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Newsletter of the Milligan College Music Area July 2006 Opus 22, No. 1
from Kellie Brown Well, summer is upon us again. It seems like the semesters go by so quickly. This past year has been filled with many exciting musical experiences at Milligan. As you will read about in the various columns, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality in our curriculum and experiences. The highlight of the fall semester was our collaboration with the theater department to present the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! Back in Seeger Chapel for the first time in many years, the cast accompanied by the Milligan Orchestra in the pit created a show that will be remembered for a long time. The opportunity to combine the theater and music areas is such a tremendous opportunity for Milligan students and faculty. Some of our other great events include the annual Milligan Christmas Concert, the Concert Choir’s Broadway Revue, the Jazz Band Spring Concert, and the Milligan Orchestra’s world premier. I hope that you will enjoy reading about these in more detail throughout the newsletter. As always, we are continually striving to improve the curriculum and total experience that we provide for music students. In that pursuit, we are pleased to announce the addition of a practice lab with Smart Music. Smart Music is an intelligent accompanying software program that comes with thousands of musical titles already installed. Students are then able to practice their repertoire with the computer accompanying. The amazing technology actually follows the performer in a simulation of a real performance situation. This software has been installed in faculty studios and also in the new practice lab, created for just that purpose. I trust that you will rejoice with us in our new successes, and we would love to hear from you and any ideas that you have to improve music at Milligan.
Concert Choir closed the season with a performance of the Fauré Requiem, in collaboration with the Orchestra. Soloists for the event were sophomore music major Brett Andrews of West Lebanon, IN, and music ministry minor Leslie Johnson, of East Marietta, GA. The performance finished out a season that included a Christmas performance with the Johnson City Symphony, a choreographed Broadway revue called I Got Rhythm, a ten-day tour in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois at spring break, and numerous appearances in upper East Tennessee. Spirit is high in Concert Choir, and students compete for a spot in the group. This fall the choir will have about 35 members. Next spring the choir will tour in Virginia, Maryland, and New York.
THE by Rick Simerly The Milligan College Jazz Ensemble had three major performances during the academic year of 2005-2006. On November 21st, the fall concert was held in Seeger Chapel. Selections from the libraries of Maynard Ferguson, Miles Davis, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and John Coltrane were performed. The program featured outstanding soloists in the group such as: Kelly Scollin, Jason Bailey, Jacob Pitts and Kevin White on trumpet; Dick Davis, Daniel Lockhart and Danny Williams on saxophone; Luke Rogers on trombone; Mark Thie on piano; and Eddie Dalton and Jerry Gannaway on drums. Overall it was a great evening of music that was performed to a capacity crowd in Seeger Chapel. April was “Jazz Appreciation Month” as designated by the Smithsonian Institute and the April 24th spring concert was one of only four “JAM” events registered in Tennessee by the Smithsonian Institute. The spring concert featured numbers that were recorded by the great bands of Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Tito Puente, Horace Silver, and Sonny Rollins. In addition, three area musicians were selected as the “Statesmen of Jazz” for our region. Jimmy Fleenor, Bill Gamble and Charles Goodwin were honored for their contributions to jazz in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Each honoree played a solo number and was presented a plaque by Milligan College president, Dr. Don Jeanes. The last number of the evening, “One O’Clock Jump” featured all three statesmen on the finale of the evening. An estimated crowd of over 900 people attended the concert. One week prior to the concert the jazz ensemble performed at Milligan College’s annual awards convocation. The 2006-2007 academic year promises more exciting jazz events. The jazz ensemble will be involved with an original musical in October. The production will be entitled The Gospel According To Jazz and is scheduled for performance during homecoming weekend, October 26-28. Because of this production, there will not be a fall jazz ensemble concert. The spring concert is scheduled for Monday, April 23rd, 2007. Both will start at 7:30 p.m. in Seeger Chapel on the Milligan campus. Hope to see you there.
KEYBOARD NOTES from Anne Elliott The keyboard department maintains its vital role in the music department at Milligan College. It continues to strive for excellence in performance as well as emphasize functional piano skills for music education and the local church. This year as in the past piano students, both majors and minors, have provided piano accompaniment in both vocal and instrumental recitals. In May 2006 the department also presented a piano solo recital by sophomore student, Kylie Thiel. Miss Thiel performed works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy. In addition to the standard piano class for music majors with piano as secondary emphasis, our keyboard lab facilities allow us to continue to offer all Milligan students a beginner piano class for non-music majors. Catering to the student with no previous experience with piano, this class has been successful since its inception in fall 2004. Some of these students have continued their piano study in private lessons as an elective. We continue to enjoy the wonderful sound and touch of the 9-foot Steinway after having undergone extensive technical work last year. This coming year we plan to enhance the 7-foot Steinway with some much-needed technical attention. The completion of the work on the 7-foot will mean that both our pianos are in their top performance condition. We are pleased to provide our students the opportunity to perform on such quality instruments.
We are looking forward to welcoming several new piano students in the Fall 2006 semester. If you know anyone who would like to study piano at Milligan, please contact me at:
This year has been an interesting one for the organ at Milligan. Last fall the organ was diagnosed with leather failure – that means that the leather parts of the bellows mechanisms need to be replaced. Some of that work was done last summer, but much more still needs doing. This summer the Colby Co. of Johnson City will complete the second phase of the renovation, which will include all the releathering of the pedal division. The rest of the organ will receive its service during three subsequent years, as time and money allow. We are very fortunate at Milligan to have such a wonderful organ, and it remains an integral part of the life of our college.
This past year has been an exciting one for the strings program. First, the orchestra had the tremendous opportunity of playing in the pit for the musical Oklahoma! While some of the students had done pit work before, it was a new experience for many of the players. Because of the demanding schedule to learn the musical by October, the orchestra did not have their usual November concert. The orchestra did continue to serve local churches by providing music for their worship services including at First United Methodist in Johnson City, Airport Christian Church in Blountville, and First Christian in Johnson City, a performance which was snowed out the first time and then rescheduled. The highlight of the orchestra’s year was the world premier of Genesis by internationally renowned composer Kenton Coe. Commissioned by myself and Milligan’s chapter of MENC, Coe created a 15-minute work for 2 narrators, string orchestra, and organ that told the creation story through word and programmatic music. The featured narrators were Richard Major, chair of the PVC Area at Milligan and Dr. Mark Matson, Academic Dean. The organ part was performed by long-time Milligan professor, Dr. David Runner. This is the fourth world premier that the Milligan Orchestra has presented and without a doubt our greatest. Other features of the concert included the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Celli performed by Jim Benelisha and Cheryl Fitzgerald, professional cellist in our area; Albinoni Adagio with Kaitlyn Ferry, a junior from Indiana as the violin soloist, and a lighthearted arrangement of Chopstix that featured our own piano professor Anne Elliott. Also of further note was that the audience was the largest in the history of the Milligan Orchestra. In addition, the strings area was pleased to present Kaitlyn Ferry in a junior recital on February 28. One of the best junior recitals in recent history, Ferry performed works by Mozart, Beach, Hindemith, and Bolling.
HOMECOMING 2006! We hope to see you during Homecoming October 27-28. Check the Milligan website www.milligan.edu for a schedule of great events. You’ll also be able to register for the weekend on line.
SCORES WANTED Do you have sheet music and scores sitting around unused? Instead of throwing them away, please send them to us. There is always a need at Milligan for music.
Johnson City resident Cheryl Fitzgerald will be assuming the position of adjunct professor of cello starting this fall. An excellent performer, Cheryl also has a great enthusiasm for teaching and will be a wonderful addition to our music faculty. We extend our heartfelt gratitude and best wishes to our former cello teacher Katie Hamilton who is moving to Austin, TX to pursue training in acupuncture.
It has been eight years since John Wakefield returned to the music faculty. That qualified him for a sabbatical leave for this coming fall, and he’ll be busy going to school and writing a book. Wakefield will continue worship studies that he has already begun in the School of Theology at the University of the South. He’s been in summer school there for the past two years and will be there this summer as well. In the fall he will pursue additional courses in the School of Theology and work on a book. The book is titled Why Churches Worship the Way They Do: A History of Worship in the Stone-Campbell Movement. He has informal expressions of interest in the book from two publishers. He also has received a grant to fund a student research assistant for summer work on the book. Wakefield will be off-campus for one semester. His voice students and Concert Choir will be taught by Doug Grove-DeJarnette, minister of music at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City. Doug ’s expertise and experience will be a great asset during Wakefield’s sabbatical.
E-MAIL ADDRESSES
Milligan:
www.milligan.edu Adjunct professors this past year
have been: Tom Crawford woodwinds & flute Suzanne Redman music education Eddie Dalton percussion Anne Elliott piano Justin Butler guitar Deborah Gouge music education Mike Imboden Heritage Mike Morgan music technology Katie Hamilton cello 
David Runner served as consultant for three area churches concerning the renovation of their pipe organs and played a dedicatory recital at Munsey Methodist Church in Johnson City. In February, he attended the annual Church Music Workshop in Knoxville. In April, he presented two workshop sessions on organ literature at the National Church Music Conference in Plainfield, IN, and served as organ accompanist for the Johnson City Civic Chorale. He also participated in a Hymn Festival in Johnson City led by the nationally-known clinician and composer, John Ferguson. Rick Simerly taught summer jazz workshops at the University of Louisville and Southern Wesleyan University. He conducted a three-day jazz residency at Western Illinois University and was guest soloist for the Al Sears Jazz Festival in Macomb, IL. He performed a two-day jazz concert event at the Biltmore Estate Winery in Asheville, NC, and at numerous high schools in Southwest Virginia as part of a jazz outreach program sponsored by Southwest Virginia Community College. In addition, he was a guest performer with the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra for their “Portraits of Duke Ellington” concert at UNC Chapel Hill. He was also the guest soloist with Appalachian State University’s Jazz Ensemble at their fall concert. John Wakefield continued summer work in liturgical studies at the School of Theology at the University of the South. His paper on “Issues in Music and Worship in the Stone-Campbell Movement 2001 to 2003 as Reflected in Materials of Three Periodicals” was presented at the Conference of the Stone-Campbell Journal in Cincinnati. He accompanied the high school Urban Adventure group of St. John Episcopal Church, Johnson City, on its service trip to Chicago, conducted the East Tennessee rehearsals of the All-State High School Honors Choir and continues to serve on the board of directors of the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra. He also published an article, “The More We Change,” about worship practices in the Stone Campbell movement in the Christian Standard. He served as music director of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (ELCA), in Bristol, VA. and attended the National Church Music Conference of Christian Churches at Plainfield Christian Church in Indianapolis.
NEWS from MENC Milligan’s chapter of MENC (Music Educators National Conference) is alive and well. This year, under student president Gina Jury and faculty advisor Dr. Kellie Brown, MENC participated in fundraising and providing service to the music area. Our primary fundraiser again this year was the first semester care package. We had a lot of fun assembling them, and the students had even more fun eating them. MENC also continued to provide receptions for the senior recitals. In addition, MENC was thrilled to be the sponsor for Kenton Coe’s commission of Genesis for the Milligan Orchestra. Committed to helping music students grow, MENC is pleased to sponsor members to attend workshops and conferences. This year the designated event was the Arts in Education Conference in November. In fall 2006, MENC will be actively involved in hosting a music education workshop on the Milligan campus.
Enjoy Reading? Check out Dr. Brown’s new book about musical fiction. Available at amazon.com.
Buy some cool Milligan music merchandise at Cafe Press. You'll be supporting the music program. www.cafepress.com/milliganmusic
UPCOMING MUSIC EVENTS ON CAMPUS Events are at 7:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Saturday,
September 16 Saturday,
October 14 October 26-28 Friday,
November 3 Friday,
November 10 Saturday,
November 11 Saturday,
November 18 Sunday,
December 3 Sunday,
December 10 Saturday,
February 10 Friday,
February 23 & Saturday, February 24 Friday, March
16 Saturday,
March 17 Friday, March
23 Friday, March
30 Friday, April
13 Friday, April
20 Monday, April
23
ALUMNI NEWS
Loretta (Jette ’86) Flora is currently serving as the choral and drama director at McClain High School in Greenfield, Ohio. Her address is 400 Kimberly Dr., Washington Court House, OH 43160. Tim Geise (’78) had 15 singers in Madrigals performing at the dinners last year on December 16 and 17. He is totally stressed out and having a blast. The choir performed prior to the Madrigals. He also directed the Christmas program on December 3. His email address is tmgiese5@aol.com. Sabrina Henry (’91) has taken the position of Associate Director of Operations for Bellewood Presbyterian Children’s Home in Louisville. She also serves as Music Director for First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Louisville. Her address is 2603 Alanmede Rd., Louisville, KY 40205. Her email address is curlyredgirl@hotmail.com. Nikki Hughston (’99) is working for her church full time as their Children’s Director. She is still very involved in music. In the spring 2005, she did a vocal recital for the university’s Patron of the Arts Concert series. She teaches a few voice lessons and co-directs a group at the local high school. She has taken a little hiatus from community theatre due to time, but hopes to get involved again soon. Her brother, Brock, has acquired his insurance license and is really excelling at insurance sales. Her email address is nikkihughston@yahoo.com. John W. Lawson (’79) was a featured soloist at the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra’s, American Masters Concert, singing an arrangement with the HFSO Choral and Winton Woods High School Choir. His email address is jwlawson@cinci.rr.com. Sara (Dazey '98) Miller and her husband are official "Oklahomans." They moved to a suberb of Tulsa, OK in spring 2005-purchased a home and settled in. Their kids are Shira (5 years) and Tobin (3 years). Sara runs a successful home-based business with an international health and wellness company, helping other moms stay at home, make an income and put their family first. Music is still their first love and her husband of 7 years and Sara volunteer as needed at local churches as worship leaders. Her address is 1117 S. 35th St., Broken Arrow, OK 74014. Email address is saramiller@valornet.com. Web homepage: www.healthyhome4family.com. Bruce Montgomery (’64) recently moved to the Richmond area. He is enjoying his third year of retirement from 32 years of teaching in the music department of Longwood University. His address is 10302 Seatoncroft Ct., Mechanicsville, VA 23116. Stephanie Randall (’03) graduated with honors from Bevill State Community College with an AAS degree in Paralegal Studies in December 2004. She married David Reed on October 1, 2005. They reside at 752 Amory Ave., Cordova, AL 35550. Her email address is smurf3873@aol.com. Miranda (McGrain ’02) and Ben Strobl (’03) welcomed a new addition, Addison Boyce, to their family on December 26, 2005. Miranda’s email address is mirandastrobl@comcast.net.
Please send us news of your new addresses, new additions, marriages, children, graduations, honors, jobs, etc. You will see yourself in print in the next edition of Music Notation, and we will share your news with the Milligan College Alumni Office for the Milligan Magazine Class Notes.
Name: ______________________________ Class of:_____ Address:______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Phone: __________________________________ News: _________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Please send your information to the Music
Office,
P. O. Box 500, Milligan College, TN 37682 OR E-mail the "Alumni in
Touch" information (name, class of, address, phone, news). Send your information via internet (http://www.milligan.edu/music/) and use the Alumni in Touch form.
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CONCERT
CHOIR CLOSES BUSY YEAR WITH FAURÉ REQUIEM
ORGAN
RESTORATION
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What is the Music Notation? Music Notation is our annual newsletter that helps us stay in touch with music alumni and keep them informed about music at Milligan. |