Reed 35th Reunion

We began our trip on Tuesday June 3 at 3 p.m., driving from Corvallis to Roamer's Rest RV Part in Tualatin. It was my 35th reunion (having attended my 10th and 25th previously). I attended the Alumni College on Music while Bob and Darwin went disc golfing, returning to join me for dinner and the evening entertainment. Alumni College consisted of morning lectures on various topics (the history of electronic music, musical representations of cultural clashes, Duke Ellington as composer or improviser, and Frank Zappa presented by DJ Dr. Demento). The afternoons were a combination of hands-on music-making and presentations by the Williamses of the historical fiddle and dance tunes of the Oregon Trail and the mining camps.

One afternoon the adjunct who organizes private music lessons for Reed students led a tour of the historical keyboard instruments at Reed. This photo is of the French/Flemish harpsichord I donated to Reed in 2002. It has been restored and tuned and is in gorgeous shape. She played, by chance, one of my favorite pieces, Couperin's Les Barricades Mysterious. Afterwards she left me alone in her office to play (badly). It solidified my intent to take harpsichord and organ lessons when I return in November.

Reunions are interesting. The class of 1973, like similar classes at other small institutions, is never well represented at reunions. We are the lost generation, the product of the Vietnam war, the draft, and the political upheaval of the time. Only about 30 of us showed up (a pretty good showing). Despite this, we shared our memories of Reed and where we are in our lives now. Finally we have gotten to the place where we are comfortable with ourselves, where we are in our careers, where we are in our lives and are no longer out to impress. That makes for a much more comfortable interaction. I hadn't realized how much the draft (and low draft numbers) had figured in the lives of my male classmates. We also shared memories of the FBI's visit to Reed in the spring of 1971. They invited themselves and were greeted by a ragtag Reed band playing the Mickey Mouse song, cheerleaders and a motorcycle escort. During an evening symposium they fielded questions from the Reed community (students, faculty and staff), which they could not answer since they mainly related to the draft and conspiracy laws. A birthday cake was presented to one of the FBI guys (since it was his birthday) who was unsure whether to eat it or whether he would be poisoned. Although this was all treated as a farce, the Oregonian saw fit to print that their welcome was an indication that Nixon was winning the war of the minds with the students.

What none of us knew at the time was that Reed was almost bankrupt. Here we were, mainly 16 and 17 year olds, intellectually able and socially nerdy, with no student support systems in place. The academics were extremely demanding but the social interactions were completely over the top (drugs, alcohol and sex). Those of us who did not want to party hard (myself included) resorted to folk dancing. Music was also my salvation as I practiced 2 hours a day.

The reunions culminated with the world premiere of an improvisation piece by David Schiff (Reed professor), with the improvisation by another Reed alum. I also got together with the Collegeum Musicum (the audition-only acapella singing group) and we sang with our original conductor. Another example reminding me of how much music means to me and how much I have left it behind, except in concerts. The reunion ended with fantastic fireworks and it didn't rain.