MarySue Harris: Rewards and Awards of a Life of Teaching

Nebraska Music Teachers Association (NMTA) has much to be proud of this year. In addition to David von Kampen’s award as MTNA 2015 Distinguished Composer of the Year, longtime NMTA teacher MarySue Harris was awarded the Distinguished Service Award. 

Although Harris was “truly in disbelief about receiving the award,” it is certainly a well-deserved recognition for not only 40+ years of teaching, but also many years of involvement in teachers associations at local and national levels. Harris spoke with LincolnCMN this week about the award and her career as a teacher. 

“It is an extremely meaningful award because it validates all of my service (musically and as a  volunteer) for many years!  Hearing them read my service record was truly an amazing realization.....that I actually HAD served my local, state and national organizations, with great joy!”

MarySue Harris MTNA 2015 Distinguished Service

In the 1990s, Harris was twice honored in Nebraska once as Teacher of the Year and later with the Service Award for outstanding service. At the national level, she served as Community Outreach and Education Chair. Harris has also established an endowment fund that “allows qualified the qualified teacher to receive money from the Fellowship to build his/her studio and help it prosper.” Certainly, in this way, Harris will continue helping the music teaching community for many years to come.

“It has been a constant goal to be the best member I could be, of all the music teachers organizations; and they have served me so well as I participated to the fullest!” Harris is a wonderful example of the reciprocity of the music teachers associations—as she gave of her time, she received fellowship and practical help as well.

Harris’ life of teaching has been a joy to her as well as others:

“Having just given a workshop on technic today for Lincoln Music Teachers, I am reminded that the interest, receptivity and thoughtful consideration given to me by the teachers attending were the best rewards I could ever hope for!  There is definitely  a reciprocal element in giving of yourself.  I am most grateful for all the interest and eagerness to learn something new that the teachers showered on me!  I had this same kind of welcome reception from my students when I was teaching!  It was always a real pleasure to teach!”

Harris’ advice for other teachers is to wish them what she has found to be true: “Give it your ALL!  And it will reward you in return!”

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MTNA awards David von Kampen's musical world

David von Kampen is the winner
of the MTNA 2015 Distinguished
Composer of the Year 

David von Kampen has an impressive About page at his website and is currently lecturer of theory and literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln among other positions and accomplishments—but you don’t need to know all that to become a fan. 

Just take a listen to his music.

The judges for the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) 2015 convention must have thought the same thing: out of 32 entries, von Kampen’s song cycle, “Under the Silver and Home Again: Five Walter de la Mare Lyrics for Baritone and Piano” was selected as the winner for 2015 Distinguished Composer of the Year.

von Kampen recently spoke with LincolnCMN about this piece and the award. The piece was commissioned by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association (NMTA), and von Kampen had no trouble choosing to compose for baritone and piano; “I wanted to write something for Nathan Sullivan to perform, and I knew piano/vocal would be easily transportable. I decided it would be a song cycle, then went poem-hunting.”

von Kampen settled on five poems by Walter de la Mare, “The Old Stone House,” “The Buckle,” “The Ride-by-Nights,” “Bunches of Grapes” and “Mistletoe.” When asked to give listening advice for this work, von Kampen said, “in a piece like this, I'm trying to establish contrasting musical characters between the movements. If you listen through the whole thing, hopefully there is a really nice sense of flow from one to the next - where nothing sounds the same, but it all feels like it belongs to the same world.”

Fortunately, you can listen to each movement of “Under the Silver and Home Again” here and get a sense for this “world” that von Kampen has created with this work. Many of von Kampen’s compositions can be heard on soundcloud, and listeners will enjoy the jazz influence in many of his pieces: “When I'm not writing for actual jazz ensembles (instrumental or vocal),” von Kampen shared, “I think my jazz background still comes through the music a little bit. Generally this is more about the harmony than rhythm or style. Jazz harmony is both complex and beautiful, which I think is an appealing combination.” He went on to state, “I like all sorts of different things.” 

As von Kampen enjoys “great songwriters, all sorts of popular and folk music. Choral, chamber music, musical theater,” he says that his career as a musician and composer was thanks to “very supportive parents and teachers” and the fact that “the more I did composed, the more natural it became.”

His advice to aspiring professional musicians and composers is to “Become a decent pianist, learn how to play by ear. Be able to sing (even if you aren't a singer), and be able to sight-read. Get practical experience however you can - composing, performing. Collaborate with friends. Listen to lots of music.”

As a modern composer in today’s world where many still think of classical music as “dead” or at least “boring,” von Kampen brings a sound that is very alive—blending many wonderful styles of music in his own unique style. 

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St. Olaf Choir Concert: Hope for today and for the future

Last night, the St. Olaf Choir sang to a sold out crowd at First Plymouth Church. “Tonight,” said Conductor Anton Armstrong, whose preconcert interview with LincolnCMN can be read here, “this space truly feels like a place of worship.” The concert was more than a concert, in a way, everyone was joined together in a time of prayer—listening and soaking in a “message of hope and light.”

The texts selected varied in language, but certainly all contained the transformative message of love and hope that Armstrong spoke of at the end of the evening. Latin, Hebrew, German, and English were all sung, and the texts ranged from scripture to poetry to liturgical prayers. 

St. Olaf Choir 2016 Winter Tour
courtesy of St. Olaf Choir

The variety of styles made the evening more enjoyable than many choral concerts tend to be when the constant sameness of sound has a numbing quality. From a not-often-heard work by Bach to a Ginastera setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah  to a very unexpected and rousing gospel-style setting of Credo featuring piano and drum set or the beautiful Magnificat of David N. Childs with its ancient text and modern harmonies, the program was designed by a masterful hand. The sound of each new piece was alternately uplifting, exciting, peaceful, beautiful, hopeful, or triumphantly powerful.

Whether the music was written in the 1700s or 2015, the choir was moving with rhythm and emotion flowing through their bodies. An audience can’t help but feel and move with the music when presented with sound and sight that catches them up and draws them along so completely!

In the performance given by these young people, the audience could hear why diction, dynamics, pitch, and the multitude of things a conductor pleads with his choir to do are so important, when done properly, music is created. The details don’t stand out, they are forgotten, and all the listener experiences is simply music—that mysterious art that moves people beyond their own hurts and sorrows and gives them hope. It is clear that whatever transformation may have taken place in the hearts of audience members, the experiences these young college students have from singing in this choir will have a profound impact in who they are as they go out into their various careers. 

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Anton Armstrong and the St. Olaf Choir: Unity, hope, and love

St. Olaf Choir in Concert
courtesy of St. Olaf Choir

On Saturday, January 30th, at 7:00pm, the St. Olaf Choir will perform as a part of the Abendmusik season at First Plymouth Church (2000 D Street). The choir performed in Lincoln in 2011, and whether you were in the audience then or not, now is a not-to-be-missed chance to be transformed by a message of hope and love.

In an exclusive interview with LincolnCMN, Conductor Anton Armstrong explained that the choir’s purpose is “not to entertain.” Instead, “if we have done our job properly, the listener will feel transformed. If the listener is entertained, that is simply a wonderful byproduct.” In selecting the repertoire and rehearsing the choir, Armstrong has spent time on the meaning of the texts “not just on the music.”

What does this mean? Certainly, the St. Olaf Choir excels in their choral sound and musicality. They are “amateurs,” Armstrong says, but only in the best sense of the word which comes from the Latin word “amat, to love.” While the choir sings at a high professional level, it is unlike “professionals [who] often forget the love of the art. This group will not disappoint.”

Having evolved over 104 years, the choir is, in a way, “a microcosm of the college.” St. Olaf College is, as described by Armstrong, “a traditional, liberal arts college, but with a global perspective and grounded in faith; an ecumenical community of faith.”

Anton Armstrong conducting
courtesy of St. Olaf Choir

Armstrong, only the fourth conductor in the history of the choir, sang as a student in the choir during it’s 75th anniversary year. Under his predecessor, Kenneth Jennings, Armstrong was given “insight into the history of the choir.” While Jennings was also “opening the sound” including music more acceptable to modern aesthetics of the late 20th century. Jennings expanded to choir’s repertoire to include not only sacred, but also secular works.

“Jennings opened the door, and I kicked it wide open.” 

Besides including some instruments instead of being exclusively a cappella, Armstrong has broadened the styles of choral music that the choir sings. As the choir has traveled around the world, they have expanded their repertoire to include the music of the places they travel. They’ve also included more music that is a part of America, Armstrong shared, “I love styles of Gospel and African work songs and freedom. No other group was doing that kind of thing when we started.”

In Lincoln, the audience will also hear a piece by a current student in the choir, “encouraging modern composers and works,” and step back in time to a lesser known work by Bach. “It’s a smorgasbord,” Armstrong commented. The evening will include a work by Jennings, Armstrong’s predecessor who passed away this past year; Ginastera, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of his birth; a choral work by Kurt Weill, “he’s not usually associated with choral works, but this is a wonderful piece, a Shabbat prayer.”

Most importantly, Armstrong’s wish for the Lincoln audience is the same as what he wishes for the students in the choir, that “the music will feed their souls.”  

It’s recognizing the diversity of the students, or of the audience, “we think of diversity of ethnicity and race (which there is in this choir), but in the years I’ve been here, I’ve realized that diversity goes beyond that. It is socio-economic, political, religious, spiritual—even if they look the same, they are not the same.” But in this musical experience, Armstrong wants singers and listeners alike to “leave transformed as human beings. To be opened up to a message of hope, of love, and to feel a little better about the world that they live in. In a time of division and hate, find unity and love.” 

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New (and old) music in a new place

Justin Lepard graduated with a Bachelor's degree from UNL this weekend, but he's already had a positive influence on the Lincoln Classical music scene. Last night, he held his senior recital at The Pilgrimer, a unique coffee house supporting the Lincoln community. Earlier this year, he performed a concert featuring new and exciting pieces which you can read more about here.

Justin Lepard
photo by James Dean

Last night's program featured a variety of styles of music from the Romantic time period to serial music and concluding with Jazz.

The setting was intimate. Just a few rows circling the small stage. Sounds from next door, a pub, were audible through the wall and several times, bass was heard thumping from traffic going by outside. It's not what we're accustomed to in our usual concert-going experience of sitting in a still, quiet, and expansive concert hall. It makes you think that this is how so much music has been experienced over the centuries from chamber ensembles in the 18th-19th centuries and before to the start of so many "garage bands" in the past decades. We're not just passive listeners, we're active participants in the musical experience.

Each piece was exciting and provoking in its own way. Brahms Cello Sonata in E Minor, performed with collaborative pianist, Emily Tidd, was an example of Romantic music, and it was exciting and emotional--especially in that intimate setting. Le Grande Tango of Astor Piazzolla, also performed with Tidd, was a flashy and fun piece showing more modern and Latin inspired Classical music.

While the intimate experience could've been put to even better use by Lepard sharing more thoughts about each piece or by drawing attention to the musical structure or themes to give a sort of listening guide to the audience, he did share one thought that was thought-provoking.

Lepard was about to perform the last three movements of the serialist Six Pieces for Violoncello by Roger Sessions, the first movements of which he had cleverly interspersed before and between the Brahms and Piazzolla, when he started talking about the Beatles. That reference had to get people's attention. Lepard said that the music of the Beatles is more musically complex and creative than you would expect, but when Paul or John would be asked about why they had chosen a specific chord, they wouldn't always even know what that chord was--they just liked it. Why bring this up in reference to a serial piece? Even though serial music is so organized that it is composed using "algorithms" and a matrix, it too is for our experience. Basically, listen; experience. Whether it's the Beatles or Roger Sessions, you can experience music or marvel at the mathematic organization of it--and there's always something to stretch your ears a little.

The cello-bassoon duo was certainly a piece that required an open mind and ear. A piece originally composed for two bassoons by Sofia Gubaidulina, Lepard transcribed the second bassoon part for cello (and had to tune the cello down in order to play it). Performing on the bassoon was Jeffrey McCray, bassoon professor at the School of Music. With two very different instruments, it was fascinating to see and hear the way in which Lepard used his cello--creatively finding techniques with which to perform almost bassoon-like passages.

At the end, Lepard had some fun in store for the audience as Kurt Knecht and Eric Hitt joined him on the tiny stage for some jazz. Evident here was not the concentration and effort seen earlier in the young performer, but the simple and unadulterated joy in creating music.

Lepard is promoting some great ideas: bring art music (of all kinds) to the community in coffee houses and unconventional venues and perform new music and compositions.

These ideas are growing and are awesome to see gaining momentum among Lincoln musicians.

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