Thursday, February 1, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Rock, roll, and run the mixing board

If you missed the first Youth Culture and Arts Center recording workshop series of the year, you still have plenty of chances to learn cassette four-track, digital eight-track, computer recording and electronic music. It’s the hippest, smartest extracurricular activity your kids will ever enjoy. Children ages 12-17 are invited to participate under the tutelage of Ryan York, teacher of guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro for a fee of $125. Classes are taught in Room 149 of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building each Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and each Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is open now for the next session, which will last from Feb. 15 through Mar. 11.

For more information, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com.

How to tell kids about the Middle East

The Middle East Center will present “Teaching about the Middle East,” a free workshop for K-12 educators, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. THIS SATURDAY in the Gore Center conference room in the Todd Building. Conducted by Audrey Shabbas of Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Relations, this workshop will include topics such as cultural geography, history, family and women. Ample time will be given to discussion of impressions of the Arab world, the broader Middle East and the wide world of Islam. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. A Middle East lunch will be provided during a one-hour lunch break.

For more information, contact Dr. Amy Staples, associate professor of history, at 615-898-2569.
astaples@mtsu.edu

Make a joyful noise!

The 7th annual Gospel Music Extravaganza, an African-American History Month event at MTSU, will take place at 6 p.m. THIS SATURDAY at Tucker Theatre. This evening of uplifting entertainment will featuer all-male choirs, groups, solos, spiritual dancing, readings and modeling of African attire, as well as MTSU’s own gospel choir. The songfest is a benefit to raise funds for a study-abroad scholarship for the Fall 2007 semester and for 13-year-old Jamise Marable, who lost both hands and both feet last year due to complications from pneumonia and kidney failure. Tickets are $5 each. Children under 6 years of age will be admitted free. Media welcomed.

Contact Mary Glass at 615-898-5145.
mglass@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

SOUTH OF THE BORDER--“Landscapes of Mexico,” a photography exhibit featuring the works of Hector Montes de Oca, is on display through February 28 at Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the Learning Resources Center. The exhibit is made up of 40 silver gelatine black-and-white prints. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Mexican photographers of his generation. He is especially distinguished for his black-and-white landscapes, which reveal his native country in a most striking and intimate manner. The exhibit will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Mr. de Oca will present a slide show/lecture on his work at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. Exhibitions and lectures are free and open to the public. Contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085 or tjimison@mtsu.edu

GONE WITH THE WINDS--The MTSU Wind Ensemble will open its spring semester concert series with the annual Wind Band Conference Concert, which will feature the Tennessee premiere of a composition by David Dillingham, at 8 p.m. TOMORROW in Hinton Hall of the Wright Music Building. Dillingham’s Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble is a three-movement work that explores the entire five-octave range of the Grand Concert Marimba and will feature guest soloist and world-class marimba artist She-e Wu. Additionally, Dillingham, who will be present for the concert, will guest conduct another new piece he penned titled Aerodynamics, a composition that was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight. The concert is free and open to the public. Contact Tim Musselman at 615-898-2493 or tmusselm@mtsu.edu.

THE MASTERY OF MIMIC--The grand opening for the new MTSU Interdisciplinary Microanalysis and Imaging Center will be held from 2 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. TOMORROW in the Forrest Hall Annex behind Keathley University Center. MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee will preside at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which is slated for 2:30 p.m. in the west wing. The center’s showpiece equipment includes a state-of-the-art Hitachi-made transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope with an X-ray analyzer. Dr. Andrienne Friedli, chemistry, says both electron microscopes are all-digital and have remote access capability. Contact Friedli at 615-898-2071 or afriedli@mtsu.edu.