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M US I C HE UNIVERSITY is exceptionally fortunate in securing for the position of head of the Music Department Mr. Theodore Kratt, who is a man of wide experience in the field of music, both as a singer and a director. Before coming to Idaho P rofessor Kratt conducted a studio at Kimball H all, Chicago. H is work in Chicago was richly varied, he be i ng connected for five years with the Chicago Comic Opera Company as leading baritone; conductor of the Chicago Chopin Male Chorus of one hundred and fifty voices; the Chicago Festival Chorus of two hundred voices; the Des Plains Choral Society; as well as director of music in several Il linois H ig h Schools. Mr. Kratt has studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, the Chicago Musical College, orthwestern University and he has also had advanced study with such foremost modern teachers as Fery L ulek, H erbert Witherspoon, Felix Borowski, Edgar Stillman Kelley, Harold Beckett Gibbs and Louis Victor Saar. Through Mr. Kratt and his assistants, the musical organizations on the campus have accomplished much in the interests of the University.
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A great increase in musical actiVIt)' has been a result of his painstaking efforts. T he enrollment in the music courses . doubled . . and the number of mus1c maJors IS twenty per cent greater than ever before. A new curriculum, including ten new courses, was introduced, thus placing I daho's music department on a par with those of the leading schools in t he country. A degree of Bachelor of Public School Music is now obtainable, in addition to that of Bachelor of Music. Completing the organization of the music faculty are Miss Agnes Crawford and Miss Isabel Clark, Professor David N yvall, piano; Miss J ennie F . W. J ohnson, voice; M iss Maude Garnett, pub li c sc h ool music; and P rofessor Carl Claus, instructor in violin. All have done very fine work, each instructor giving a recital during the year, which was well received by large audiences. In addition to his regular work, Mr. Nyvall conducted the famous I daho Pep Band, an organization unparalleled in its field on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Claus directed an excellent University orchestra during the year, while Miss Garnett was in charge of the State high school music contest last spring.
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