in Europe for – I don’t know, a couple of months. It depends on how long the money holds out. I’m going to study some Italian. I’m going to probably work at a Christian camp. My daughter lives in Germany – she’s in the army – so we’ll probably be spending some time with her. I’ll also be working on an online course, and there’ll be lots of sight-seeing. Europe is full of things that relate to Fine Arts.
What is your favorite action hero and why?
I’m not that excited about action movies. Most of them don’t tend to be terribly stimulating. I have to ponder that a minute…maybe we should come back to that. I watched Spiderman. I suppose… James Bond is not an action hero as I understand. But James Bond was one of the characters I grew up with, so let’s just say James Bond. Or rather, the James Bond franchise.
Why did you choose to teach music?
I suppose I couldn’t help but go into music. I would’ve liked to do other things, but if I stop and say, ‘how would I most like to be spending my time?’ I was in rehearsals last week, and one night I was just sitting there (you sit around a lot in rehearsal), and I was waiting for the chorus to sing and I was thinking, ‘you know, this is a pretty good way to be spending my time. I mean, singing great music, with other professionals, in a wonderful location. This is just neat.’ I’m just not sure how I could be spending my time that would be much more exciting than this.
Why do you “conduct” us when leading the campus in chapel hymns?
It’s the traditional way of leading singing. It’s not the praise and worship model, but it’s the traditional way people have lead congregational singing for 100 years. It goes back to the days when you didn’t necessarily have a microphone that forces people to sing, so you motion people when to sing and when not to sing. With the microphone people are forced to follow your voice. But yes, that’s the standard way of doing congregational singing up until the recent praise and worship model.
What do you think about the significant number of students who are trying to sign up for Fine Arts while you are away on sabbatical?
I’m often embarrassed by the high grades students make in Fine Arts. If I’m tough and people work hard that’s good. I’m very happy about that. I would be embarrassed if students rushed to take my course because it was easy. I’d feel terrible. What does that say about your education? But I don’t worry about it. We had to make a second section this semester too. The student body has just grown. I realized this fall we would need two sections of Fine Arts for a while, or at least until the new core curriculum kicks in. Students will have a lot more choices and I’m assuming eventually, maybe in a year, we’ll go back to one section.
What do you think about the new catalog changes, specifically in that Fine Arts will no longer be a required course?
It could be helpful. It should help students in other areas; help them get into courses they usually wouldn’t have time for and pick up another minor or a double major. So that’s valuable, that’s good. I hate to see our students not taking as much history or necessarily taking a class in literature or Fine Arts. They were all good courses; I don’t think Fine Arts was any better than any of the others… But it’s just part of the trend of giving students more choices. And that can be good, if students don’t use this opportunity to avoid the difficult things. If students tailor-make their general education courses to take the easiest ones, then that’s not a very good use of their educational dollars. But that’s human nature. A lot of students want to get by by taking the easiest route, and I understand that.
What is your favorite joke?
Um…well let’s see. My favorite joke that my wife likes to laugh at…A 40-year old married man finds a lamp and he rubs it and a genie comes up. The genie says, ’I’ll grant you one wish.’ And the man says, ‘I’d like to be married to a woman half my age.’ The genie says, ‘That’s it?’ And poof! He turns into an 80-year old man. So, I guess be careful what you wish for is the moral of that joke.