Note-worthy

Saxophone professor, student share special bond

By Sadie Aram and Sarah Eccleston

FFor most Dukes, the relationship with their instructor starts on the first day of class. But for one JMU saxophone player, it began four years before he arrived on campus.

Dylan Royal, a Music Education major, went to Magna Vista High School in Ridgeway, Virginia. He met professor David Pope in a master class at one of JMU’s summer band camps. After the class, his heart was set on attending JMU.

Pope saw “fantastic” videos on social media of Royal playing saxophone and was amazed to learn he had no access to a private teacher — he had learned to play solely from watching video tutorials on the internet.

“I taught myself saxophone by simply listening to professional players like

Steven Banks, Otis Murphy and other greats through platforms like Instagram and

YouTube,” Royal said.

Royal connected with some of Pope’s students, who tutored him online for free. “We all recognized very quickly that Dylan was someone we wanted to see at JMU,” Pope said.

But JMU was financially out of reach for

Royal and his family. When Pope became aware of this, he wanted to help. “Losing

Dylan to another university would be devastating,” he said. “No child should have to pick their college based on money alone.”

At the last minute, Pope was able to find a pair of scholarships — the Madison Award for Academic Excellence and the Patsy M. Clarke Scholarship — to allow him to study Music Education at JMU. “JMU’s music program has to be one of the best in Virginia,” Royal said. When you come here as a Music major, your level of musicianship will improve drastically.” Pope and Royal worked together to prepare a duet, Royal Duke Tango Fantasy, which they premiered at the 2022 Stewardship Luncheon. The piece, which Pope composed, is just one of “He teaches us the many ways professors collaborate with JMU students. about so much “Having a student like more than music. He wants us to Dylan elevates our whole music program,” Pope said. For Royal, Pope’s influence be great musicians but even goes way beyond the classroom. “He teaches us about so much more than music. He better people.” listens to us when we need to — DYLAN ROYAL talk, and he sets an example for how to be good people,” Royal said. “He wants us to be great musicians but even better people.” Royal joined the Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, the Marching Royal Dukes and the top saxophone quartet — all in his first year at JMU. He has found a place to grow as a musician, and has made friends who have pushed him to work harder than he ever could have imagined. Once Royal completes his undergraduate studies, he plans to further his education with the goal For more about Royal of becoming a saxophone professor like Pope. and Pope, scan or visit “Now that I am studying at JMU, I am truly https://j.mu/duet. living my dream,” Royal said.

The faces of Unleashed (cont.)

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Donna Ragsdale Dunn (’94, ’00M)

SMAD major / Public Administration major President, Word Song Inc. “I feel like I’ve grown up with JMU. It was the beginning of my story in so many ways — the place I made lifelong friends, the place I met my spouse, the place I discovered my career. When I graduated in 1994, JMU was a fantastic university, but it’s become even so much more. I’m proud to call it my alma mater, one that feels like visiting an old friend when I return. … When I graduated from JMU, I felt like I was graduating for myself but also for my parents — who both wanted to graduate from college but could not. It changed my life and theirs. As a first-generation college graduate, I want to support others coming after me. I know how life-changing it can be to attend JMU, and I’m so grateful.”

Rosie Chisolm, Class of 2023 SMAD major / Political Science minor “I chose to give to JMU because I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to attend this school. Out of all the amazing experiences and opportunities that I have been given, I wanted to make sure that future students continue to have the same opportunities that I did. I know that giving back to JMU means helping to create a bigger, brighter and even better future for the school and its students.”

Daryl Cumber Dance

Professor emerita of English / University of Richmond Six-year Furious Flower Poetry Center donor “More African American poets and writers have graced JMU’s campus than any other university in this nation, indeed in our world — not just the giants, the state and national and Nobel laureates, the Pulitzer and MacArthur and Guggenheim and Langston Hughes award winners, but poets at every stage of development.”

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