YSU Dana Symphony Orchestra: 135 years of making music

Dana Symphony Orchestra celebrates anniversary.
By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MOMENTOUS YEAR SUCH AS SOME-one's 100th birthday is cause for celebration. Not many people reach this milestone. Neither do university performance ensembles. Youngstown State University's Dana Symphony Orchestra is observing its 135th consecutive year as a university performance group. This is an American record for a university.
The 2004-05 season will present familiar classical selections and new musical gems.
"On the first program we're doing a Robert Schumann symphony [Symphony No. 4 in D minor] which would have been composed a little bit earlier than the founding of the Dana School. We're also doing some American music. Aaron Copland ["An Outdoor Overture and Hoe Down" from "Rodeo"] and a piece by a composer from northeast Ohio, Richard Barth [from the musical, "How the West Was, Once."] It is based on thematic material from all of the Westerns that were on TV in the 60s, 70s, 80s of that period," said William Slocum, symphony conductor, music director and applied music professor of the French horn.
The conductor has not had a consecutive run with the performance group.
"I've been conductor for about 21 or 22 out of the 33 years that I've been here. I also teach applied French horn and "History of Art and Music" class. There have been some years that I didn't do the orchestra in order for me to teach some of these other things," Slocum said.
School opened in 1869
Dana School of Music, originally Dana Musical Institute, opened in 1869. The following year, the Dana Orchestra was created.
"The guy [William Dana] who founded the school was very forward-looking. He felt that it was important to have as much concert performance experience as possible. The goal of most of the students was to become a professional performer," said John Turk, author of "The Musical Danas of Warren, Ohio" and a professor at the music school.
The original orchestra included music faculty playing alongside their students for weekly concerts. Students learned from performing next to faculty.
"They'd have four or five rehearsals and then a performance. That's what professional musicians do," said Turk.
As recently as 1967 when the college became Youngstown State University, the faculty continued to play in the orchestra. After about 10 years the faculty no longer did so because students were capable enough.
"Today the majority of the 55 to 60 players are music majors at the Dana School of Music, who are involved in multiple ensembles," Turk said. "The orchestra does not perform as many concerts, and students study the music throughout the semester before a performance.
"Even today, they need the experience of playing this music where every single person is important," Turk said.
Much to offer
Though Youngstown is near two of the premiere orchestras in the world, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the university orchestra has much to offer. The university ensemble maintains high standards because of the proximity and it is an educational outreach for the community offering free admission to performances.
"The New York Philharmonic wasn't started until 1842. It's our oldest American orchestra. Cleveland Orchestra, which is world-famous, wasn't founded until 1918. That makes the Dana Symphony Orchestra a special thing. We aren't trying to be anything other than what we are. That is a college orchestra in the Dana School of Music with a very long tradition," said Slocum.