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On a recent afternoon during the last days of classes before final examinations, 27 Thomas Aquinas ¹û¶³´«Ã½ juniors gathered in the rotunda of the faculty and administration building to sing four classical hymns. The brief performance marked the latest chapter in a young but increasingly anticipated campus tradition.

This was not a performance of the Thomas Aquinas ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Choir. Indeed, many of the students have little or no choral experience. As members of the ¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s junior class, the singers are students in the music tutorial that is required in the third year of the ¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s integrated academic program. Students in the tutorial study music’s inner mathematical structure, learn how to read music, and develop their voices.

The public performance at the end of the semester is a new phenomenon, the inspiration of Dr. Phillip Wodzinski, a tutor on the ¹û¶³´«Ã½â€™s teaching faculty. After his first semester teaching the tutorial in the fall 2010, Dr. Wodzinski was eager to showcase his students’ achievements, so he arranged for the mid-afternoon performance in St. Thomas Hall — surprising and delighting passersby. Buoyed by this success, he arranged a second performance last spring, and now, having held a third, a bona-fide tradition is in the making.

 
Posted: December 15, 2011