I found these in a folder full of negatives. They aren’t dated but they are clearly artifacts of the Shepherd School’s long years wandering in the wilderness. Maybe while they were based in Herman Brown? I assume they’re rehearsing here but I don’t know why they aren’t rehearsing inside:
This last one looks almost shocking to eyes that have grown accustomed to the current campus:
Look at all that empty space!
Bonus:
The angle of the light fixture in the bonus photo says it all …
I recognize Kitty Schmidt-Jones (WRC ’85) on the French horn in the first and third pictures. (There aren’t many faces after the first picture.)
Wish we could embiggen them. I too recognized my classmate Kitty Schmidt, so this is 1980 at the earliest. I think I recognize a few other people. Some of those horn players were around when I was a student. Another reason that this seems earlier is that I don’t recognize quite a few people so it would have been when I was a young undergraduate. These are the standard Hamman Hall orchestra chairs and stands of the early 80s; believe it or not there are still a few of those chairs around at Alice Pratt Brown Hall even though most of them are pretty beat up. Some musicians prefer their geometry. In the days before we had the rehearsal room in Bonner Lab we were very creative in our use of spaces in Hamman Hall — upper and lower lobby, large downstairs rooms, and of course the stage. Since this has no strings, it’s all woodwinds and brass, I suspect it is some kind of chamber music rehearsal and the weather was not so extreme in temperature and humidity to prevent going outdoors. Rehearsing that many brass would have been deafening in the downstairs lobby with all the hard surfaces and small square footage. It’s possible that we hadn’t moved to Herman Brown yet if Mudd hadn’t been built for ICSA to move into. We would have been in Sewall and Hamman, and Milford House. Back in those days, officially sanctioned parking in the Hamman Hall loading dock was quite a desirable thing to have. I did have it until APB was built, and we sort of shared it with the Rice Players and chased interlopers away.
Looks like Hamman Hall to me. The grass field was a great frisbee playing space until the new buildings came along.
I’m guessing 81 or 82? I, too wish the pictures were a bit larger / clearer — I know some of those people. (I think I may even be in the top one!) Bassoonist standing behind the brass players is Jon Reeder. The back of the head of the bassoonist is the top picture is Juliet Chappelear. Occasionally we did breakouts sectionals for orchestra rehearsals and strings stayed on the stage and winds / brass / percussion found places to play, which usually meant lobby or outside. Wind repertory class also met at Hamman (in the lobby – which had dreadful acoustics), so we often went outside when we could. The sculpture courtyard at Sewall Hall was another place that often got claimed for chamber music rehearsals or sectionals.