FURMAN
Music
2018–2019
TOTAL IMMERSION Leo De La Cruz takes music research from the page to Paris p. 4
TOWERING SOUNDS
A SONGWRITER’S STORY
CHANGING THE GUARD
Howard Thompson ’68 was Furman’s first carillonneur p. 8
Emily Scott Robinson ’09 makes her mark on the folk music scene p. 10
Music department giants to retire this spring p. 12
Letter from the Chair
FURMAN MUSIC Furman Music magazine is published annually for alumni and friends of the Furman University Music Department by University Communications, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina 29613. EDITOR Carol Anne Ward ’02
W
elcome to an inside view of Furman Music! The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round for us here in the department, but each day is exciting, challenging and inspirational. Inside these pages, we hope you see the tradition of excellence that has become Furman Music. Motivational teaching, virtuosic performance and incisive scholarship are the hallmarks of our music community. As you sift through the pages of this journal and reflect on our current activities, I hope you will appreciate the bond that each of you hold with this exceptional place. The profound, lifelong interaction between our students and faculty is a trademark of The Furman Advantage. We are at a crossroads in the life of our department. Five stalwarts of our music faculty have announced their retirement. For many of you, these folks have been the face
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of Furman Music. To be sure, we are indebted to Professors Beckford, Hicken, Morgan, Schoonmaker and Thomas for sharing their talents and serving with such poise and grace. They leave a legacy of success that may not be matched for years to come. This crossroad also leads us down the path toward becoming an All-Steinway School. We began talking about this possibility nearly 20 years ago, but seeing it come to fruition is fabulous. This exciting initiative, Pianos for Paladins, aims to replace our aging pianos with artisanalquality Steinway pianos. Major gifts from Professor Ruby Morgan and her husband Doug MacDonald, along with Lisa ’87 and Kenneth Rust, enabled us to place a new concert grand in our recital hall and begin the process of updating the pianos in our teaching studios. Exciting stuff! Be sure to read closely the articles about the work of our students, take a walk down memory lane as you delve into the culture of excellence our retiring faculty leave behind, and enjoy the history lesson about Furman’s iconic carillon and its original carillonneur. I trust you share my excitement
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about the successes of our students and the wealth of activities in which our gifted faculty engages. I am honored and humbled to be part of this community of scholar musicians. As we seek to remain one of the leading undergraduate music programs, your continued support by connecting us with talented students, and your sharing of resources, help solidify the future of Furman Music. If you seek to find the balance between a highquality music program and a highly-respected liberal arts university, Furman is for you. Take time to visit our website (www.furman.edu/music) or check us out on Facebook (Furman University Music News) to keep up with the latest and upcoming department events. Please stop by to say hello when you visit campus. Respectfully,
Mark E. Britt, Chair Department of Music
DESIGNER Chris Turner CONTRIBUTORS Brendan Blowers Kelley Bruss Jeremy Fleming ’08 Brita Long ’09 Tina Underwood Ron Wagner ’93 PRINTING INDEXX Printing EMAIL carolanne.ward@furman.edu /Furman University Music News
MUSIC AT FURMAN The Department of Music is composed of an outstanding faculty of 18 full-time and 33 part-time and adjunct faculty members and approximately 150 music majors. Faculty members have attended some of the finest music schools in the country and represent a host of different musical backgrounds. All are professional performers who are dedicated to the art of teaching. Furman offers the bachelor of music degree with majors in composition, performance, church music, music education, and music theory. Students may also earn a bachelor of arts degree in music, which allows them the flexibility for course work in a variety of academic areas.
Table of Contents
One of three music faculty who will retire this spring, Les Hicken (right) has directed the wind ensemble, symphonic band and chamber wind ensembles as well as serving as assistant director to the marching band. (inset) Howard Thompson is Furman’s original carillonneur. He was in school when the current Bell Tower was completed and its bells installed.
p. 4
Features
p. 10
TOTAL IMMERSION Leo De La Cruz ’19 takes music research from the page to Paris p. 4
TOWERING SOUNDS Howard Thompson ’68 was Furman’s first carillonneur p. 8
BETWEEN THE LINES Faculty News p. 14 STEINWAYS MAKE GRAND DEBUT AT FURMAN p. 16 NEWS BRIEFS p. 18
A SONGWRITER’S STORY Emily Scott Robinson ’09 makes her mark on the folk music scene p. 10
MOVEMENTS
Alumni News p. 6 BACK COVER Silviu Ciulei Guitar Class
CHANGING THE GUARD Music department giants to retire this spring p. 12
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TOTAL IMMERSION Leo De La Cruz ’19 takes music research from the page to Paris BY BRENDAN BLOWERS
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or Leo De La Cruz, being immersed in music has become a routine. He plays oboe in multiple ensembles, sings in choirs, serves as a librarian to the Furman band library and works as a Furman Advantage Teaching Fellow for music theory. “He’s constantly working in overdrive,” says Benjamin Dobbs, lecturer in music theory at Furman. De La Cruz began at Furman as an oboe performance major but added music theory his junior year. When he talks about music his eyes widen and his hands become active. An observer can almost hear the concert that’s playing in his mind. A music theory degree requires independent study. Ambitiously, De La Cruz developed a research project on French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau — a musician who was heavily influenced by Enlightenment philosophers, like Descartes. “The interdisciplinary nature of that time period is what really attracted me to it. And the music is some of the most gorgeous music in the world,” he says. Dobbs, a theorist specializing in early music, served as De La Cruz’s supervisor on the project. “Leo immediately stood out as an extremely outgoing and dedicated student,” Dobbs says. After months of watching De La Cruz pour over 17thcentury music treatises, Dobbs suggested he submit an abstract of his paper to the conference Rethinking Music in France During the Baroque Era taking place in and around Paris in June. De La Cruz agreed. “I figured, I might as well give it my best shot,” he says.
Laura Kennedy, associate professor of musicology at Furman, showed De La Cruz how to format his abstract. A jury of other Furman music professors read his work and offered their feedback before he sent it in. After three months of silence, De La Cruz received an email. His paper had been accepted. He couldn’t believe he was going to be presenting his work to the first music conference he had ever applied to. What he didn’t even know at that time — he was the youngest
to a few schools as an English or history major. “If I had gone to Rice, I wouldn’t have been a music major,” says De La Cruz, remembering how he eventually narrowed down his college choices to Rice University in Houston or Furman. It took the advice of his high school music director, John Crawley, to help clarify the difference between his passing curiosities and his passion. “Leo, you should go to Furman because you really love music.” That love of music has been fostered at Furman, where De
Leo De La Cruz and his music theory professor Benjamin Dobbs
and only undergraduate invited to present. “Papers were selected through a competitive, blind peer-review process. That Leo’s paper was chosen alongside papers by researchers with decades more experience shows the excellent level of work that Leo has done so far in his young career and the great potential that he has as a musicologist,” Dobbs says. De La Cruz first fell in love with music while playing a movement from a Handel sonata for a secondary school chapel service. He remembers feeling “a lot of gravity to it” as the reverent notes came out of his oboe. “I really liked how it felt and how people reacted,” he says. However, he wasn’t sure if he should pursue music education in college. He applied
La Cruz practices to improve his oboe playing while pursuing the music research that he says will give him “an edge” in a competitive job market. The preparation for Paris continued, even while De La Cruz played in the orchestra at the Renova Music Festival in Pennsylvania — only two weeks before he was scheduled to fly to France. When he arrived in France and attended the conference’s opening recital at the Sorbonne, De La Cruz met a recorder player named Julián from Colombia. “I started talking to him in Spanish, my first language.” Being part Venezuelan, De La Cruz felt he had met a neighbor in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Over the course of the five-day conference, he continued to connect with students and scholars from international universities and graduate pro-
grams like Eastman and Rutgers. One afternoon, De La Cruz and a couple of American graduate students bought some baguettes and cheese and strolled around the gardens and fruit trees of Versailles. “It was great to see what kind of work they were doing, what they enjoy or don’t enjoy about their programs.” he says. Dobbs, who also attended the conference, says, “Leo excelled in networking. After being at the conference for just a short while, he was comfortable talking to just about everyone.” De La Cruz gave his presentation at Royaumont Abbey just outside of Paris — a beautiful gothic structure built by Louis IX in 1228. Moments after his presentation concluded, professors who had spent their entire careers in musicology offered feedback and wanted to stay in touch. The value of these connections was not lost on De La Cruz. “The network that I formed there was invaluable,” he says. Also of great value are the Furman faculty members who have supported De La Cruz’s many musical pursuits. “If I hadn’t formed those relationships with Dr. Kennedy, Dr. Dobbs, and Mrs. Sasser (director of the Maxwell Music Library), I wouldn’t have known that I could do something like this.” He is also grateful to the Office of Undergraduate Research for funding his trip. Now that De La Cruz is back on campus for his senior year, he looks forward to conducting more research with Dobbs and applying to graduate schools. “This isn’t over,” he says, his hands moving excitedly to illustrate his point. Wherever Leo De La Cruz decides to go after graduating from Furman, music will accompany him.
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Alumni News
MOVEMENTS
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erforming for the first time on the Furman campus since her graduation in 2010, JAZMIN BLACK GROLLEMUND gave the South Carolina premiere of The White Album, a song cycle by Mark Kilstofte, Furman professor of music composition and theory on Jan. 12 in Daniel Recital Hall. With its premiere in Houston January 2017, The White Album is a work for voice, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation of Harvard University. Jazmin Black Grollemund ’10
Mark Helms ’13
MARK HELMS, a church music major, was appointed as the new coordinator of choral activities and liturgical music at DeSales University, a small Catholic liberal arts university in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, area, where he has been teaching for two years. He conducts all three of the university’s choral ensembles, teaches studio voice, and teaches other courses in music history and theory.
Piano performance major STACEY HOLLIDAY appeared front and center at the 2018 T-Mobile Home Run Derby in Washington, D.C., July 16 when she performed an a cappella rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Nationals Park. Technical Sgt. Holliday is a member of the Singing Sergeants, the official chorus of the United States Air Force. Her performance can be viewed on MLB.com.
Caleb Hopkins ’13
CALEB HOPKINS began work on his DMA at the Eastman School of Music in choral conducting this August.
Stacey Holliday ’04
Caleb Lewis ’12
The UC Davis music department recently hired lecturer CALEB LEWIS to direct both the University Chorus and the Chamber
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Movements Alumni News @FURMANMUSIC
FURMAN UNIVERSITY MUSIC NEWS
Visit Furman Music on Facebook to see what our students are doing, connect with faculty and alumni, keep up with music department events, and see photos and highlights from the season.
Singers. Lewis recently completed coursework for a doctorate degree in musical arts from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He will be finishing his dissertation – an English edition in Byzantine chant of an ancient Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary, the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos – while teaching at UC Davis.
Elementary School of the Arts in Duncan, where she specializes in teaching World Percussion and Steel Pans.
Caroline Owen ’17
Joanne Ma ’09
JOANNE MA, a music education major, has been the assistant director of bands at Sumter High School in Sumter, South Carolina, since 2013. She recently moved back to the Upstate and is now an instrumental music teacher at Duncan
CAROLINE OWEN, a piano performance major, recently entered her second year of her master’s degree program at the University of Georgia. She received a scholarship through the Atlanta Mozart Society Competition to attend the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, this past summer and performed publicly at the Mozarteum’s Wiener Saal.
Frances Pollock ’12
Known for addressing more daring themes, the New York City festival Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now, will present its seventh season Jan. 5-13, 2019. The New York Times reports that among the operas earning a spot in the festival is FRANCES “KATIE” POLLOCK’S “Stinney: An American Execution.” Pollock, a music theory and composition alumna, studied with Furman music professor and composer Mark Kilstofte.
BONNIE BORSHAY SNEED presented two sessions at the June 2018 International Symposium on Singing and Song II, and her adult choir, NaveVoices, sang as part of Choral Canada Podium and sang for worship at Wesley United Church in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Bonnie Borshay Sneed ’84 (back row, far right) and members of Nave Voices.
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TOWERING SOUNDS
Howard Thompson ’68 ascended the Bell Tower as Furman’s first carillonneur. BY KELLEY BRUSS
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tanding in the chamber behind the clock faces of Furman’s iconic bell tower, Howard Thompson ’68 remembers sensations as vividly as sounds: vibrations that would fill the space as he struck the batons connected to clappers in 60 bells just above him. The mechanical clacking that a carillonneur experiences is as prominent as the bell tones themselves.
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And the weather, an inseparable part of playing a carillon in an open tower. “It’s a fun instrument to play,” Thompson says. “You freeze in the winter, you burn in the summer, but that’s just part of it.” Thompson is Furman’s original carillonneur. He was in school when the current bell tower was completed and its bells installed. Curiosity drew many music students up the spiral staircase in those years, but Thompson was the one who brought along a hymnal when he made the climb. He taught himself to play in practice sessions that rang out across campus. When he retired to Greenville in 2016, Thompson hoped to moonlight in his old role. But the bells are only rung electronically now. The mechanism that allowed them to be
played by hand fell into disrepair and was removed more than a decade ago. Thompson, who spent his career teaching music in Texas, would love for a new generation of students to experience the instrument as he did. “It deserves to be heard, more than just to chime the hour,” he says.
A HISTORY WITH BELLS
Thompson grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and first heard a carillon as a high school student visiting the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He came to Furman as a church music major with an organ minor. And then the carillon arrived. “I got interested in playing the thing and nobody else was,” Thompson says. “It was fun and then it became a job.” “He knew the instrument inside and out,” says Charles Tompkins, professor of music, who has become friends with Thompson since he moved back from Texas. Thompson’s tour of the carillon begins in Old College, the historic building near the entrance to the bell tower peninsula. The electronic operations for the bells are kept there. Thompson loves the space almost as much as the tower. “The years just fall away,” he says. “It looks the same, it smells the same.” It wasn’t long before brides were asking Thompson to play during their weddings in the Rose Garden. “They’d give me a radio and tell me when to play and when to stop,” Thompson says.
THE INSTRUMENT
A carillon is played using a clavier, wooden batons arranged as a keyboard with transmission wires connected to clappers in the bells. When the musician strikes a baton – typically with the side of a loose fist – the wire pulls the clapper and rings the bell. The lowest bells sometimes are played by foot using batons arranged near the floor. “It’s a direct connection to the clapper, which is a really cool feeling,” Thompson says. In the tower, a concrete floor separates the carillonneur from the bells — an inches-wide gap in the concrete allows the transmission wires to move between levels. “You actually heard more of the clack of the mechanism than you did the bells,” Thompson says. He tells a story about a major donor who asked how many bells were in the Citadel’s carillon. The answer was 59 — so 60 were installed in Furman’s tower.
But 48 is a more typical number, and that’s how many are in the tower now. “The upper octave was there for ego purposes,” Thompson says, laughing. From the beginning, electronics were used to chime the hours. Thompson once lost track of time and was in the bell chamber when the hour began to ring. The electronic breaker box was only steps away from where he stood. “It didn’t take me long to get there,” he says. “The C bell rang first. I was humming C for a week.”
ELECTRONIC ERA
Once Thompson left, the carillon was rarely played manually. Another student played it in the 1980s, but for the most part, the clavier sat unused for decades. No faculty member was trained to play, although “there are a few of us who have dabbled with the idea of learning it,” Tompkins says. When Thompson finished at Furman, he headed to Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He spent his career as a music teacher and organist and continued to play the carillon in churches and universities. His wife, Mary Ann, who is also a musician, learned to play as well and became known for her Broadway on the Bells concerts. When they were retiring to Greenville, Thompson reached out to Furman to say he and his wife would love to play the carillon if their services were needed. It was then he learned the manual clavier had been removed and the instrument was only played electronically. He was devastated. “It kind of died for lack of use,” he says.
While the electronic function has been upgraded, “it’s not the same as someone actually playing,” Thompson says. Because of the direct connection between musician and clappers, dynamic variety is possible — something that can’t be programmed in with the electronic clappers. Thompson has found an outlet, though, for his passion: he taught a course through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) to introduce others to the carillon. “It was quite evident that it was something he loved,” says Shelden Timmerman ’76, a retired minister of music who took the class with Thompson. The carillon itself is world class. Tompkins calls it “one of the best in North America.” Thompson would love to see the day when it could again be played manually. That would mean a new clavier, transmission lines and clappers. It would also have to mean commitment outside of the Thompson family. “We really can’t restore this so my wife and I can play it,” he says, smiling. Tompkins agrees. He envisions students learning the instrument and public concerts throughout the years, with Paris Mountain as a backdrop. “I have often dreamed of the myriad benefits and opportunities that a restored carillon would bring, not only to Furman’s music program, but also as a wonderful enhancement to campus and community life,” he says.
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A SONGWRITER’S STORY BY BRITA LONG ’09
HOW ONE WOMAN’S VOICE GIVES A VOICE TO OTHERS
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MANY WORDS DESCRIBE EMILY SCOTT ROBINSON ’09. SOUTHERN WOMAN. FURMAN GRADUATE. AWARD-WINNING SINGER/SONGWRITER. But the word that best describes her in all her roles, among all her talents, is storyteller. “There’s so much power in people’s voices, in people’s stories. I think this is a really great privilege, to be somebody who can sing and who can tell a story,” Robinson says. Her musical career has roots in her Furman days, when she started her freshman year as a music major in clarinet. While she dropped the major after a year, she does admit, with a laugh, that her handful of music classes laid the groundwork for the more technical aspects of her work as a singer/songwriter. When prompted for an example, she mentions A Year of Musical Theory. “At the time, I moaned my way through [it], but I learned a lot that has been incredibly helpful for me as I’m writing music — like, just the ability to transpose things into different keys, quickly.” Robinson also admits to expressing great annoyance while taking a Music Technology class. Mimicking her younger self, she exclaims, “Ugh! I am never going to use this … I can’t believe I have to learn to use a Mac … and Garage Band.” Today, she uses Garage Band to create all her own demos.
“FOLK MUSIC IS THE MUSIC OF THE PEOPLE.”
Robinson’s Spanish and Latin American classes also contributed to her understanding of storytelling. Just as she once explored foreign language and culture through literature, she now reaches new audiences through her own storytelling: singing and songwriting. “There are reasons why other people see the world differently than you do. What can you find that’s common? How can you venture your way into understanding their world? And explain the way you see an issue without instantly alienating somebody? I see telling the stories of marginalized people as a great way of doing that.” Her talent for storytelling shines in her music. She writes her songs from a firstperson perspective, placing the listener inside the life and body of another person. “Folk music is the music of the people. Folk and country need to be simple ... if there’s a story, it needs to be a clear story. If there’s an emotional arc, you need to build the
tension up of the emotional arc, and then release it,” she says. Some of Robinson’s work is inspired by her own life’s story. “Better with Time” is a love letter to her husband, recounting the early days of their marriage. “Westward Bound” is a collection of snapshots from her cross-country road trips over the years. In “Run,” a song about a woman leaving an abusive marriage, she doesn’t tell her own story, but she does draw upon her former experiences as a social worker. “Overalls” pays homage to a World War II veteran. These are just four of the twelve songs on Robinson’s debut full-length studio album, Traveling Mercies. “Better With Time” is the first single off the album, now available on iTunes and Spotify. The full album releases in February, almost a decade after she graduated from Furman. She’s come a long way since then.
“My final Music Technology project was actually a recording I did with guitar and singing. I did it in Garage Band. I had to learn all the basics of recording, and now I wish I still had my textbooks from my freshman year at Furman,” she says. What Robinson considered at that time to have been a detour, is actually incredibly helpful to her now. After dropping her music major, she switched to a double-major in history and in Spanish, with a concentration in Latin American studies. “I really believe that my history major is all sort of wrapped up in what I’ve always loved, which is storytelling. Analyzing stories from different perspectives — I’ve always loved that, and I think that’s one reason I’ve always been attracted to history,” she says.
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Bill Thomas, Director of Furman Chamber Choir
John Beckford, Professor of Music
Changing the Guard Furman will have lost almost two centuries’ worth of teaching experience when department giants Beckford, Thomas and Hicken retire this spring. BY RON WAGNER ’93
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ohn Beckford was ready to accept a position as Furman’s first fulltime percussion instructor in 1976, but there was a problem. He solved it by playing some good old-fashioned hardball. “The salary seemed a little on the low side, and I tried to negotiate it up,” Beckford remembers with a laugh. “And they met me halfway.” Fresh off earning a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa and facing a job market with a grand total of eight open positions for full-time college percussion instructors nationwide, Beckford was blissfully unaware of just how spectacularly he may have been overplaying his hand. But Furman agreed to an extra $250 – a year – to secure his move south, and that investment has paid off handsomely in the form of someone who played a huge role in building the top-notch music department Gordon Blackwell ’60 envisioned when he returned
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to lead his alma mater after six years as the president of Florida State University. Now, 43 years later, Beckford is retiring at the end of the academic year. So are fellow music faculty members Bill Thomas and Les Hicken, 12 months after Ruby Morgan and Bruce Schoonmaker also departed, taking with them 190 years of combined teaching experience in the Furman music department. That’s quite a hit. Chair Mark Britt knows the Daniel Music Building halls will never be the same. “In many ways we’ll feel the impact for years to come,” he says. “I don’t know if you could look at any single thing that’s most difficult to replace, but they’ve helped shape the department. We owe it to them to do our best to keep it moving in the right direction.” Legendary Professor of Piano Morgan was at Furman for 50 years, while Schoonmaker taught voice for 41. Thomas,
the department chair for 17 years, is in his 30th year, while Hicken’s 26 years qualifies him as the greenhorn of the bunch. Beckford’s tenure included a stint as vice president for Academic Affairs and dean. That’s quite a long way from starting out as the assistant marching band director and overseeing record collection, among many other things, but he returned to the classroom in 2016 after eight years as dean. A story about how he prepared for a job in administration explains why. One of his former students, David Belcher ’79, had risen to the ranks of provost at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Beckford reached out for advice. Belcher was “so generous with how he reviewed my application materials, helped me strategize, warned me of the pros and cons of what administration life was really all about,” Beckford remembers before his eyes fill with tears as he recounts Belcher’s death from brain cancer in June.
Les Hicken, Director of Bands
“I’m sorry. It’s still fresh,” Beckford says. “There was a student that ultimately became my teacher. The reward of having that cycle around so that ultimately your students become people that you can learn from is one of the great rewards.” Thomas is spending his final fall in Arezzo, Italy, with the “Music in Italy” study away program he created, which is now in its 14th year. Spending a semester away from campus is uniquely difficult for music majors because of the sequential structure of their curriculum, and giving them the opportunity to experience that like the rest of the student body is the one of the highlights of his time at Furman. “It has just been a wonderful, wonderful addition,” he says. “The students who come through this semester come back to Furman seeing the world in different ways, and their musicianship and their awareness as human beings and citizens is just so far ahead of when they left.” Thomas teaches studio voice and vocal pedagogy. He moved to Greenville originally to be the minister of music at downtown’s First Baptist Church, but it wasn’t long before a part-time job at Furman became full time. Thomas went on to be the first director of the Furman Chamber Choir and helped establish the Festival of Lessons and Carols as part of Christmas at Furman, which has become a popular annual tradition for many people.
He also played a critical role as a member of the building committee for the Daniel Chapel. “It just makes me smile,” Thomas says of seeing Daniel Chapel. “I think the chapel at Furman is one of the best places in the southeast for choral music.” Hicken has directed the wind ensemble, symphonic band and chamber wind ensembles as well as serving as assistant director to the marching band. Top memories for him professionally include Furman playing at the American Bandmasters Association in 2010 and the wind ensemble performing at Carnegie Hall in 2008 (where it will return this year) and Symphony Hall in Chicago in 2013. Personally, though, nothing tops the time he got to spend with son Gordon ’08 and daughter Anna ’13 while they both came through the Furman music program. Gordon played for his dad in the Lakeside Concert Band for nine consecutive years starting in the eighth grade, while Anna, a cellist and art major, taught herself to play string base in order to perform in Hicken’s wind ensemble her last two years at college. “I miss them. It was very special when they were here,” he says. “Anna was around constantly. She worked in the music department office. I saw her every day. She’d come by and stick her head in the door — it was very, very nice. It was.” Schoonmaker taught voice and directed
the Lyric Opera. His last official day of work was July 31, and while he has not yet acclimated to his new life, Schoonmaker is ready to devote his energy to other artistic pursuits like completing a longplanned novel. He spends little time pining over Furman, though there is already nostalgia for at least one lost thing: the relationships that bring out the best in everyone. “I miss the outstanding students, and I had my share. They always challenged us to be our best,” he says. “And I miss the students who were substantive people, and they weren’t always the greatest vocalists … I miss that closeness and that ability to help them open themselves to life and to the art and to understand what it means to sacrifice for the art. I also very much miss my colleagues, because the music-marking and the art and the artistic end of it were just so much fun and fulfilling.” Asked about any individual idiosyncrasies that will be retiring with the professors, and Britt comes up with the “Hicken sigh.” Those personal touches are what tie students, past and present, to Furman.
“I miss the outstanding students, and I had my share. They always challenged us to be our best.” “The leadership roles that they took on, those are things that we have to cover. We have younger faculty ready to step up and assume those roles,” Britt says. “They’ll do that. But for our alumni, going back close to 50 years, that’s thousands of people that they’ve impacted. Their memory of the Furman music department is those people.”
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Faculty News
BETWEEN THE LINES M
ARK E. BRITT was reappointed as department chair in January 2018. He served this past year as an adjudicator or clinician for the SCGSAH College Audition Workshop, the Archibald Rutledge Scholarships for the SCDOE, the 2018 Central District Music Performance Adjudication for the NC Bandmasters Association, and Festivals of Music at Dollywood and Carowinds. He conducted a performance by the Palmetto Posaunen at the 2018 SCMEA Professional Development Conference, completed his sixth term as the instrumental music director for the Montreat Conference on Music and Worship (where he conducted the premiere of “O Sing a Song of Bethlehem” by Michael Burkhardt). He was also a featured soloist on Anthony Barfield’s “Red Sky” with the Furman Symphonic Winds.
Ben Riley, who was born in Savannah. On Sept. 14-15, he performed at the Jazz Room in Charlotte with clarinetist Janelle Reichman, who presented a tribute to Benny Goodman.
T Mark Britt performs with the Furman Wind Ensemble
Thomas Joiner performs with Furman Chamber Strings
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EITH DAVIS performed in October at the 2018 Savannah Jazz Festival with the Savannah Jazz All Stars, under the direction of Teddy Adams, Savannah’s respected Jazz Elder Statesman. The performance was a tribute to the great jazz drummer,
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HOMAS JOINER served in July as guest conductor and violin teacher at the 33rd annual Santa Maria International Winter Festival in Vale Veneto, Brazil. He collaborated and taught with faculty from Brazil, the United States, Russia, Argentina and Italy.
Grant Knox directed Furman Lyric Theater’s spring production of “Hansel and Gretel”.
RANT KNOX, associate professor of voice and director of lyric theater, had a busy year of teaching, performing and directing. This past December, Knox returned to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as the tenor soloist for performances of Handel’s “Messiah” and Mozart’s “Regina Coeli.” These concerts were given in Atlanta’s Symphony Hall and in Athens, Georgia, at the Hodgson Concert Hall.
Between the Lines Faculty News @FURMANMUSIC
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Visit Furman Music on Facebook to see what our students are doing, connect with faculty and alumni, keep up with music department events, and see photos and highlights from the season.
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In March, Knox made his role debut with the Indianapolis Opera as Lt. Joseph Cable in South Pacific. The Indianapolis Star wrote that Knox delivered “an exemplary rendition of his romantic solo “Younger Than Springtime.” In April he sang Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Hendersonville Symphony and directed Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” for Furman Lyric Theater.
In March, DANIEL KOPPELMAN was a featured performer at the national conference of the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the US (SEAMUS), in Eugene, Oregon. In November 2017, he toured the southeast with longtime colleague Christopher Dobrian (University of California, Irvine), performing concerts and giving masterclasses at University of South Florida, Columbus State University, Georgia Southern University, and at Furman’s Herring Center for Continuing Education.
Charles Tompkins practices at St. Paul’s Cathedral
HARLES TOMPKINS, university organist and professor of music, was a featured performer on the July 19 and 26 broadcasts of South Carolina Education Radio’s “On the Keys” program, performing organ works of J.S. Bach on the Hartness Organ in Daniel Chapel (Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor) and the Casavant organ of First Baptist Church, Greenville (the chorale prelude “Soul, Adorn Thyself With Gladness”). As part of his spring term sabbatical, Tompkins spent the month in residence at Trinity
Cathedral (Episcopal) in Portland, Oregon, studying improvisation with the Cathedral’s Organist and Director of Music Bruce Neswick. During the first three weeks in April, he traveled to England, where he presented recitals at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol; and St. Alban’s Cathedral, St. Albans.
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TEVE WATSON, who teaches jazz guitar, jazz combos and jazz history, recently released a new jazz album Reflections with jazz Bassist Ian Bracchitta, drummer Rick Dilling with vocals by Wendy Jones. The album is available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.
Rick Dilling, Wendy Jones, Ian Bracchitta and Steve Watson
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STEINWAYS MAKE GRAND DEBUT AT FURMAN BY TINA UNDERWOOD
W
hen Ruby Morgan retired from Furman this past summer, she left more than the gift of music and mentorship she has imparted to students over her decades-long career. Adding to her already generous contribution to the lives of undergraduate music majors, Morgan has spearheaded an effort to make Furman an All-Steinway School — an initiative that aims to replace aging pianos on campus with artisanal-quality pianos from legendary Steinway and Sons of Astoria, New York and Hamburg, Germany. Making the inaugural gift to the campaign is Morgan and her husband, retired Furman Professor of Philosophy Doug MacDonald, who hope to inspire the generosity of others. As part of the $2.5 million fundraising effort, up to 50 new pianos will populate Daniel Recital Hall, faculty studios and practice rooms. Ahead of the official launch of the campaign, Spartanburg-based Case Brothers delivered the first three pianos to campus on July 17. Taking up residence on the Daniel Recital Hall stage is the 990-pound, crème de la crème of concert instruments — a nine-foot Steinway Model D grand. The piano purchase was made possible by Morgan protégé, Lisa Lee Rust ’87 and her husband Kenneth Rust of Lumberton, North Carolina, both devotees of the arts.
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In addition to the concert instrument, two 7-foot grand pianos were installed in studios of faculty members Derek Parsons and David Gross. Becoming an All-Steinway School places Furman among an elite group of learning institutions including conservatories like Oberlin, Yale School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music. With the All-Steinway seal, Furman’s ability to attract talented students and faculty is enhanced.
Learn more about “Pianos for Paladins,” by contacting Director of Donor Relations Allison Foy at 864-294-3704 and allison.foy@furman.edu
JEREMY FLEMING
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1 Donors Lisa Lee Rust ’87 and her husband Kenneth Rust of Lumberton, North Carolina 2 Ruby Morgan plays one of the new Steinways 3 Furman music faculty John Beckford, Keith Davis, Derek Parsons, Mark Britt and Ruby Morgan with donors Kenneth and Lisa Rust
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News Briefs
SOUND QUALITY CONCERT SERIES
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he 2018-19 Sound Quality Series opened with the Franz Liszt Festival concert Oct. 11 in McAlister Auditorium. The concert, a part of the American Liszt Society Conference held Oct. 11-13, featured Furman pianist David Gross performing the Liszt Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in A major. Additional selections were performed by the Furman Singers and the Furman Symphony Orchestra. This year’s series offers a number of highlights including the Fall Oratorio Nov. 30, a performance of Haydn’s “Creation”. The production celebrates the career of Bill Thomas, professor of music and director of the Furman Chamber Choir, as he conducts his final oratorio performance prior to retirement at the end of the academic year. The Furman Symphony Orchestra, the Furman Singers and Chorales, the Oratorio Chorus and distinguished vocal soloists, will present this masterwork by classical composer Franz Joseph Haydn. The production features Furman alumni and faculty soloists: Jacquelyn Stucker, soprano; Professor of Voice Grant Knox, tenor; and Joshua Copeland, baritone.
Tenors Byrd ’20 and Toverud ’19 shine at national competition
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For more on this performance and the full schedule of events, visit furman.edu/musictickets.
FURMAN MUSIC
SOUND QUALITY 2018−2019 EVENTS
Jacquelyn Stucker, soprano, and Joshua Copeland, baritone
FURMAN ALUMNI SOLOISTS
Gilead Mishory Distinguished Visiting Professor (Professor at Freiburg/ Germany) www.mishory.de
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Greenville, South Carolina 29613-1154
3300 Poinsett Highway
DON’T MISS THESE SPECIAL GUESTS!
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“Hansel and Gretel” earlier this year. But before getting a chance to compete in the semis, the two were required to submit YouTube videos for the preliminary round. Having made the cut, the top 14 in their respective divisions, the tenors matriculated to the live semifinal round where they obviously continued to shine. Only the top three or four singers in each category from the semifinals advanced to the live national final. Said Furman Professor of Voice Grant Knox, “Tyrese and Bergsvein were the only two tenors competing in the college classical competition at this level. This is remarkable considering the size of our music program. It says a lot about the type of student and level of talent we have here.” PIANIST AND COMPOSER
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fter impressive performances at both state and regional National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions held earlier this year, two Furman vocalists won the opportunity to compete on the national stage. Bergsvein Toverud (music education), a senior from Lenoir, North Carolina, and Tyrese Byrd (vocal performance), a junior from Williamston, South Carolina, competed in the semifinals and finals of the National Student Auditions, part of the 55th NATS competition held June 22-26 in Las Vegas. And they didn’t disappoint, winning third place in their divisions at the event where they contended among 200 vocalists. Toverud appeared as the witch in Knox’s staging of Englebert Humperdinck’s
News Briefs
Music by the Lake Celebrates Golden Anniversary
F
or 50 years, Furman University has welcomed the community to campus on Thursdays in the summer for the Music by the Lake Summer Concert Series. Families bring their picnics and claim their spots for an evening of music ranging from Big Band, jazz, bluegrass, contemporary, marches and orchestral favorites performed by the Lakeside Band and guest artists. The program which was begun by Dan Ellis in 1968, originally featured a few concerts performed on the roof of what is now the Trone Student Center. Les Hicken, professor of music
and director of the Lakeside Concert Band, started playing in the band when he came to Furman in 1993 and took over for Ellis in 1999. The series moved to Furman’s Lakeside Amphitheater in 2004 and now draws a 1,000 to 10,000 people each week. Opening the 11-concert series for this golden anniversary was “The Kings of Swing” performed by the Lakeside Concert Band. The celebration culminated in the Lakeside 50th Golden Anniversary Concert performed by the Lakeside Concert Band and conducted by Les Hicken on July 26.
SYMPHONIC WINDS TO PERFORM AT CARNEGIE HALL The Furman Symphonic Winds will perform at the Sounds of Spring Festival sponsored by World Projects on Tuesday, March 26, in historic Carnegie Hall. This will be the second appearance at this festival where Furman first performed in 2008. Furman professors Jay Bocook and Matt Olson will be featured in this concert. Les Hicken will conduct.
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Furman University Music Department 3300 Poinsett Highway Greenville, SC 29613 furman.edu/music Change Service Requested
PLAYING OUTSIDE
Professor Silviu Ciulei and his guitar class take advantage of a perfect spring day on campus.
