The Art of Improvisation : Classes Are Being Held in Homes, Theme Park as CalArts Copes With Quake Damage

By coincidence, the Bach chorale that woodwind impresario Allan Vogel taught his California Institute of Arts class on musical skills this week was titled “Ebeben.”

That is German for shudder, shake, quiver or quake. And the text--”My tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth because my heart is so completely frightened”--seemed particularly ironic because of what Vogel and his CalArts students have gone through since the earth shook Jan. 17.

“Students were comforted by the music,” said Vogel, lead oboist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and a CalArts instructor for 23 years. “Bach is healing music. It calms you down.”

These days, the well-connected, avant-garde arts college in Valencia with 1,000 students can use all the healing and calm it can get.

Last month’s magnitude 6.6 temblor dealt a severe blow to the secluded campus, causing an estimated $12 million to $15 million damage to the school’s main building, school officials say. Although it appears to be structurally sound, the building will remain off-limits for months.

The quake also forced the evacuation of 21 students and left another 520 without heat or hot water in the two campus dormitories. Many have moved in with classmates or made it through the cold nights by piling up blankets.

On the face of it, the damage and disruption at CalArts pales in comparison to larger institutions such as Cal State Northridge. But CalArts officials, who are scrambling to reinstate classes, say their problems are far worse.

Programs that were once under one roof--part of the CalArts philosophy that bringing different kinds of artists together breeds inspiration--now must be farmed out to at least nine locations, ranging from the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park to a chain of Pasadena dance studios.

School administrators need places where students can build theater sets, practice stage lighting, perform special aerobic jumping exercises, perform on Indonesian instruments and have access to sophisticated film editing equipment. On Thursday, dozens of students, bundled against the cold, went through meditative tai chi exercises on a tennis court.

“It’s not just a matter of finding a classroom where you lecture to 25 students,” CalArts President Steven D. Lavine said.

As a stopgap measure, at least 10 out of the school’s 180 instructors have held classes in their homes. Part-time voice teacher Christine DeMoore said she’s had up to nine theater students singing in the studio of her North Hollywood home.

Vogel said he has been conducting choral music and other subjects in his Newhall home for about four hours a day, despite the fact that his foundation was probably damaged during the quake.

“CalArts has always had the feeling of freedom and improvisation,” Vogel said. “And now we’re really going to have to improvise. . . . We’ll come through this. Musicians always have to roll with the punches.”

But some students, who pay $13,875 a year to attend CalArts, have found the rolling rough. Jackie Ross, who is about to complete her master’s degree in experimental animation, said she and other students have been told to show up for meetings and classes that never materialized or were canceled at the last minute.

Adding to the uncertainty, she said, anxious students have been prevented from re-entering the CalArts building to check on long-term film projects or their exotic musical instruments. “It’s really frustrating for us because we get different information every day and every hour,” Ross said.

Darren Shaw, who is also majoring in experimental animation, said he had to move into Ross’ house because his dorm room had no heat or hot water. Shaw said when he complained, the campus housing director told him to “just think about it as one big camping trip.”

Shaw said: “I’m paying $13,000 and I’m not here to camp.”

School officials said 36 students have dropped out since the quake, and others have until Feb. 11 to decide whether they want their money back. Ross and Shaw say they will stick it out, and Lavine estimated that 80% of the student body will do likewise.

CalArts has some influential friends to lend a hand. The institute was created and is still heavily supported by the Walt Disney Co., Disney family members and corporate officers. Board members include Michael D. Eisner, chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Co.; Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of the Walt Disney Co. and nephew of its founder; Barry Diller, chairman of QVC Network and former boss of Paramount Pictures; super-talent agent Michael S. Ovitz, and television producer Michael Pressman.

Eisner mobilized a Disney real estate team that helped the school find nearly 150,000 square feet in an abandoned Lockheed office and laboratory complex six miles north of campus beside the Golden State Freeway, Lavine said. Lockheed agreed to donate the space, and school officials moved equipment into the unheated three-building complex, which once housed the defense company’s weapons systems simulation center.

Inspecting the rooms, Dick Hebdige, dean of CalArts’ critical studies division, noted wryly that artists had inherited the “remains of the defense industry.”

“The building is haunted by the ghosts of efficiency, bureaucracy, corporate strategy, defense, paranoia, war,” he said. “The students will exorcise it, on one level cleaning it out. And on another level, they will be playing back with those ghosts.”

Lavine said others offering help include trumpeter Herb Alpert and Motown President and school trustee Jheryl Busby. Disney, Warner Bros. and other studios are trying to free up film editing, sound stage and other high-tech equipment during off-hours.

Magic Mountain has offered its “Magic Moments” theater for students studying set design and lighting, he said. The local Congregation Beth Shalom is allowing music students to use its synagogue rooms. Newhall Land & Farming Co. has offered two office spaces, and a Pasadena dance studio franchise has taken in the dance classes.

Adam Korman, an undergraduate in music performance, said he’s thinking about leaving school for a semester, but then there are other harsh realities to contend with.

“One of the main things that would keep me around is I don’t want to look for work,” he said wearily. “It’s a pain.”