The History of Dance on Campus

Student Dancer, 1928

Dance has always been a very important part of the history of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). When the college opened in 1892 as the State Normal and Industrial School, “movement” was taught as part of the Physiology and Hygiene curriculum under the direction of resident physician Dr. Anna Gove. The program stressed posture, calisthenics, gymnastics, and walking. This cutting edge curriculum was a product of several important conferences held during the mid-nineteenth century, which attempted to refine different physical education ideologies prevalent in the United States and Europe.

Only a decade after the school opened, Physical Culture had broken away from Physiology and Hygiene, concentrating on “the development of grace, precision, alertness, agility, and endurance.” This plan of study also included sports such as tennis, field hockey, and basketball. Physical education was stressed so that the students could both keep in shape and learn basic athletic skills that would prepare them for their career as teachers. By 1911, the school’s “Physical Training” program included rhythmical movements and folk dancing, as well as singing and games. These areas remained an important part of teacher training through the 1920s.

Folk Dancers

During these years, dance also emerged as an important part of school pageants and productions. Park Night, May Day, Field Day, and school clubs provided opportunities to bring both music and dance to campus events. Park Night festivities began with the “Dance to the Past,” followed by a large procession of students carrying torches. The event continued with lyrical poetry, presentations, and a solo dance, ending with the “Dance to the Future.”  The elaborate May Day celebrations included students dancing around colorful, ribboned poles, as well as group dances performed as part of smaller productions held around the campus. Even Field Day, primarily an athletic event, incorporated a “dance drama” performed by the Orchesus Club. This exclusive campus group was founded for students interested in interpretive dance.

Mary Channing Coleman

In 1920, college president Julius Foust lured Mary Channing Coleman away from her position at Columbia University to be the director of the school’s Physical Education Department, and the wheels were in motion to move the program into one of national importance. Under Coleman’s direction, dance became a growth area within the physical education curriculum, offering a variety of choices such as rhythmics (including interpretive dance), clogging, and folk dancing. Dances such as clogging and square dancing, which were both closely connected to the mountain culture of the state, were particularly popular.

The students’ interest in dance was fueled by the visit to the college by several important dance troops, including the Duncan Dancers, which had been organized by the internationally renowned American dancer, Isadore Duncan; the Denishawn Players, featuring Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn; and the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Virginia Moomaw

The curriculum continued to grow under Coleman’s strong management and in 1945 Virginia Moomaw was brought to the college to develop an official dance program. Shortly after her hire, the interdisciplinary Graduate Creative Arts Program was approved, which established dance as an MFA degree program and in 1957, students had the opportunity to declare dance as their major. Moomaw was also very involved with dance outside of the school. She was active in the early years of the National Dance Association as well as the AAHPERD (American Association of Health, Physical Educations, Recreation, and Dance). Her reputation for excellence and her creative curriculum made the college’s dance program one of the best in the nation.

Student Dancer, 1990s

In the following decades, dance became a part of several administrative changes. In 1963, the program was included in the Physical Education Department with health education, physical education and recreation but by 1970, dance became part of the School of Heath, Physical Education, and Recreation, which was renamed the School of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance in 1980. When in 1991, the School of Health and Human Performance was formed, dance was included and remained as part of the department until 2010 when it joined the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.  In 2016, the Department of Art merged with the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance to form the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the largest performing arts programs in the state and one of the largest programs in the region and in the country.*

* The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (20 January 2015). "UNCG: GRAMMY nods for four with ties to School of Music, Theatre... -- GREENSBORO, N.C., Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --".

Ronald A. Crutcher: from Cellist to University President

Ronald A Crutcher, 1989 

It is always heartwarming to see musicians ascending to high places in academia. Dr. Ronald A. Crutcher served as professor of cello and head of the strings department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1979 to 1988. At age 17, he won the Cincinnati Symphony Young Artist Competition. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Crutcher studied cello at Yale University with Aldo Parisot, serving as Parisot's teaching assistant. Additionally, he was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, allowing him to study in West Germany with Siegfried Palm and Enrico Mainardi. Crutcher toured throughout Europe and the United States, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985. He was a founding member of the Chanticleer String Quartet and performed with the Klemperer Piano Trio, and with the UNCG Piano Trio. He held numerous positions as principal cellist. Among Crutcher’s recordings is the Barber “Sonata for Violoncello and Piano” with the Austrian Broadcasting Company in 1976. In 1979, he was the first cellist to be awarded a DMA from Yale University, after which he joined UNCG faculty.

At UNCG, Crutcher carried a heavy class load of sometimes four to five classes per semester, including Applied Cello (MUS 051), Chamber Music (MUS 396), and Afro-American Music (MUS 344). He was heavily active on faculty committees, including the Academic Cabinet, the School of Music Council, and the Phi Beta Kappa Executive and Fundraising Committee. He also served on the committee to develop a Black Studies minor at UNCG. Within the greater Greensboro community, he served as a board member for the Greensboro Cerebral Palsy Institute, as a member of the Guilford College Board of Visitors, and he served as chairman of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra Committee. Crutcher was a professional consultant for the North Carolina Arts Council and the Chamber Music/New Music Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts.

After serving as acting Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs from 1988-1989 at UNCG, Crutcher was elevated to Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Sadly, in 1990, Crutcher was lured away from UNCG, joining the Cleveland Institute of Music as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. Continuing a career of excellence, Crutcher held senior leadership posts at the University of Texas at Austin and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He became President of Wheaton College, where he also was elected chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

In 2015, Ronald Crutcher became President of the University of Richmond, where he continues his career-long commitment to higher education administration. However, Crutcher remains dedicated to his first love – music – serving as a professor in the School of Music at Richmond.

Jazzing-Up the Campus with Ray Gariglio

This blog post was authored by Anne Myers, Library and Information Studies practicum student at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, December 2015.

Ray Gariglio, 1975

Raymond J. Gariglio came to UNCG in 1966 as a Professor of Music and became the bandmaster for all UNCG performing band ensembles, many of which he founded himself. In 1969, he established the UNCG Jazz Ensemble, the first university-accredited jazz ensemble in North Carolina, and by 1983, his tireless work in the field had laid the groundwork for the development and debut of UNCG's Miles Davis Jazz Program to begin offering undergraduate degrees. In addition to developing funding and support for the program, including beginning a series of benefit concerts in 1974 funding the university's first Jazz Scholarship Fund, Gariglio also personally designed and developed the curriculum for the new program's teaching of Band Literature, Clarinet Performance, Instrumental Methods, Jazz Arrangement, Jazz Ensembles, Jazz Improvisation, and Wind Ensembles, laying the foundation for faculty to come to improve upon.

Gariglio's musical career did not begin with the university, however; he earned three separate Bachelor of Music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music (now, sadly, no longer in operation), one each in the fields of Theory and Clarinet Performance in 1952, and one in Composition in 1955. He earned his Masters of Music from Northwestern University, after which point, he entered the military during the Korean War, serving as the Band Director and clarinetist for the 89th Army Band until his honorable discharge in 1960.

Ray Gariglio, clarinet soloist, with the Page High School Jazz Ensemble, c 1980

A native of Illinois, Gariglio established himself as a premier clarinetist and musician in both the classical and jazz worlds of Chicago in the 1960s, performing as first clarinet and featured soloist for such major ensembles as the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago and the Chicago Little Symphony, the latter company touring all over North America. After touring extensively throughout the U.S. as a soloist, he relocated to North Carolina to begin his work with UNCG, where he founded and performed in various faculty and professional groups, including the East Wind Quintet, the Dixieland Band, the Ray Gariglio Jazz Quartet, and the University Commencement Band, all incorporating members of UNCG faculty and local artists. A great deal of the sheet music collection now held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives dates from this time period, and features arrangements and original compositions by Gariglio designed for performance by either student ensembles or his own artistic groups.

Not content with limiting his touring to the United States, Gariglio also took his teaching prowess abroad, serving as an instructor and performer for the Holy Trinity Music School's summer music camp in Leogane, Haiti, where he gave private lessons, tutoring in the clarinet as well as leading ensemble performances. Gariglio visited Haiti to teach at the camp multiple times from 1974 through the mid 1980s, and several of his original compositions and arrangements in the university's collection feature music written specifically for the Haitian Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many that were based on native Haitian musical themes that he encountered there.

As a member of the Greensboro musical community, Gariglio was also heavily involved in its performance and musical landscape for his entire residency, up until his death in 2003. His various performing ensembles were frequent staples of Greensboro society, performing at country clubs, benefit events, and community concerts, as well as acting as a soloist for many local high school and children's festival band performances.

Ray Gariglio and Hal Reynolds with the Page High School Jazz

Ensemble, c 1980

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives is proud to house the donated collection of Raymond J. Gariglio, an expansive collection of sheet music, handwritten musical manuscripts, and personal papers from one of the University's most beloved music faculty.
Having left a lasting legacy of students taught, ensembles founded, and UNCG's jazz department itself created and thriving, Gariglio's influence is still heavily felt in the Greensboro music landscape today.

Darlinettes and Rhythmettes: Big Band Sounds at the WC

In 1942, big band music from the likes of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman were all the rage, but local big bands were hard to find. Most of the musicians in these groups were male, and they were being drafted into military service during World War II. But a group of students at the Woman's College stepped in to fill the void, forming the Darlinettes and their four-member vocal group, The Rhythmettes, in 1942.

Practicing in the Brown Music Building

Many of the Darlinettes' and Rhythmettes' performances took place at Woman's College. They played many of the formal dances and "soldier dances" held on campus during and immediately after WWII. But the group was not confined to the WC campus. They played shows at the USO Club on North Elm Street, and they entertained troops stationed at the Army Air Corps' Overseas Replacement Depot in Greensboro. In 1946, they traveled to Asheville to provide entertainment at the 1st annual conference of the 191st District of Rotary International. Cleveland Thayer, General Chairman of the Distrct, wrote to offer his personal thanks to the Darlinettes for "the fine work of your orchestra."

The founding leader of the Darlinettes and Rhythmettes was Cherry Folger, who also played trumpet. Folger was reportedly the first trumpet major in the history of WC, and was quite the musician and leader. At the age of 14, she was fronting an all-male musical group in her hometown of White Plains, NY. According to a newspaper article from 1943, she "often hits high 'E' above high 'C' on the instrument, and has been known to touch high 'G.'" She formed the Darlinettes soon after arriving at WC in 1942 (she transferred after spending her first two years of college at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester).

 

When Folger graduated in 1944, Doris Funderburk took over the baton for the Darlinettes. Under Funderburk's leadership, the Darlinettes continued their busy performing schedule. But they also found time to record an album, titled "Autumn Serenade." The 78 rpm records were made May 26, 1946, at the Vic Smith Recording Service in Greensboro. They featured 10 songs, including an original piece written and orchestrated by Funderburk called "You Don't Get it From Books."

The group continued performing, with membership swapping out with each graduation, through the early 1950s. Many of the Darlinettes took up non-musical careers after graduation, but a few continued in a musical path. Frances Stevens Snipe of Clemson, SC, sang with Greensboro band leader Burt Massengale's group for a number of years. Mary Sampson Irvin played trombone with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. And Doris Funderburk Morgan served as the organist at the old Charlotte Coliseum for many years, playing music to enliven crowds at the Charlotte Checkers ice hockey games.

In September 2002, several members of the Darlinettes were reunited at an event organized by Burt Bruton, the nephew of the late Sue Bruton, an original member and saxophonist in the Darlinettes. The following May, the UNCG School of Music declared May 2 to be Darlinette Day. They hosted an event featuring Darlinettes members and established a Darlinettes Artist in Residence Endowment Fund, aimed at bringing female jazz artists to the school.

Meet Wade R. Brown, Founder of the Greensboro Music Scene

Wade R. Brown with his 1916 Music History Class

Although the Departments of Vocal Music and Instrumental Music had been unified into a single department at the State Normal and Industrial School by 1910, the quality of student education remained modest.  The focus of the Music Department was to cultivate its female student body for positions of leadership in churches and schools. The Greensboro music scene could be described as provincial, at best. Julius I. Foust, School president after Charles Duncan McIver’s death in 1906, understood that for his progressive vision of the campus to be realized, the School would require not only physical growth, but also an artistic and cultural invigoration. Success in this immense undertaking required an individual with force of personality, energy, and competency equal to the challenge. Foust selected Wade R. Brown (1866-1950) for the task.

When Julius Foust found Wade R. Brown, he was serving as Dean of the School of Music at Meredith College. A pianist by training, Brown had served on the faculty at Baker University, the Baptist Female College in Greenville, SC, and Winthrop College in South Carolina before holding his position at Meredith College. During his tenure at Meredith, Brown was described as a “masterful man,” and “an uncommon organizer… [who] knows how to marshall his forces and control and direct a great department.” When Brown was appointed Director of Music at the State Normal and Industrial School, some individuals in the Meredith College community took Foust’s seduction of their beloved music director, with the promise of higher salary, personally. One article stated, “The worst blow that has ever befallen Meredith College was the resignation of Mr. Wade R. Brown… it does hit rather hard for an institution like the Normal to secure one of our best.” Brown, perhaps seeking a new challenge, transitioned from Raleigh to Greensboro, building his residence on 1022 West Market St.

When Brown stepped on to the campus for the first time as Director of the Department of Music in 1912, he walked into the obstacles of a newly unified department, almost exclusively focused on voice and keyboard training, with no single building dedicated to teaching and rehearsal. Although the School did cultivate an orchestra, the city of Greensboro did not support any professional music organization. Therefore, aside from church music, Greensboro and the School existed in a musical void, as there were few venues in which to perform and no body of local, professional musicians to offer accompaniment to attract quality touring performers, let alone provide the enrichment of a consistent concert series. Brown, after taking a few months to settle into the area, assessed the situation, and instituted immediate improvements ("immediate" as in one month into his first semester).

Illustration from the 1914 Yearbook

The first means of improving the musical reputation of the School was to assess what was being taught and overhaul the music curriculum. Although the Department of Music was officially unified in 1906 and the first Bachelor of Music was offered in 1907, the program was still weak. The music curriculum was structured more as a general education with a focus on music. Brown developed a more formalized and intensive course of study for attaining a degree in music. This meant the quality of music student graduating from the State Normal and Industrial School improved, gradually bolstering the School’s reputation for producing competent music educators.     

Secondly, presenting opportunities for students to gain performance experience and for the public to develop a desire to listen and to discern quality music was needed. This meant performing in recitals. Wade R. Brown performed his first organ recital on Founder’s Day in October of 1912, which included “Grand March” from Verdi’s Aida, the “Prelude” in Bach’s Fugue in C minor, Handel’s The Largo, “In Summer” by Stebbins, Spinney’s “Berceuse,” and Flagler’s “The Old Folks at Home.”  The audience was enthralled by the performance, one citizen reporting, “I dropped in to see what it was like, expecting to stay ten minutes. But I could not leave. That was music. The Normal College has a treasure in Brown.” That same month, Brown organized a 125-voice chorus of students, as well.  For November of 1912, Brown arranged for the Schubert String Quartette from Boston to perform. Within a matter of months of Brown’s arrival in Greensboro, the State Normal and Industrial School, as well as the Greensboro public, were enjoying the benefits of a consistent concert series, captivated by the experience of hearing well-organized student ensembles and professional musicians.  

Auditorium of in the Student Building, 1913

With the first challenge of exposing the student body and the city to quality music conquered, Wade R. Brown transitioned to the next project, fostering the reputation of the State Normal and Industrial College’s Music Department. For this purpose, Brown implemented the statewide High School Contest-Festival in 1919. When the first contest was held in May of 1920, only 13 high school pianists entered.  By the 1939 Festival, 25,000 children competed at district levels with around 5,000 students traveling to the campus to compete in vocal, instrumental, and choral competition. Brown’s High School Music Contest-Festival was the forerunner of the present UNCG Summer Music Camp, which officially began in 1983. With the Contest-Festival an obvious success in promoting the College’s focus on music education, Brown transitioned to the most difficult of the tasks required of his tenure in Greensboro, structuring a culture of music appreciation among students and Greensboro citizens.

Wade R. Brown wrestled with the dilemma of developing a culture of music that was rather complex. For the College to produce exceptional music graduates, students needed to perform to larger audiences, and to experience performances by professional musicians. This would not only enhance student education but also nurture the lives of Greensboro residents. Unfortunately, until Brown arrived, music concerts, as an activity of personal enrichment, were not viewed as a cultural necessity for the area. From performing and arranging recitals, Brown knew that there was a population craving concerts, but there were few accommodations for large audiences, no money to pay decent performers to tour the Greensboro area, and no professional body of musicians to accompany touring performers. This was a daunting task, but Brown tackled it with his usual effectiveness.

 

In terms of performance venues, larger churches were commonly used in the beginning, but there was also a 700 seat auditorium available in the Student Union. Foust’s construction projects (with much urging from Brown) included the Music Building (now the Brown Building), which opened in 1925, as well as the Aycock Auditorium, which opened in 1926. This provided the college with sufficient seating to accommodate crowds that would be attracted by more noted performers.       

The Music Building (now the Wade R. Brown Building), 1927

Wade R. Brown immediately began using his personal connections to attract major music companies to perform in Greensboro. As there was no official symphony orchestra for Greensboro until 1939, State Normal music faculty and students provided accompaniment when possible. Eventually, with the increased hiring of members of the School of Music faculty, a symphony orchestra would be formed. However, in the early stages of the concert series, some of the more complex performances required a professional orchestra, and out of town symphonies were contracted.

Of course, the creation of a professional concert series for Greensboro required funding. Initially, Brown raised money on a per concert basis, which was not the ideal means of establishing a regular schedule for performances. With the opening of Aycock Auditorium guaranteeing a dedicated performance venue, Brown, along with C.G. Harrington and J.D. Wilkins, founded the Greensboro Civic Music Association. The mission of this Association was to support and advance awareness and appreciation of music among Greensboro citizens. Membership fees and donations provided a stable flow of funds for the Association to contract prominent musicians to perform for Greensboro audiences. To say that the venture was a success would be an understatement. By 1937, membership to the Civic Music Association was so popular, there was a waiting list. Additionally, during Wade R. Brown’s tenure as president of the Civic Music Association, Greensboro and the College had the honor of hosting Metropolitan Opera soprano Kristen Flagstad and bass Ezio Pinza, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, the National Symphony Orchestra, and Jascha Heifetz.

In 1934, Wade R. Brown stepped down as head of the what had become the School of Music, and formally retired from the faculty in 1936. After twenty-four years of service to the Women’s College (as of 1932) and the Greensboro community, Brown and his wife retired to Florida, spending much of their time travelling abroad to enjoy touring the musical capitals of Europe. Wade R. Brown died in May of 1950, one obituary notice reading, “he is memorialized, too, by the deeper appreciation of the fine things in life which he encouraged and cultivated in the minds and hearts of North Carolinians, both young and old.”

This is part three of a series of posts chronicling the history of the music program at UNCG: Part 1 and Part 2
Sources:
Wade R. Brown, Subject File, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Alumnae News of the State Normal and Industrial College [November 1912], UA43.6.01 Alumnae/Alumni News and UNCG Magazine, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
The Carolinian [1914], UA42.4.03 Pine Needles, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.The Carolinian [February 26, 1937], UA42.4.01 The Carolinian, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College. Junior History of Music Class, 1916, UA111 University Archives Scrapbook Collection, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Trelease, Allen W. 2004. Making North Carolina literate: the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from normal school to metropolitan university. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.
[Music Building (Tate Street)], UA104 Photographic Prints Collection, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
[Students' Building Auditorium], UA104 Photographic Prints Collection, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Buddy Gist, the Man Behind the Miles Davis Trumpet

The Miles Davis Trumpet is listed on the
UNCG Bucket List

Passing through the atrium of the Music Building, it is easy to overlook the modest exhibit featuring a trumpet. It is in a small case, dwarfed by its surroundings. Even upon reading the plaque, it is difficult to believe that the trumpet belonging to Miles Davis is housed on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Although the name of Miles Davis attracts immediate attention to the instrument, the man responsible for its donation is not as commonly remembered by the visitors making pilgrimages to be close to a noted artifact of music history. The Miles Davis Trumpet was donated to UNCG on September 27^th, 2001 by “Buddy” Gist.  

Arthur Taswell “Buddy” Gist, Jr. was born in Spartanburg, SC in 1925, but was raised in Greensboro, NC. His father and mother, Arthur and Louise Gist, were the proprietors of the Magnolia House Motel on Gorrell Street. The Gist family hosted an impressive array of entertainers in their establishment, including Ray Charles, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and Tina Turner. Magnolia House, which is preserved as a historical landmark, accumulated such a remarkable list of patrons because it served as one of the few motels providing quality accommodations for African American travelers prior to desegregation.

In August of 1942, Gist was enlisted in the military, serving in the Navy for the duration of World War II. Into adulthood, Buddy Gist attended North Carolina State A & T University, where he was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Upon graduating in 1947, Gist continued the entrepreneurial family tradition, but relocated from Greensboro to Harlem, which provided far greater opportunity than the South during the Jim Crow Era.

Upon taking up residence in Upper Manhattan, Buddy Gist submerged himself in the thriving African American cultural community. During one evening in 1949 at the Birdland Jazz Club, billed as the “Jazz Corner of the World,” Gist was introduced to Miles Davis by US heavyweight boxing champion, Ezzard Charles. This began Buddy Gist’s friendship Miles Davis and his family. Gist met many of Davis’ recording friends and even helped look after his children while Davis was on tour.

Miles Davis performed in concert at UNCG in 1973

Unlike many of his New York circle of friends, Buddy Gist was not a musician or sports hero. In keeping with his family tradition, Gist was a successful business owner through the 1960s and 1970s. He owned several car dealerships in the New York area, and he began two African import coffee companies, after which (Mt. Kilimanjaro Coffee Company), Miles Davis named his album, Filles de Kilimanjaro. For several decades, Gist lived a life of glamour and success, but by the 1980s, he fell upon hard times and returned to Greensboro.

A few years after taking up residence in Greensboro, Buddy Gist allowed the Miles Davis Trumpet to be exhibited on loan to UNCG, beginning in 1996. The trumpet was not officially donated to UNCG until September 27^th, 2001. At this time, the value of the trumpet, modestly estimated in the annual report of the School of Music, was $70,000. The jazz program became the Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program, a memorial to Gist’s friendship with the jazz legend. Soon after the donation became public and the instrument was on display, the Missouri Historical Society requested it be loaned for an exhibit on Miles Davis. A more professional appraisal was conducted, and it was discovered that the serial number on the UNCG trumpet matched that of the trumpet featured on the cover of Davis’ Kind of Blue album. This meant the instrument Gist donated was not just any trumpet, but that is was the trumpet used during the recording of a masterwork of 20^th century Jazz. This cultural treasure was revalued by appraisers at $1.6 million. In honor of Buddy Gist’s donation, Steve Haines, director of the UNCG Jazz Program, funded the construction of a custom display case in which the trumpet is featured today.

Tragically, Buddy Gist’s life took a turn for the worse. After returning from sabbatical in 2008, Steve Haines followed up on rumors that Buddy Gist, 83 years old, was homeless, living in Center City Park. By August of 2008, Haines organized assistance for Gist, moving him into Partnership Village, a program operated by Greensboro Urban Ministries. Essentially, Buddy Gist was adopted into the family of the UNCG music faculty. Chad Eby, jazz professor, invited him to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, and Gist continued to receive a steady stream of visitors who were recipients of the amazing stories Gist would tell about his life. In July 2009, Buddy Gist suffered an incapacitating stroke. John Salmon of the School of Music became Gist’s legal guardian, and he was moved into the Golden Living Nursing Center in Greensboro.         

Not a historically accurate photo, but we like to think Dr.
McIver would approve.

On April 18^th, 2010, Arthur “Buddy” Gist, Jr. died, requesting that all memorial donations be made to UNCG’s Miles Davis Jazz Festival. The UNCG School of Music held a memorial service in the Organ Hall on April 25^th, 2010. Gist’s name will be forever connected to Miles Davis through the generosity of his two greatest treasures, the trumpet and his relationship with the faculty of UNCG.    

Sources:

"Arthur Taswell "Buddy" Gist [obituary]," News and Record, April 22, 2010

"Memorial Service for 'Buddy' Gist set for Sunday at UNCG," by Dioni L. Wise, News and Record, April 21, 2010

"Miles Davis' historic trumpet at UNCG," by Kevin Harvey, The Carolinian. April 19, 2002, pp.1,3

"Miles Davis' longtime friend Buddy Gist dies," by Dioni L. Wise, News and Record, April 19, 2010

"Notes from a Friend," by Jerry Rowe in UNCG Magazine, Spring 2010

"Preservation in Greensboro: 2011 at its Best" February 9, 2012

"Taking care of Buddy," by Jeri Rowe, News and Record, October 18, 2009.

"WTF is that?," by Sam Fornecker, The Carolinian, September 12, 2006, p.11

Additional Spartan Stories about music:
Music on Demand, Part 1: Marketing Music Education to the State Normal and Industrial School Curriculum, 1892-1912

Music on Demand, Part 2: Music and the Early Curriculum, 1892-1910

Elizabeth Cowling: Cellist, Musicologist, Teacher

Music on Demand, Part 2: Music and the Early Curriculum, 1892-1910

Clarence R. Brown

While the founders of the State Normal and Industrial School agreed that some music education was critical to a woman’s education, the first fifteen years of the School’s history were spent puzzling over why and how to fit music into the curriculum rather than developing a music curriculum. As the School was founded with the mission of producing teachers and educated mothers to assist in the recovery of the post war South, classes needed to support the three concentrations of study: Normal, Industrial, and Commercial. Consequently, what would become the early Music Department (beginning 1907-08) was built from two separate music departments, the Department of Vocal Culture and the Department of Instrumental Music. These two programs operated parallel to each other, formed by differing needs and influences.    

Announcement of the creation of the Instrumental Music Studio

When the Prospectus for the State Normal and Industrial School was published in 1892, the “music program” was part of the Department of Vocal Culture, listing Bessie Worthington as the instructor. By the time the first class of students arrived on campus, the instructor position for the department had been transferred to Clarence Richard Brown, a music teacher from Winston, North Carolina. Brown, with Lina McDonald as his assistant, constituted the first music faculty on campus. However, Vocal Music was only one part of the Department of Vocal Culture, which also included Reading and Elocution. Vocal music comprised the entirety of the music curriculum until 1899. The Department of Vocal Culture was categorized as a Special Department, meaning that requirements for the courses would be specific to certain concentrations of study.

Laura L. Brockmann

In the Third Annual Catalog , courses in music were most emphasized in the Normal (listed as “regular” in the catalog) and Commercial curricula. Classes in Vocal Music were required for freshman and sophomores, but transitioned to Elocution for juniors. None of the three concentrations of study required classes in Vocal Culture by the senior year. Examinations for these classes were divided into theory and practice by 1897, and particularly talented freshmen could transfer to or place out of required classes after a three month review.

The rationale for requiring classes in vocal music for all students derived from the leadership roles available to women at that time. Singing and teaching others to sing served as a necessary skill set for women in secular and religious organizations. By the 1894-95 school year, when Vocal Music was listed in the course catalog as an official department, the mission of the department was:

Charles J. Brockmann

“To give each student, regardless of any special talent for music, an opportunity to become a fairly good singer, to have sufficient knowledge in the rudiments of music to enable her to read at sight all ordinary music, and to be able to teach the first principles of singing and sight-reading to the pupils of her school.” 

Predictably, the first music classes at the State Normal and Industrial School aimed at music education, reflecting the overall mission of the School—to produce competent educators. Because of the narrowness of the pedagogical focus on music and the democratic view that all students “regardless of any special talent for music” should be taught, demand was made for more extensive and exclusive training by the more musically inclined students.

In 1899, Dr. McIver and the Board of Directors approved the creation of the Special Department of Instrumental Music, under the leadership of Charles J. Brockmann and Laura Brockmann. Although classes in this department were open to any student, an extra $40.00 in fees had to be paid for lessons in this program. The Brockmanns had been operating a private music school on West Market Street, providing instruction for piano and stringed instruments, their students commonly serving as the orchestra for School functions.

Although the Brockmanns offered training in a variety of instruments, only piano and violin counted in terms of grading (with the exception of a rouge mandolin performer mentioned in the 1903 course grades). The course of study was more rigorous than that of Vocal Music, two years work in harmony, one year in music history (taught by Clarence R. Brown), and one or more years in ensemble performance. Entrance requirements for the “Music Course,” a course designed for skilled musicians, demanded that the student demonstrate “sufficient training to play the simple forms of scales in all keys correctly, and to read music in the easier grades readily at sight.” By the 1900-01, the School Orchestra was formed and in the 1902 semester, nearly fifty students had enrolled to take classes in instrumental music.    

The 1913 Orchestra pictured above was far more dynamic than the Infant Orchestra,though Brockmann mentions that "the violin family... is sufficiently large..., but they seem a little timid about the wind instruments as yet."

Although Vocal Music and Instrumental Music were separate departments as of 1902, the School had implemented a more robust music curriculum overall.  In this year, the first diploma in music was offered, specifically for vocal music, pianoforte, and violin. This diploma was not an actual degree in music, serving more as a certification designating a course of study with a music concentration.   The first student to earn this diploma was May Lovelace, who taught music at the Graded School in Wilson after graduation. The first senior essay devoted to music, “Influence of Music,” was written in 1902 by Ella Louise Mallison.

The 1907-08 school year was pivotal for the music program, as the program experienced substantial changes in terms of staffing and structure. After Clarence R. Brown’s death in 1907, Hermann H. Hoexter served as head of Vocal Music. Additionally, Albert S. Hill was hired as Director of Music, combining the Departments of Vocal Music and Instrumental Music into a single unit. With the unification of the music program, the first course of study leading to a Bachelor of Music was offered. The Department of Music continued to grow, in terms of faculty and courses offered, but would experience a massive transformation under the leadership of Wade R. Brown in 1912. 

This is part two of a series of posts chronicling the history of music program at UNCG. Part 1 on the funding of the music program can be found here.

Music on Demand, Part 1: Marketing Music Education to the State Normal and Industrial School Curriculum, 1892-1912

Glee Club, 1895-96. The only music training
provided at this time was vocal. 

The first students to attend the State Normal and Industrial School in 1892 were greeted by a progressive curriculum, demanding competencies in many disciplines unfamiliar to women of that time. Charles Duncan McIver’s insistence that women educated in a liberal arts curriculum would remedy the state of education in the South acquainted these women with courses in classical languages, history, and literature, in addition to the expected training. With importance on providing education emphasizing a trade or skill set, however, how much support should be devoted to the fine arts? Was there a profit to providing these students with a music education?

Dr. McIver and the Board of Directors believed that at least a modest music education was of use to these future teachers and mothers, creating the Department of Vocal Music. Clarence R. Brown, one of three men in the original teaching faculty, was appointed by McIver, and Lina McDonald was hired as his assistant (McDonald died within a few months after being hired; she was hit by a train walking along west campus). Brown taught music privately in Winston-Salem, and in a letter to McIver, stated that he would not require a high salary, as he could use his trips to the School to recruit Greensboro students for individual instruction. As men faculty earned significantly more than women faculty (the rationale being men carried the financial burden of a family), Brown’s offer was both prudent and convenient. In addition to teaching classes in vocal music, Brown conducted the Glee Club, the first School music ensemble.

In the first annual catalog for the Normal and Industrial School, the Department of Vocal Music advertised itself based on three selling points. First, the department marketed itself by promoting the acquisition of a basic music education as an essential trend for Americans entering the workforce. Furthermore, the departmental mission insinuated that a lack of competency in music is detrimental to religious institutions, as the quality of a service would degrade. Since perpetuating Christian teachings was held as the responsibly of mothers and the female members of a congregation, vocal music instruction was deemed as especially critical for the education of women. Finally, the Music Department boasted itself as a democratic program in stating every student, “regardless of any special talent for music,” should have the opportunity to receive some form of music education. This advocating of music as a universally required skill for women was supported philosophically for all students, but only monetarily for future teachers.

The 1902 State Normal and Industrial School Orchestra

It did not take long for students interested in instrumental performance to petition for instructional support. In 1899, McIver, with agreement from the Board of Directors, hired Charles and Laura Brockmann (brother and sister) to form the Department of Instrumental Music. The Brockmann’s were familiar to the School, having operated the Brockmann School of Music on 410 East Market Street. Also, Brockmann students performed at campus events requiring instrumental music, fulfilling the role of the orchestra. Concentrating on piano and violin performance, the “Infant Orchestra” was introduced the 1900/01 academic year. While popular demand by students for an expansion of this music curriculum undoubtedly stimulated the creation of a new program, there was an additional motive. 

Because only classes for vocal music were offered by the School, students interested in instrumental tutelage sought out private instructors. In the Student’s Handbook for 1899-1900, of the ten advertisements featured in the back of the publication, half were offering services towards instrumental music lessons. All studios were near campus, and the prices listed ranged from $2.50-$4.00 per month per student. One instructor offered piano lessons in addition to the cost of board for convenient off-campus housing. Greensboro Female College (now Greensboro College) even paid to promote their voice and piano program in the handbook. Clearly, there was a market for instrumental music instruction, and the State Normal and Industrial School students appeared to be a solid customer-base, willing to pay extra for a more robust music curriculum.

The Department of Vocal Music and the Department of Instrumental Music existed primarily as self-subsidized programs; aside from faculty salary, little money was invested by the state for support. Music was categorized as a special type of class, requiring vocal students to pay an extra $20 in fees and instrumental students an additional $40 (unless they promised to serve as teachers for two years after graduation). Instrumental students brought their own instruments, with the exception of a piano, which under the $40.00 fee, rented the piano for one hour of practice per day. This meant that music students in the 1890s-1910s paid at least 20% more out of pocket to the School compared to other students.

Because music faculty earned income privately from independent students, their salaries were not comparably large. Aside from faculty salary and the purchase of $127.54 in sheet music in 1901, the Departments of Vocal and Instrumental Music were not only financially solvent as independent programs, but potentially profitable for the State Normal and Industrial School. The 1902 Board of Director’s report indicated that the Music Department earned $2,318.17, providing greater income for the campus than the campus farm or the Peabody Fund allotment.

The popularity of the music programs continued to increase. As of 1901, the School began to offer a music concentration within the Normal curriculum. The first Bachelors of Music degree was offered in the 1907/08 school year. Obviously, the special music classes not only were viewed as profitable to students as future educators, but to the institution, as well.

This is part one of a series of posts chronicling the history of music programs at UNCG. Part 2 on the early music curriculum will be posted on January 6th, 2014.

Elizabeth Cowling: Cellist, Musicologist, Teacher

Elizabeth Cowling, Early 1940s

In the culture of classical music, instruments are more than objects that produce sound. Instruments have names, personalities, and even gender. Within the family of stringed instruments, the relationship between the performer and the violoncello infers an even more romantic dynamic. The curves of the instrument combined with the straddling poise of the musician in performance suggests an intimate relationship between the cellist and cello in which the cellist is typecast as the masculine partner. Certainly, it is not until the 20th century that the status of the woman cellist transitions from performing oddity to acknowledged musician, although it is not until the 1950s and 1960s in which women were accepted as concert performers and soloists. Considering the distinctive masculine tradition of the cellist, it is fascinating to note that the archive with the single largest holding of cello music related material in the world began at the Women’s College with a female cellist by the name of Elizabeth Cowling.

Elizabeth Cowling (1910-1997) accepted the position of assistant professor in the School of Music in August of 1945 with a salary of $2500 for nine months of instruction. She came to the Women’s College after earning a Master’s degree in Economics from Columbia University as well as a Master’s degree in Cello Performance at Northwestern University (she received her PhD in Music History and Literature from Northwestern in 1960). As a faculty member, Cowling earned a reputation as a demanding instructor, challenging her students with lessons described as “bone-chillingly frightening.” As one of Cowling’s former students remembers her,

“She simply demanded our best… always…and all us little Southern girls, in starched cotton dresses, had never met anyone quite like her. We all agree now that she was the one who made is aware of our minds…and forced us to use them.”

The intimidating standard of industry Elizabeth Cowling expected from her students applied to her own efforts. The course load Cowling maintained as a professor required the hiring of three full time professors in Music History within four years of her retirement.

As was required of Woman’s College School of Music faculty, Cowling regularly performed in concerts locally, though her legacy is as a researcher and author of music history. Her passion of music history, specifically the history of the cello, led her to Luigi Silva, the acclaimed cellist and musicologist whose collection is the foundation of the UNCG Cello Music Collections. Her correspondence with Silva began in 1946, and the support of Silva as a mentor (and later, a colleague), combined with Cowling’s exhaustive research, would lead to the publishing of The Cello, the most comprehensive biography of the instrument to have ever been written in English at that time. The acclaimed work is still standard reading for music history and has, since its publication in 1975, been revised and published in Japanese.

Dedication of the Luigi Silva Library, 1964
(from left to  right: Janos Scholz,
Mrs. Brett Armfield,
Elizabeth Cowling, and Charles M. Adams)

The research materials for The Cello were derived from Cowling’s research trips to music archives in Europe, but also, in part, from the impressive library of Luigi Silva. When Silva’s widow made the library available for sale after his death in 1961, Elizabeth Cowling urged the Library to consider the investment. With the blessing of Charles M. Adams, the University Librarian, the Friends of the Library purchased the Luigi Silva Cello Music Collection in 1963, with the official dedication of the collection in 1964. Given the value and rarity of items in the Silva Collection, and since there was no separate music library or music librarian at the time, the Silva Library was initially housed in its own room in the Library under the care of Special Collections and University Archives.

The School of Music and the University Library collaborated in a Luigi Silva tribute event in 1964, publicizing the acquisition of the collection. Immediately, the Library received letters inquiring about research access and the content of the collection, questions that were generally forwarded to Elizabeth Cowling. The Silva Library remained the only cello music collection until 1977, when Cowling donated her personal score collection to the Library. With the combined cello music collections of Silva and Cowling, the Library could claim an archive of nearly 2450 scores, predominantly featuring the cello.

Elizabeth Cowling’s influence does not end with the donation of her collection in 1977. Her professional acquaintances and friendships with cellists around the world, combined with the prestige of sharing an archive with Luigi Silva, encouraged established cellists to donate their collections with the result that the Rudolf Matz Cello Music Collection was donated in 1986. By the time of Elizabeth Cowling’s death, Special Collections and University Archives housed the collections of Luigi Silva (1963), Elizabeth Cowling (1977), Rudolf Matz (1986), Maurice Eisenberg (1989), and Janos Scholz (1994).

Elizabeth Cowling died February 18, 1997, leaving a $190,000 gift to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, $20,000 of which was dedicated to the Library for the processing and cataloging of the collections into the OCLC online database, making the Cello Music Collections more accessible to cellists and music researchers worldwide.

Luigi Silva Collection Cataloging Project Completion
Celebration, 2001 (Left: Sarah Dorsey, Music Librarian;
Right: Joan Staples, Cello Music Cataloger)

October 23rd of this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UNCG Cello Music Collection, beginning with the acquisition of the Luigi Silva Collection in 1963. Presently, the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives boasts the collections of ten cellists: Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, Janos Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, and Lubomir Georgiev.

Although Elizabeth Cowling’s impact on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and music research is substantial, perhaps one of her former students articulated her legacy best when they wrote, “this woman exudes the mystique of music from her very being. Its joy and beauty permeate her soul, and are reflected back to those around. She is a pied piper for music students, luring them into the adventure of musicianship.”