Reid Hall, home of Lake Forest College's Music Department.

Music computer stolen, important works lost

By: John TerMaat

Posted: 10/2/08

Lake Forest College's Department of Music suffered a hurtful blow last week when a computer was stolen from the Nelson Electronic Music Studio in Reid Hall's basement. The computer was more than three years old and of little monetary value, but it held hundreds of original compositions by students and faculty - many of which were not backed up and may never be recovered.

Associate Professor of Music Donald Meyer, who chairs the department and specializes in use of the studio, called the incident "a devastating loss." Besides taking away important work by his students and himself, the theft has disrupted his ability to teach Songwriting this semester. Productivity in the class came to a halt, since the stolen computer was the only one students could use to record and compose in the department.

Meyer says he was saving important works by alumni, including a complete album by former music student Justin Lansing '07 and works of electronic music by Mark Fancher '07, another of Meyer's former students. Fancher was featured in Spectrum this summer when "Disco Sunrise," one of his original electronic works, was made available on iTunes.

But Meyer himself has lost all of his personal compositions dating back to 2005. Dozens of his works were not backed up, and he said that they will be impossible to reconstruct.

"This affects my work as a composer," he said, clearly pained by the loss. "I was in the middle of two original film scores. Now I've had to stop work on them, and I may not even be able to complete them because of this."

Senior Natalie Molina, a student in Professor Meyer's Songwriting class and an active participant in the music department, experienced the effects of the theft first-hand. "I had a [song] due the next day, and it remains unfinished and unedited," she said. "Now I can never work on it again.

"Everyone is very upset that [Professor Meyer's] compositions are gone, "she said, "and we don't know if we'll ever get them back. And I think whoever took [the computer] needs to know that what they did affects everyone in the music department."

The music department has had great success in the past several years, often bringing packed audiences to showcases and performances. Many students agree that a big part of that success comes from Professor Meyer's philosophy of supporting independent projects of all kinds.

For example, current junior Meg Golembiewski, Professor Meyer, and former Conductor of the Lake Forest College Chamber Orchestra Dave Amrein worked together to write an original score for the silent Hitchcock film The Lodger last year.

On Halloween, they performed the score with the Orchestra in the Mohr Student Center for a full house. They were later invited by the Silent Film Society of Chicago to bring their performance to Portage Theater, where they accompanied a live screening of the film for paying guests.

Although Meyer had been working on a revised version of that score for possible professional production, the files now are gone.

A complete original score to accompany a musical version of The Tempest was also lost, dampening Meyer's hopes of someday reviving the composition.

Director of Public Safety Richard Cohen said he is following some leads, but expressed disappointment that the incident occurred at all. "I think the persons involved should take a step back and realize that there were a lot of personal compositions that people spent a lot of time creating on that computer. And that's tragic. And that's not how you behave in a community."

The music department has long enjoyed a sense of security, and students have often left instruments in unlocked rooms. Professor Meyer said that the music department has relied on openness and trust. "This theft compromises the whole structure of our curriculum," he said.

Several students in Meyer's class expressed similar disillusionment.

"I was really shocked that someone would actually do that," said junior Kristen Ayers, "because we had a real system of trust in the music department. It makes you really think about leaving your things out." She also said she was "disgusted" that someone would do something so careless to the department.

"I think it's ridiculous and completely disrespectful," said Junior Zachary Engel.

Cohen made clear the best course of action for the perpetrators.

"It will be much better for them to come to me than for me to have to come find them."

He also encouraged anyone who knows anything about the incident to come to his office right away.

Immediately following the theft, Reid Hall Secretary Kathi Siebert brought to her office all instruments that were not safely locked. And Cohen said he would make additional recommendations for keeping the replacement studio equipment secure, such as locking the computer to the wall.

Meanwhile, Professor Meyer only hopes that the computer will be returned to the basement.

"There would be no questions asked," he said, "I just want the computer back."