Daily Lobo new mexico
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February 15, 2011
tuesday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Music-makers hit right note for a century by Alexandra Swanberg aswanny@unm.edu
Zach Gould / Daily Lobo UNM Choir practices choreography during Monday’s rehearsal at Keller Hall. The choir is celebrating its 100-year anniversary. After starting with 26 members in 1910, the choir has grown to 400 members.
A good pair of lungs is required to sing for a century, and the UNM Choral program has 400 of them. It started in 1910 with 26 men and women and grew to 400 members. Initially, so few people signed up that the program included community members, professors and students. Now a professional choral conductor, Andrew Megill was a UNM choir member in the late 80s. He said the choir’s centennial is a noteworthy accomplishment. “It’s worth celebrating anything at 100 years old that has brought so much beauty into the world,” he said. Bradley Ellingboe, director of choral activities for 25 years, said he’s read about the history of music and found that it’s been around since the beginning of time. “Why would I make music myself when I can go on iTunes and download the very best people?” he said. “Because it’s really part of being a human being. ... It doesn’t really matter how good you are. You doing it for yourself is just a way of mixing in society. It’s like speaking to people.” Ildy Rolfs, a 28-year member of the University chorus, said she learns more about technique at every rehearsal, and she takes in the historical context of each piece they perform. “The music and the way it’s composed and performed is indicative of the way life was back then,” she said. “In my mind, I always go back to that time frame. ... You get to relive what (composers) lived.” As the world becomes more competitive, individual concerns become priority over working together as a community, Ellingboe said. But he said chorus members must work together to produce seamless musical work. After his experience in the choir program, Megill said
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Structure’s ‘efficient lighting’ dims night sky Astronomy students, faculty deal with distracting glare by Alexandra Swanberg aswanny@unm.edu
“This is technology that should have gone out of vogue 25 years ago. We’ve reverted to lighting scenarios that are ancient and outmoded.”
Illustration by Adam Aparicio
Lights glowing from the Yale Parking Structure make it difficult for University astronomers to search the skies from a nearby observatory. Professor Rich Rand, faculty overseer for the observatory, said parking structure lighting has made it harder to see the stars in Albuquerque. “When they built the hospital that was bad enough, but this source is much worse,” he said. “It seems ridiculous to us that there should be light from that parking structure shining directly on the observatory or anywhere else but where it’s needed. If you’re not shining light where it’s needed, then you’re wasting energy and you’re wasting money.” Capital Projects Director Bill Turner said the structure’s fluorescent bar lighting, powered by solar panels, produces light pollution, but it has positive attributes. “Fluorescent lighting is highly efficient lighting from an energyuse perspective,” he said. “Fluorescent bulbs also produce less intense glare than other lighting types.” Light pollution hinders astronomers’ ability to adjust to darkness and see objects in the night sky, Rand said, and the light that shines on the objects also makes them appear fainter. Students and researchers use the observatory for studying, and it is open to the public every clear Friday night. Rand said the light interference reduces the quality of
research and information observers can gather through telescopes. “The city’s not a great place to do deep astronomical observation, and it’s not being helped by the light from the parking structure,” he said. “For public outreach, it limits the quality of the experience.” Rand wrote a memo to Provost Suzanne Ortega addressing the issue at the end of last semester. He said he didn’t receive a reply. The first row of lights, however, has been shielded, which helped, Rand said. Turner said Capital Projects is looking into the cost of covering all the light sources on the structure that are affecting the observatory.
~John McGraw Astronomy Professor “The top floor condition that creates direct glare was a mistake we’re in the process of correcting,” he said. “The design architects, I think, in that regard failed to shield the lights adequately in the first place. It’s not OK in a design to have direct glare emanating from a building, but I think the lighting engineer didn’t realize the elevation of the viewing point at the observatory.”
Stephen Romero, a senior astrophysics student, said that before the shields were put up he had a better view of a diffuse nebula from his backyard with a naked eye than he did through the telescope at the observatory. He said he will use the observatory for his honors thesis and hopes interference doesn’t damper his research. “I was kind of frustrated, but I guess they’re doing their best to
cover it now,” he said. “I understand that this is a new building and a light covering doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it does influence a small population of people that do use the observatory.” Astronomy professor John McGraw said the fluorescent bar lighting on the parking structure is outdated and directs light outward, not toward cars and passersby. “This is light pollution of the
first order,” he said. “This is technology that should have gone out of vogue 25 years ago. We’ve reverted to lighting scenarios that are ancient and outmoded.” Turner said engineers chose the lights because they were the best choice for illuminating the structure for security purposes. “From a physics professor’s
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