More than six decades ago when I was studying music at Ohio State University.
M.E. Wilson was a stodgy sour puss in his sixties who lectured on music history
before an auditorium class of 200 freshmen and sophomores. I was one of the latter,
bored by the professor's salty attitude.
Wilson never hesitated to insult someone. During one session, an attractive
female student quietly left her seat and tiptoed towards an exit door.
"Where the hell are you going?" He shouted: "Nobody leaves this
class while I am speaking! Do you hear me?" The young lady calmly answered, "I have to go to the bathroom." And
she exited through the door as Wilson continued rambling on about Mozart who
never wrote a march.
"Whoa!" I said and I stood up for emphasis.
"Mozart wrote several marches. My friend Lee Briskin is a pianist and I'll
ask her to play one now." Lee obliged, the students applauded, I smiled
broadly as Wilson just sulked. He
also looked at me with daggers.
This course was required. We had a written exam at the end of the three-month
term and I felt confident I would receive an A or B, because I knew the
answers. A week later I received a letter from the chairman of the Music
Department, Eugene Weigel, stating I had failed the course and would have to
take it again!
No way Jose, I thought. I'm not going to sit through an hour a week for three
months listening to the SOB who never knew Mozart also composed marches. The
errors in my final exam were: interchanging the definitions of Maestoso and
Religioso. Also, I had scored a 16 bar sample melody using parallel fifths, a
definite no-no in music at Ohio State University. I defied their
traditional approach to music.
To add insult to injury, M.E. Wilson had scrawled a large F on my exam and
wrote: "Anybody who confuses the definition of Maestoso and
Religioso or uses parallel fifths, will not receive a passing grade. Mr. Abel,
you are disobedient!"
That's when I switched my major to Communications and concentrated on creating
allegorical satire. I was already considered class clown and voted BMOC (Big
Man On Campus), with a large photo hanging in the Student Union.
My next act of
rebellion was to compose an original piece of music, using many parallel fifths,
for the Ohio State University Marching Band. Named “Serenade to a Sand Dune,” featuring the drum line. It was played during a halftime football game and again at the Rose Bowl.
According to the COLUMBUS DISPATCH, director Jack Evans said, “Alan Abel's music received the
greatest ovation ever accorded the band. “
This is the reason why I devoted my life to be disobedient and challenge the Establishment .
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