Lest We Forget Part II

LestweForget Their diligence challenged.

Their excellence dazzled.

Their passion inspired.

Their foresight showed the way.

Contents

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Gene Kenney Material prepared by Tim King

262 304

Lloyd Pfautsch Material prepared by Rosemary Heffley

A.M. (Al) Autrey Material prepared by Sheryl Murphy-Manley & Walter Foster

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B.R. (Bev) Henson Material prepared by Brad Bouley

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Ruth Whitlo ck Material prepared by Mary Jane Phillips

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Hugh Sanders Material prepared by Charles Fuller

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Index of Cont ributors

Introduction Lest We Forget

by Charles Nelson On the stage of Lila Cockrell Hall, in the splendor of the Henry Gonzales Convention Center in downtown San Antonio, the 1999 edition of the Texas Music Educator’s Association’s superb All-State Choir polished the final phrases of its program to a splendor well beyond sixteen, seventeen and eighteen year old vocal and artistic norms. For the past forty years, in addition to an impressive array of octavo music, this choir has performed a repertoire of choral masterworks including Masses by Haydn and Beethoven, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, even Brahms grand German Requiem. This in itself is remarkable, but there is more.

The process which produces this highly select body of student singers also produces a hand-picked choir of one hundred twenty voices in each of the twenty-three TMEA Regions. These region choirs, for the most part, perform the All-State Choir music. This means, that in the year the AllState Choir performed the Beethoven Mass in C Major, there were 2500+ high school students in Texas who could sing every note of his/her part to that masterwork!

Contrast this with the TMEA All-State Choir which met in Mineral Wells fifty years earlier. Those singers were selected by a letter sent to all TMEA choir teachers, which said, “Select a quartet of your best singers and bring them to the convention to sing in the All-State Choir”. What brought the great change in the quality of the teaching of choral music in Texas? Who was responsible? Any astute observer of Texas school choirs for the past sixty years can point to a number of teachers whose musical talent, devotion to excellence and charismatic personalities inspired their students with a passion to become, and teach others to become, music makers.

“Lest we forget” highlights some of those who have gone before us who have sown the seeds which have produced the bountiful musical and choral harvest which we now enjoy.

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Gene Kenney Material prepared by Tim King

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Gene Kenney Biographical Sketch Gene Kenney, Chairman - Vocal Division Texas Tech University Lubbock Texas • 1957-1983

by Tim King, DMA Director of Choral Activities

Stephen F. Austin State University (B. Mus. Ed. 1974, Texas Tech; MM, 1979, Texas Tech; DMA, University of Illinois) It was 12:55 p.m. on a crisp, sunny day in the fall. Outside our choir room windows, we could hear the sound of instruments being played and a cacophony of student conversations, which were heard but not understood. The "Goin' Band from Raiderland" had just finished its marching-band rehearsal. Inside the choir room the Tech Choir was preparing for rehearsal. Most members had already found their seats, yet a few scurried in late fearing that rehearsal had already begun and were relieved to know that they had made it in time. Most of us were early for rehearsal preparing our thoughts for the music and wondering what was in store for us today. Our talented student accompanist was silently fingering the difficult passages of one of the Brahms quartets knowing full well that he must be up for the task of this and every daily rehearsal. (All of us students wished for the talent to accompany this exceptional group, but did not envy his position as Tech Choir Accompanist!) Knowing there would be no choral warm-up and that we would jump headlong into the music, the singers had already gone through their preparatory vocal calisthenics. The folding chairs where the choir sat were in their neat rows. The "throne" perched on the stage of this room, (which doubled as a Recital Hall), was nestled in the piano's crook. The music stand was seated on the floor and extended upward to the appropriate height for the higher positioned conducting chair. The portion of the stand holding the music was at its usual flat level and normally reversed position. The room was ready.

We were prepared.

One minute before 1:00 p.m., one of the two heavy wooden doors of the Recital Hall opened. Every eye was fixed on the well coifed, moderately built, (yet to his stu-

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dents a giant of a man), figure which entered the room. His head was held high but tilted back, so that he could see through the proper level of the thick lenses of his black, horn-rimmed glasses. His arm curled gingerly around his beloved, well-used scores that had been his companions for years. He walked with rather small, quick steps to the "throne," placed his music on the stand, carefully folded his Hartt, Shaffner, and Marx, loosened his Countess Mara tie, and took his rightful place at the conductor's podium. As he reached for a pencil that served as his rehearsal baton, he announced in his basso-profundo voice yet with a quiet forcefulness, "Take out the Brahms." Nothing else needed to be said, no elaboration, but with every instinct that one can derive from body language and interpersonal communication, we knew it would be an intense learning session.

On this day one of the choir's jokesters had secretly planned to be late. Unheard of! One dared not to be late for rehearsal in fear of being verbally punished in a most eloquent way. At exactly 1:10 p.m. the heavy wooden doors were flung open and in a John Wayne stagger, this bass shuffled his way to the middle of the choir. From the old, tattered cowboy hat on the top of his head down to his jeans tucked in his boots like a rodeo rider, he looked the part of a ranch hand, not a refined singer of art music. As the door opened, the head of the director snapped and through the thick lenses his eyes became the size of saucers as they followed this soon to be dead individual to his seat. Being a rather robust young man our jester would say "Excuse me ma'am" as he went down the row. Arriving at his seat, he tossed his folder on the floor, slapped his knees, and said in his John Wayne accent, "Well, Kenney, are we going to sing any of the Brahms (pronounced with "a" as in the word "at") today?" In unison the intake of air from the choir members was enough to rival any tornado that had ever struck the South Plains. How was this young man going die? To our surprise, Kenney's pencil flew in the air, he leaned back in his chair, and laughed until tears came into his eyes.

This is Gene Kenney, intense in his devotion to his art, and his love for each student and their education. He came from "the Old-School", no nonsense approach, which mandated that nothing stand in the way of musical achievement. To him rehearsal was not preparing for something more important, it was a daily diet or "fix"

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which feeds every artist. Not afraid to either laugh or criticize, it was his love, his calling which nurtured his students. In this way he showed us his deepest love and respect by giving us a glimpse of his artistry, his devotion, and his ultimate respect for choral music.

Earl Eugene Kenney was born on January 21, 1920 in Larned, Kansas to Earl and Mary Kenney. (Larned is located in Pawnee County of central Kansas.) A public servant, Earl Kenney served the city of Larned as the Water Department Superintendent.

The middle class, highly respected Kenneys, had three children, Gene the middle child of the three siblings, Bernadyne, the oldest, and Rebecca.

Larned, a small community situated on the old Santa Fe Trail, was a farmingranching community. Today, we take for granted many opportunities not available to such small communities and schools during the "dust bowl" years. The Kenneys were not necessarily a musical family. However, the Larned school allowed Kenney to cultivate a love for music. Surprising to today's Texas choral musician, Kenney's first musical love was the trumpet, and he performed in all of the school musical organizations. The most notable event in Junior High, like so many young men, was Kenney's voice change. For most male voices, the cambiata stage is a slow, often embarrassing stage in the vocal development of a young man's life. Not so for Kenney! By his own admission, "One day I was a boy soprano, the next morning I woke up as a bass!" (Kenney, later known for his basso-profundo vocal instrument, would often demonstrate in choir rehearsals the ability to sing a fully resonant tenor high a, yet could rumble a low A1 below low c!)

Often, the city of Larned and the neighboring city of Kinsley would join forces to produce various community, theatrical performances, and particularly Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The actors and chorus would be comprised of townspeople from the two neighboring communities who, after rehearsals, would give performances in both communities, Larned and Kinsley. It was in this setting during his freshman year that Kenney participated in his first "vocal" experience. The Kenney sisters, Bernadyne and Rebecca were both members of the chorus. The freshman-classed Kenney too was active in the production, not as a member of the cast, but the pit orchestra! Perhaps, it was his trumpet skills that offered the first step towards his pro-

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fessional calling. Nonetheless, Kenney decided as a youngster that he enjoyed music and wanted a career as a music conductor. "(Music directing) is something I like to do, have always liked to do, and said I was going to do since I was in high school. And that's what I've done!"

Upon graduation from high school, Kenney attended Emporia State in Emporia, Kansas. With approximately ten hours before graduation, his graduation was postponed due to his induction into the military service (1942). Kenney served in the Army Medical Corp in North Africa and Anzio, Italy. His 3rd Army Division was the main force in the invasion of Anzio. Soon after the Anzio invasion the war ended and Kenney was entrusted by his commanding officers to stay behind and "close-out" his unit. At the close of his service, Kenney returned home and after a semester of "R and R," completed the remaining hours, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. During this final semester, Kenney made his first trip to Texas.

Most years Emporia State's madrigal group would tour various U.S. areas and this was not unusual. Being one of the ten members, Kenney went with the group. Normally, the group traveled in cars, but because of war's fuel rationing still in effect, this year's tour transportation was a regularly scheduled bus as opposed to today's chartered bus.

The tour covered Emporia, Kansas to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and points in between.

Fort Scott College, Fort Scott, Kansas, was Kenney's first directing experience.

The college was located on the third floor of a building that also housed the high school. Kenney's first teaching assignment (fall,1945) was the daunting task to teach all music courses for the college and high school. Due to the bumper wheat harvests, the combined college and high school had plenty of money to carry-on a successful music program. However, as a result of the freedom that college students have to come and go, it was difficult to maintain the discipline required for the entire group, especially since there was a donut shop across the street! The ineffective discipline of the school, (a result of the combination of both the college and high school and the varying expectations of each group), led Kenney to quickly resign this position. In 1946, after one year in Fort Scott, Kenney took the band-directing job at Bucklin High School. Soon after starting his position, Kenney wasted little time in formulat-

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ing a choir. While at Bucklin, one event changed the course of Kenney's musical direction and led him to specialize in choral music. Just as the band was about to leave town to perform at a state contest---scheduled an hour later in another town---his clarinet soloist approached him with the body of her clarinet in a bag. She had tried to clean her clarinet pads and didn't know how to put it back together. In panic, Kenney arranged to stop in a town on the way to the contest long enough to swap clarinets with one of the student's teachers. The teacher agreed to have the instrument repaired. The band went on to compete in the contest and student performed her solo. Kenny thought to himself, "I could be doing this for the rest of my life!" What was the result? He resigned his job and took a one-year solely choral position in Junction, Kansas.

Kenney was not long for the Jayhawk State---soon to become a Texan. Orville Borchers, Kenney's Dean of the Emporia's music school, had become head of the department at Southern Methodist University. After Kenney's 1952 SMU graduation with a Masters of Music degree, Edna Mary Jones [the Music Supervisor for the Abilene (Texas) school district] knowing full well the music and educator potential of Gene Kenney, lured him to take the choir directing vacancy at Abilene High School.

Kenney's high school choirs soon built a statewide reputation for singing with maturity of choral tone, style, and music understanding. It was in Abilene that Kenney developed his ever-guiding principal. "I had to lead them (his choir members) in some way to instill in them that it was their job to make the music." The best way for Kenney was with firm leadership, insisting on discipline and commitment. Kenney would push and drive his students to a point, but as a master director would instinctively know the line over which not to cross.

Conventions were completely the opposite of today's organization and scheduling. The "leading" choirs of the state would send a quartet and, if each school's director thought worthy, an extra bass and tenor. These students from around the state would then comprise The early TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) All-State Choir. Kenney recalls his first convention. It was in Mineral Wells, Texas. The names of the All-State students were submitted and everyone looked forward to the convention. There was no further communication to the directors. As it turns out,

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the students would be housed in private homes with help from the Chamber of Commerce. One slight problem, however, no one told this first-year director that he had to call the Chamber to make reservations! Ultimately, everything was fine and the convention was a success.

In every leader's life there are always one or two events that help shape his or her character, talent, and professional direction. The Robert Shaw Summer Workshops in San Diego were such happenings for Kenney. Here, in these early formative years of the workshops, Kenney met life-long friends such as John Wustman (the renowned accompanist/coach), Tom Pyle (soloist on many Shaw recordings), and Alice Parker (composer and arranger). More importantly, during this three year relationship Shaw befriended Kenney to the point that "if we were quiet!" Kenney and a select few directors were allowed to attend score analysis sessions between Shaw and Julius Hereford, music historian/scholar and Shaw's friend/colleague. In addition to the obvious insights into the techniques of score study and musical insights of great masterworks, these sessions solidified the principal which served Kenney throughout his professional career, "We (Shaw) want to make music.” So simple yet so profound. “It matters not whether the singers are professional or amateur, or church choir or college-select, nothing, no object, circumstance, or person should stand in the way of music's capacity to speak to listeners and performers.” This too became Kenney's creed.

While in Abilene, Archie Jones, the Choir Director of the University of Texas, contacted both Kenney and Gene Hemmle, the Choir Director at Texas Technological College---later to become Texas Tech University---to become charter members of a new group of Texas choral directors. Today we know this group as the Texas Choral Directors Association.

The year 1955 was a transitional year for Kenney as he embarked on a short-lived career as a regional representative for the Carl Fisher Music Publishing Company.

His region was the Southeastern portion of the United States, primarily Texas, Oklahoma, the Carolinas, Arkansas, and Florida. During his employment with Carl Fisher, Gene Hemmle, department Chair, and Texas Tech choir director, contacted Kenney as a possible faculty replacement for the voice faculty position held by Ira

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Shantz and to relieve Hemmle of his choir directing responsibilities. (There were only a certain number of faculty positions allotted to the Department.) Hemmle was well aware of Kenney's successes at Abilene High School and thought this would be a grand recruiting step for the young department at Texas Tech. Hemmle was in hopes of Kenney taking his position as choir director in order for Hemmle to concentrate his efforts toward the Chair position. Shantz, surprisingly did not resign. As a result, Kenney took a one-year position (1956-57) at Amarillo High School until the following year when Shantz did resign and moved to Texas Christian University.

In the first year of Kenney's Tech tenure, Hemmle appointed Kenney as Vocal Department, Chair. The 1957 Texas Tech Voice faculty consisted of Kenney, Mary Kelly, Charles Post, and Mrs. Dunn, (an adjunct member of the voice and piano faculty). From high school, where there were no voice teaching responsibilities, to teaching college voice, to leading established voice faculty members, Kenney by his own admission said that for him this was the most difficult of transitions. Kenny remained an active member of the voice faculty until his retirement.

Upon retirement Kenney said, "I think there's a lot of music-making in this world, and I wanted to put forth my two cents worth and hopefully make it a better world." The twenty-five years of his Texas Tech tenure was proof positive of this humble statement. Kenney never longed for the "lime-light." He never pressed his choirs or his position to achieve his "own agenda"--- completely to the contrary.

Kenney's entire professional career was devoted to his students and making music.

Awards and invitational concerts did come his way. One needs only point to the Tech Choir's four TMEA performances (Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and 2 Dallas appearances), and the MENC (St. Louis, Missouri) performances for verification. The quality of the performances can best be described by the conductor of the Springfield (Missouri) Symphony Orchestra that appeared with the Tech Choir on the MENC performance. The orchestra conductor described himself as "the director of the group that appeared on the Gene Kenney program." His Texan peers also recognized Kenney, the Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA), when they made him one of the two original recipients of the Distinguished Choral Directors Awards. Years later at the 1989 summer convention, TCDA formally established the Gene Kenney

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Scholarship to benefit future Texas Choral Directors.

In 1972 Kenney's personal life took an abrupt turn. A committed bachelor, Kenney's professional life dominated his personal life. However, an event transpired to change this. One of his talented students, Kathy Kilgore, (now Horseman), was contemplating dropping her music aspirations and changing her major. Kenney ever the consummate educator, immediately contacted her mother to discuss his student's future. The developing relationship resulted in Kenny's marriage to Kathy’s mother Billie on August 12th.

After twenty-five years of service, Kenney announced his retirement, but because of faculty circumstances, Harold Luce, the Chair of the department, coaxed Kenney into staying one more year. Kenney formally ended his active teaching career in 1983.

Living in Lubbock, he continues to be a mentor to three generations of Texas choral directors.

For Kenney, awards and accomplishments are found in memories. One can easily glean that his main focus was his students' musical experience. Whether it was his devotion to his high school or college students, Kenney's desire to "make a difference" was paramount in his professional and artistic drive. As one looks back on such a prestigious career, one fact springs to the front. For thirty years, his most productive years, Kenney never left West Texas. Through his talent and long tenure, the strength of the West Texas choral tradition owes him its gratitude. Generations of choral directors have experienced the impact of this dedicated musician/educator.

For the thousands of musicians whose lives have been directly or indirectly touched by Gene Kenney, Al Skoog's introductory article in the first TCDA (Texas Choral Director's Association) magazine, The Texas Choirmaster (1959) may summarize our feelings the best. Skoog says : “Many people are responsible for this gradual, but constant growth in the development of vocal music. Certainly the advancement of music would not be so evident without the help of a number of our great musical predecessors who have overcome numerous obstacles in their struggle to lay a foundation upon which you and I may build for the future.�

Legacies are left in many ways, through inventions, events, or circumstances. Yet, there is one thread, one common denominator, which links all great leaders. That

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one element is the ability to inspire. Time has already begun to judge Gene Kenney and has found his inspiring contributions much more worthy than his estimated "two cents." The price of art instilled in another's soul is priceless and truly Kenney has fulfilled his dream to make a "better world."

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by Charles Nelson I can’t really say when I first became aware of Gene Kenney, but I do remember that his name was always spoken with respect and even awe, by those who had heard his choral work at Abilene High School, Amarillo High School and Texas Tech University. I have heard, first hand, from several who knew and cared about good choral work, that during his tenure in Abilene, his choirs sang better than any choir in town, including the several college choirs. That was his reputation.

The first time I remember hearing his work first hand was during the year he spent at Amarillo High School. I was one of the three judges who heard his choir sing at the UIL contest. I was embarrassed to “judge” a choir which I knew sang better than I could have prepared them to sing. Following their performance of “Death I Do Not Fear Thee” from Bach Motet #3, all I could say was “I wish I had taught you to sing that well”!

Two doctoral student choral directors, who were house sitting for Gene one summer, while looking over his record collection, came across some recordings of his Abilene High School Choirs. These choral directors, who considered themselves superior teachers and conductors, chuckled as they pulled out Gene’s old recordings.

They were anxious to compare Gene’s high school choirs to theirs. As the music unfolded, they sat in stunned silence. They were not ready for such excellence from high school students.

In his years as choral director at Texas Tech University, his reputation expanded.

He was known as a no nonsense teacher and conductor who, when it came to making music, would brook no incompetence. He was a clinician par excellence and was unselfish with his talent. He conducted clinics throughout the State and beyond.

Once, I received the benefit of his outstanding work. The teachers of one TMEA Region had brought their students to the All-Region Clinic unprepared. I did not hear what Gene said to them. The important thing is, they heard and remembered.

When I arrived to direct the same choir the next year, everyone was on time, every singer automatically assumed a correct singing posture and every note was in place,

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There is no doubt that Gene Kenney belongs in the pantheon of Texas choral directors who have had outstanding influence upon generations of choral directors and singers.

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by George Biffle The first time I heard the Tech Choir, I was enchanted. I first met “Mr. Kenney” as a freshman Architectural Engineering major who thought that choir and orchestra were fun things to do. It took one rehearsal to figure out that this man was firmly “in charge.” As each day passed, one or more of the Tech Singers would arrive after Mr. Kenny’s clock said it was time to rehearse, and boy, was that student in for a shock.

Mr. Kennney expected your warm body there everyday, fifty-five minutes (his time), no excuses! When the choir struggled, he fixed it. There was no fear on earth like becoming the center of his attention, whether it was over your failure to know the notes, your inattention, being tardy, or being unable to literally “choke out” a sound when he bolted out off his conductor’s chair and descended upon a hapless student and said “you sing.” Almost all of us were hapless and witless and when singled out, incapable of making any kind of noise, much less a singing tones under his gaze.

When my sophomore year began, I had an engineering class in the Textile Engineering building, completely across the campus, and I soon found that only by a dead run could I get to the Singer’s rehearsal on time (all classes started at five minutes after the hour except for choir, which started on the hour (Oh my God, I’m dead again). I soon figured out that those conflicts were irreconcilable and subsequently dropped out of choir.

At the end of my sophomore year, I wasn’t accomplishing much as a potential architect or civil engineer, so I decided to major in music. When I finally got past all of the barriers, I received a letter the following Fall semester announcing that Tech Choir rehearsals would commence on a certain day and hour. It was addressed to me, but surely was a mistake. So . . . I telephoned him to clear up the misunderstanding: We had a very short conversation. I was to be at the rehearsal, and I felt rather idiotic that I assumed that he would or could make a mistake like that. The “Tech Choir”-unless you’ve been there or heard it, words can’t explain the awe! I was on “cloud nine!”

That opportunity turned my life around completely. I had a direction, a chal-

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lenge, and a perfectionist for a teacher. I could not have been happier. I spent four wonderful years under his tutelage as a choir member, section leader, and graduate assistant.

Gene Kenney was the ultimate teacher, an impeccable musician, an incredibly talented singer, and accepted nothing but the best that could be from all of his choirs.

He taught us that nothing short of the best was ever good enough, to come prepared to every rehearsal, to sing as diligently as was possible, that music was far too important to our existence to be taken for granted. There is no doubt that he has forgotten more about music than I will ever learn. I thank him for setting a standard that could be approached, but never attained. I have carried into every rehearsal for forty-three years the lessons he taught all of us. Such a gift is truly priceless. There can never be another Mr. Kenney.

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by Harriett Snider Koen 1968-1971

"Gene Kenny........Words can never suffice in describing this brilliant MUSIC MAN!.......a plethora of knowledge, musicality, keen wit, finesse are just a few.

One of my many memories of Gene Kenny is singing soprano in his choir. Here I was.....a freshman.....not knowing if I wanted to become a lady band director or choir director. All I know was that I had just finished going through Greek rush......

Ha! Why didn't anyone tell me that it was just NOT COOL to wear your Tech Beanie during CHOIR REHEARSAL???.... The look he gave me over his glasses were enough to make me denounce my legacy......Why didn't my pledge captain tell me that Mr. Kenny would react like that??? ..........Please know I never wore the thing again, and yes, I remained a voice major, much to Killion's disappointment. I absolutely thought the sun rose and set with GENE KENNY!!"

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by Gerre Joiner

When I graduated from Lorenzo High School in 1966, I already knew Gene Kenney because I’d been studying voice with Charles Post for a few years. I came to Tech from a small high school with a limited world-view. My first days at Tech created an environment that was new to me. I was nervous. In those years, I wasn’t smart enough to be nervous about most things.

Then I started working on a daily basis with Gene Kenney in the Tech Choir and the Madrigal Singers. A few days into the university experience with Gene Kenney and I had a new appreciation for the word “nervous.” It seemed to me that Kenney was the only one who wasn’t nervous.

Four years later, my world had been expanded after touring with the Tech Choir, and I was a better musician because of the high expectations of one Gene Kenney.

I never said, “Thanks,” to Mr. Kenney. I’m hoping he reads this, accepts a word of appreciation, and recalls…

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by Jack Bowers Wow! Lucky me to be a retired choral director and get to listen to great choral music everyday of my life without having to do anything but turn on my sound system and make my selections of what I choose to listen to. What could be better?

As I get older, it seems the enormous listening library I’ve collected over the years shrinks more and more. I find myself listening to the same works over and over again led by the same conductors. I live for those “ special moments” in music that always excite me and bring about an emotional response that I can’t explain to anyone else.

Music that makes my hair stand on end, tears flow from my eyes, and a feeling my heart is going to burst inside my chest.

Sad to say the list of conductors shrinks with each passing year to a smaller select few. Conductors that can really make great music have always been in short supply it seems. My short list of great choral conductors includes those of national renown and many who were not known on the national level.

Gene Kenny is one of the most admired choral conductors. His influence on Texas choral music is considerable and continues to have a lasting legacy. Mr. Kenney served at Texas Tech University in Lubbock for more than two and a half decades as director of choral music and was a driving force in music education in the state of Texas and beyond.

I was so very fortunate to have Mr. Kenney as a mentor for my choral music studies and his teaching was invaluable. His pursuit of excellence and attention to detail in the mastery of the choral art was extraordinary. He was a very demanding taskmaster and never did he accept anything but the very best.

I feel very sure that many singers can still feel those big eyes behind those black horn-rimmed glasses boring a hole just like a laser into your very soul. He had little patience for anyone not willing to give full attention to the task at hand.

Sadly, many of his students and peers never really got to know Mr. Kenney on a more relaxed and personal level away from the rehearsal hall. If they had been afforded that opportunity as I was, they would have seen the man as I know him, which is dif-

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ferent than a generally perceived persona. Gene Kenney is one of the warmest hearted and kind men I have ever met. He wouldn’t hurt a fly but sing wrong notes at your own risk!

Mr. Kenney never tried to be anyone but who he was. He did not play games. He took a stand for the highest ideals and expected the same from his singers. If you sang in his choirs you were only given the best choral literature to prepare under the leadership of a distinguished director who was always prepared to give you the best of himself. I have been afforded the opportunity to sing under the direction of nationally known choral directors and Gene Kenney is every bit their equal!

Mr. Kenney, I thank you for all you have given to choral music, for being such a great teacher, and especially for being a dear friend. Although I do not get to see you often I do get to hear your music making and it touches my heart everyday, as I know it touches others.

I want you to know that you are revered and loved by so many.

Gene Kenney

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by Mike Medly I was a member of the Tech Choir at Texas Tech University from the fall of 1976 to Spring 1980 and had the privilege of being the Bass/Baritone section leader for those 4 years. Mr. Kenney was my voice teacher and my faculty advisor. Somehow he saw me through. My major was Vocal Performance and in 1980 I received a Bachelor of Music degree Magna cum Laude.

I learned a lot of things from Mr. Kenney. Condensing that into a summary like this is difficult. So, here are three things of the many he taught me.

Be Consistent: Mr. Kenney taught what it means to be consistent. (But, of course, being taught something doesn’t mean that you will apply it!)

His demand was simple: Think. Use your brain to remember what you just did, because I’m going to make you turn right around and do it again.

His dictum: “Don’t try. Do.” It didn’t matter if what you did was right or wrong. It mattered that you remembered what you did. If you couldn’t do it the same way then you weren’t thinking. Mr. Kenney never hesitated to point out that salient fact to you. And it was his job to do that. If it was wrong, you at least had to do the wrong thing consistently before it could be changed.

As an illustration I recall a time the Tech Choir rehearsed 2 bars of one of Benjamin Britten’s Five Flower Songs for about two weeks. No kidding. Every rehearsal for two weeks. We finally got it.

A Choir is One Instrument Made of Many Parts. Mr. Kenney was exacting when it came to us being a Choir. About us forming one instrument made up of many individual singers, an accompaniment, and a conductor.

Many folks through the years have spoken to me of their remembrance of him as a feared taskmaster. The legendary “Look” that he could incinerate you with coming over the top of his thick-lensed spectacles. But, overall, I remember him differently.

I remember him as one part of the choral instrument called the Tech Choir. He shared our excellence, our mediocrity, and our failures.

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What really counted to him was getting us to be an entity. Attacks, cutoffs, consonants, and vowels; all elements had to occur simultaneously as if coming from one person. Mr. Kenney could get our 40 voices to sound like a gigantic quartet.

Rehearsal is 99 Percent of a Good Performance. We were serious in rehearsal. 6 hours a week. I remember preparing for a TMEA concert. By the time we finished that concert we all had it memorized. Every note. Every nuance.

People saw an amazing thing at that concert in the River Room of the San Antonio Convention Center. We arranged ourselves in quartets and double choir formation. Mr. Kenney gave us a downbeat and then folded his arms across his chest.

J. S. Bach’s Cantata 50 unrolled like a magic carpet. All that came from him for the duration of the piece were a few nods, a few subtle and well-placed cues. But don’t think this was a miracle. We had rehearsed it that way. 40 people spread out in a circle all around the perimeter of our rather large choir room with Kenney in the center. Listening. Teaching.

A Personal Recollection: Gene Kenney made me laugh. Halloween of 1978. The Tech Choir decided to have a costume party at Kenney’s house. His wife, Billy, thought it to be a great idea and she broke out the Waterford. Kenney didn’t care as long as the party started after cocktails. I remember spending days on my costume.

Peter Sellers doing Toulouse-Lautrec in The Revenge of the Pink Panther. The most difficult part was getting the dang shoes to stay strapped on my knees. After several rounds of Chivas Regal Kenney pegged it, “Mike, I’ve got it. You are Mike Medley doing Peter Sellers - doing Inspector Clouseau - doing Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.”

Even I hadn’t thought it through that far!

The first songs I worked on as Mr. Kenney’s voice student were Brahms’ Vier Ernste Gesänge. I remember what he said. It went something like this, “You have to experience a lot of life to be able to sing these songs. I’m going to teach you how to rehearse and perform them. And then you’re going to put them away. You will learn what they are about as you get older. They will be there when you need them to be.”

I sit here in March 2004 with my Brahms songbook in hand. The opening piece of Vier Ernste Gesänge contains the text, “all have the same breath…all is vanity…everything is made of dust and turns to dust again…there is nothing better

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than that man should rejoice in his work, for that is his portion.” I hope that everyone he touched during his long career realized that above all — except, maybe, for golf — Gene Kenney rejoiced in his work. I am glad and thankful to have had him as a teacher.

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by Jana Bullard King Evans

I was so honored when called to write my thoughts about Gene Kenney...that's "Mr. Kenney" as we all knew him.

Since graduating from Texas Tech University in 1975, my musical career has spanned over a wide genre of music. I have taught public school choir, directed church choirs, taught private voice lessons, sang on national television for over 13 years on The Nashville Network with every artist imaginable from all styles of music, recorded in the studio and arranged and sang backup vocals on hundreds of hit records for everyone from Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers, Lorrie Morgan, Clint Black, to Neil Diamond...and sang on many national commercials such as "....and like a good neighbor...State Farm is There"...etc. There has not been one time that I have opened my mouth to sing that I haven't been touched by something Gene Kenney had taught me.

I am sure all his students agree...that he had a gift of teaching. He never professed to be a great singer, or a professor of sort, or a musicologist. So what was he?

I can describe him only as a wonderfully talented human being with a passion for making beautiful music. He knew how to make people FEEL the music. He gave us insight to feelings and passion that we may have never thought before as young musicians.

His big glaring beautiful eyes looking thru those thick glasses are etched in my memory forever. I loved his laugh, and I loved him even more when he got so mad that you could feel everyone's heart pounding around you with fear. He truly had the voice of GOD! Of all the musicians I have had the great fortune to work with, he was the BEST at knowing DYNAMICS, PHRASING, AND INTERPRETATION! The world is a better place because of Gene Kenney...mainly because of the gift he gave us all to stretch and get everything we can out of every single note that we perform as musicians. And hopefully we will all attempt to share with our peers and students just a taste of what he gave us. He is truly one of the world's most passionate musicians, and I will forever be indebted to him as to what he taught me.

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by Eddie Quillin Lessons from The Man Behind Those Glasses Most of what I’ve learned about choral music and a good deal about life I learned from Gene Kenney. He stands as one of the most memorable, influential men in my history.

My first encounter with Kenney was one about which I knew nothing until after it was over. I was one of the very fortunate high school students to enjoy choir with a Kenney protégé by the name of Bill Cormack. Billy Rex assigned me with a solo for choir contest in our Amarillo, Tascosa High School Boys Glee Club…“Wait for the Wagon”. Only after the performance did Cormack inform me that Kenney was in the audience. Then he introduced us. I ’bout fainted! What was it about those coke-bottle lenses that consumed the courage out of many a cocky kid? Next thing I knew Kenney was calling me to offer me a scholarship to Tech. Lesson #1 - Know and recruit talent whenever and wherever you hear it.

So there I was, a seventeen-year-old freshman, two full hours from Mama, seated in the Tech Choir and the Tech Madrigals. We were preparing for spring tour, swinging through Brownwood and San Angelo and back by way of Odessa. But we couldn’t sing in tune to save our bacon. Kenny was so _____ed off. “Tenors, for the hundredth time, it’s D natural not D half flat!” And then it happened… dumdadumdum-dummmmmmmm…off came the glasses “If music is worth singing at all, it is worth singing well.” “You people have the taste of pigs.” “With people like you in public school music, I give it two years.” He blustered and blistered us blue.

Then he put back on his glasses (which also focused his instruction we came to learn) gave the downbeat and we took another run at it. Lesson #2 - Excellence is worth the hard work it takes to get there. Lesson #3 - Intimidation can be a good thing…healthy fear is not all bad.

That afternoon in Madrigals, with just the eight of us and concentrated Kenney, he looked little old me in the face first. And with both eyes fully filling the frames of those black-rimmed binoculars of his and those salt and pepper eyebrows

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pinched tightly together Kenny growled, “Quillin, what’s the matter with choir?”

All I could think about was my intense desire to suck my thumb while I wet my breeches. Praise the Lord; Mary Jane sat right beside me. She flew into Kenney like ugly on a gorilla. (Only two people I’ve ever known who could get and keep Kenney on the ropes, Mary Jane Rose-Johnson and Harriet Snyder-Koen…I’ve got the stories.) We were too afraid to sing D natural in choir. Next rehearsal was so different…a different rehearsal hall and a different Kenney. He actually laughed, maybe twice. Lesson #4 - Singing in tune feels great! Lesson #5 - The ability and commitment to exegete your students and come to their rescue is mandatory for a great conductor. (And Gene Kenney is a GREAT conductor.)

On Choir tour that year I got news of the death of my grandfather. Kenney held me in his arms as I cried. Behind those thick lenses was a safe place. Lesson #6 - Great leaders give their heart away to those who will follow. Lesson #7 - It is okay to be dangerous if you are also good.

Years later, leaving Tech was really tough. Though I enjoyed successes in my school years, the future with a new wife, Mary Dirks-Quillin, and a baby daughter was unclear. Kenney was one voice I sought for advice and confirmation. He encouraged me to reach for what I thought was beyond my ability. Lesson #8 Launch your students well; bless them for their journey.

Ornery as you were then, and I understand you are still, you are one man God has used to equip me for my life calling as a pastor. Thank you Mr. Gene Kenney, my teacher, my mentor, my encourager, and my friend. Thank you for showing me the heart of a great man. Lessons learned.

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by Richard Snyder New Mexico Music Educator's Hall of Fame '00 Gene Kenny taught me more about musicianship than any other Tech professor did! I still rely heavily on not only the knowledge he imparted to us but the "nasty boy" attitude he gave us each and every day. I continue to give the "Kenny stare" over the top of my glasses to any student who "dares call himself a musician..." when they screw something up.

I somehow escaped his wrath as an undergraduate, but when I took grad level choral conducting he reamed me out royally one day: The assignment was to review a performance of ELIJAH given by the Tech Choir with maybe 1st Prez or 1st Meth choir. I really thought the work was "sappy" and I told him so in the report...especially after doing Faure and Mozart's Requiems and Carmina Burana as a member of Tech Singers.I don't quite remember all the words of his tirade, but it was in a graduate level class and I was completely humiliated. He made a man out of me!

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by Mary Jane Johnson

I remember the time I sang with Sir George Scolti in 1983 in Chicago and I called Gene Kenney on the phone from there and said, " Well, Kenney, I have finally met your match". To this very day, I thank God for Gene Kenney. I have had quite a history with my mentor and friend. Of course, all of us that were under his musicianship think of him as our friend and mentor. He is the very age my father would be if he was still alive and I have always thought of him in that way, as a second father. There have been three main men in my life---my father, my husband, and Gene Kenney.

When he was recruiting me for Texas Tech in 1968, he would call my father every day and try to convince him that Tech was the place for me. When I went on a recruiting trip to TCU and returned home and got off the plane, I looked at my dad and said, "I am going to Tech!" My dad said, “Thank God, Gene Kenney has been calling me all weekend, driving me crazy.� You see Tech needed an alto in the choir and I had been an All-state alto for two years and Kenney and been watching me for that long.

He put me in the Tech Choir, next to a really smart senior who could read the notes off the page. I didn't know what all this meant at the time, but I did know that I was involved in something so special and I got to be involved in this adventure for the next four years. Who would ever know that I could possibly accomplish the musical achievements ahead of me? I owe a lot of people a lot of things, but I owe my musical passion and love for this art to Gene Kenney. Thank you for being you, Kenney, and thank you for giving so many of us part of you and your love for music.

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by Ken Fulton I sang under Gene Kenney only twice. The first time was as a member of the West Texas Choir Directors Chorus that sang for the TCDA Convention around 1970 (made up of high school choir directors in West Texas - after my singing audition, I was “elected” to be librarian for that chorus). The second and final time was as a member of the Texas Tech Chorus for a performance of Belshazzar’s Feast by William Walton when I was working on my Ph.D. at Texas Tech.

While my “singing” time was relatively brief, my “learning” time spanned over thirty years. I first became acquainted with him as a tenor in Tennie Thompson’s Sophomore Choir at Amarillo High School and Mr. Kenney was the conductor of the junior and senior singers at that same school and later as a young high school choir conductor at Perryton High School and Coronado High School in Lubbock where Kenney later became Director of Choirs at Texas Tech University. I did both my MM and Ph.D. at Tech and had the great privilege of studying with him during that time.

All of us who worked around him have our “Kenney” legends. Studying with him was akin to a rite of passage and you couldn’t overcome your musical puberty unless you were “baptized” in the Kenney fire (although there was no body paint involved at all!).

He was a fierce and demanding adversary in rehearsal and the singers worked under constant and unrelenting pressure. He expected perfection from the first reading to the performance and certainly wasn’t reluctant to share his opinion of your contribution (or lack of it) with you and the rest of the chorus. As I did my residency for my doctorate, I was simply an observer for each rehearsal with the Tech Choir and even then as an observer, I felt obligated to be ready to contribute when he called for it.

One simply didn’t come unprepared for the rehearsal and while there, you didn’t dare to leave any powers of musical problem solving somewhere else! Kenney wore thick glasses (we secretly referred to them as his “bottle-bottoms!!”), which tended to exaggerate the actual size of his eyes to the point where, even though he was facing the other side of the choir, you would swear that he was glaring straight at you on the opposite side of the room. When Kenney drew those glasses slowly and deliberately

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down to the end of his nose, the room became very silent very quickly - everyone knew what was coming. You loved your friends, but in these times you loved yourself more and you prayed it was them and not you that was about to be selected for public examination. Often during those rehearsals and classes, I wondered at times why we put ourselves through that. Yet we absolutely adored him and couldn’t wait for more! !

Now, in retrospect, I think have a much clearer picture of these mysterious rituals of the “Kenney-ites.”

As I reviewed my old 331/3 RPM’s in preparation for writing this, I was reminded that the repertoire list for the Texas Tech Choir in Lubbock, Texas circa 1960-1975 reads like a Who’s Who in composers and literature. Composers like Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Pepping, Ernst Krenek, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, George Rochberg, Robert Schumann, J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Giovanni Palestrina to name only a few, appear on those record jackets with some of their most difficult and challenging works. Yet, as I listened, for the first time in many years, to those scratchy old recordings, the quality and integrity of the interpretive process and the sensuousness of the choral sound remain as impressive to me as the day they were recorded. That’s the secret. That’s why we came back over and over again for his advice, wisdom, and learning. He taught us not by word, but through “doing” to always maintain the highest artistic and creative standards!! The quality which he demanded in rehearsal and performance, as well as in the literature which he selected to be performed HAD to be of the highest artistic integrity. There were NO compromises allowed - you simply rose to the occasion. And in so doing, your aesthetic and musical values were so expanded and enriched that it became inevitable that you would begin your own search for the great musical literature and the accompanying spiritual rewards. It is the nature of this “beast” that we are constantly trying to conquer, that one doesn’t always reach one’s musical and aesthetic goals. And in the end, it’s also difficult to determine which has been more meaningful, the search or the occasional “mountain-top” experience. But finally, one has to realize that it was the sum total of all those musical journey experiences that has made our musical and human existence, to quote a popular commercial, “priceless!” That’s why I have such admiration, love, and respect for Gene Kenney. That’s what he gave

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us who were lucky enough to have been around him - a life filled with an affiliation of the highest and most significant experiences humanity can produce. Thank you Kenney - you gave me the means to enrich my life and those around me beyond belief!

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by Glenda Casey

GENE KENNEY…just to think the name evokes a multitude of memories and emotions. The name is also synonymous with many other names in my mind such as fanatic, tyrant, intimidator, conductor, musician, mentor and friend. There are numerous tales and experiences that could be told here; however, I will share only a few!

As Gene Kenney, the fanatic, Mr. Kenney was marked by his excessive enthusiasm and often intense devotion to what was stylistically appropriate and correct. If J.S. Bach could award one person for the interpretation and conducting of his music, it would be Gene Kenney. He served all music with a passion and demanded it from the singers as well. I made a “C” in choral conducting under his tutelage because I am left-handed. In Kenney’s opinion, dominant left-hand conducting was not appropriate or correct, and he ordered me to keep my left hand behind my back! The next semester, I made an “A” in orchestral conducting, with baton in left hand; however, I believe it was because Dr. Ellsworth thought I would never choose to be an orchestral guru anyway!

As Gene Kenney, the tyrant, the man demanded uncompromising superiority in the performance of his music. I recall a time in a choral rehearsal when the choir could not achieve the sound and musical effect he had in his heart, ear and head. He was relentless in his pursuit for the perfect outcome, and I think we stayed on the first page of the work for two weeks! Then, there was the coke bottle (back in the days when cokes came only in bottles!) incident—some brainless person brought a coke into the choir room and preceded to kick the bottle over in the middle of rehearsal. Kenney closed his music, the “stare” emerged over the top of his “coke-bottle-bottom” glasses, and the tirade began. The rehearsal had ended, but the “lesson” had started for the rest of the class period.

As Gene Kenney, the intimidator, one would have to be taken back to the “stare”.

That stare over the glasses was merciless. The look went inside you rather than at you.

It could take you to the depth of embarrassment or the height of euphoria with the

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words or the silence that might follow. The anxiety came with trying to guess which one it would be!

As Gene Kenney, the conductor, one never had to guess what his gestures and expressions meant. He was an artful, articulate, elegant, and sensitive master at conducting the performers. The hands, face, body and spirit spoke to all that had the privilege of working under his direction.

As Gene Kenney, the musician, his ability and soul for the art of musical presentation are difficult to verbalize. My husband, Jim Casey, says, “He had an uncanny sense of taking the written page and bringing music to us in the unique Gene Kenney way. He was always willing to share his talent and genius with anyone—especially those of us who were fledglings and were clueless”! I take the position that having facility of the basic skills of musicianship does not make a musician. Mr. Kenney’s gift of interpretation and inner knowing of what is beautiful created the need, not just the desire, for musical experiences throughout the lives of those he touched.

As Gene Kenney, mentor and friend, he was a master of his art and served his students as professor, teacher, advisor, counselor, and comrade. He observed and had insight into the direction his students might or should go with their musical careers. I was never one of Kenney's star singers, but he recognized in me some potential as a music educator. Near graduation to earn my bachelor’s degree, he took me to his side and asked me if I wanted to sing in his choir or teach. My answer was “teach”. Within a week, I was interviewing for my first job as a teacher of choral music because of his recommendation and influence. Two years later, after a successful performance by one of my choirs at the Southwest Music Festival in Amarillo, Kenney came up to me, hugged me, and said (with a grin on his face), “Where did you get your education?” That was his personal way of acknowledging approval and granting credibility.

From Jim – Kenney always had time for you. One of the greatest gifts you can give a person is your full and undivided attention. He never failed to do that when any of us needed his expertise, opinion, or advice. I will always respect and admire him for his contribution to my musical insight and career.

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From Glenda – Kenney had an incredible influence on my life and career as a music educator. The following quote came from the eulogy of the late Dr. Hugh Sanders: “He did not use people to make music. He used music to make people”. What a beautiful thought and tribute! Those words, in my heart, constituted the ultimate compliment for those of us who strive to be the very best we can as choral musicians and teachers. I feel it more than appropriate, deserving, and a privilege to pass those words on to Gene Kenney. I am one of those “people” he was instrumental in molding through his music.

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by J. W. Neuenschwander Gene Kenney is the principal reason I majored in music. Our first meeting was in 1965. I was a freshman at Tech majoring in pre-dental. It was the night of the Festival of Carols held on the Texas Tech campus each December. Several men from the dorm in which I was living had combined with the ladies of another dorm to perform some simple songs for that event. When our songs were done, there was a tug on my pants leg and man with a rather gruff, authoritative, deep voice said, “Why aren’t you in choir?” Being my usual red-headed, not easily intimidated self, I replied, “I am taking 19 hours and simply do not have time for choir.” And that was that…I thought.

One day during the second semester when I had finished a particularly difficult chemistry exam I began to wonder exactly what I was trying to do with my life. I remembered Mr. Kenney’s question and it seemed to make sense. I asked my self, “Why aren’t you in choir?” I had played trumpet and French horn in high school and was enjoying the Tech Marching Band playing trumpet and playing French horn during concert season. I had a wonderful experience in choir in high school for the only semester my schedule would allow. I immediately turned right and headed for the music building. I found Mr. Kenney and became a Music Major.

I sang with the Tech Singers the first year and then auditioned for Tech Choir and was fortunate to sing in that elite group for two years. During those years I was fortunate to watch Mr. Kenney conduct and work with the choirs. He was an immaculate and fluid director. As he conducted the choir you understood exactly what he wanted. He was very demanding. Someone once said that music is an unforgiving art.

I do believe that is true and Mr. Kenney was an unforgiving director. He was true to the music and expected everyone to have the same passion as he did for each piece of music we performed.

Since he was so demanding, there were times when Mr. Kenney would get frustrated at our efforts. When it was your section’s turn in the ‘hot seat’ you were in for a very, very long day!!! Not only was Mr. Kenney’s voice intimidating, but also his

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GLARE could be quite un-nerving. I am near-sighted and can see things up close without any difficulty, but really need my glasses to help get things in focus when they are at a distance. When Mr. Kenney started in on the tenors, I would take off my glasses. I could not see him clearly and could concentrate on what he was ‘saying’ without any thought that he was staring at ME!!!

I have the utmost respect for Mr. Kenney. I think he was musically brilliant. He had an innate musical talent, but he also worked and studied continually to improve.

I think that was his greatest gift; his undying desire to learn and improve. If anyone was trying to follow his example, they would have to be willing to spend many hours, days, months and years of study to reach his level.

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Gene Kenney Remembered

by Randy Jordan He stood no taller than 5’8”, and I towered over him at 6’2”, but he still remains the most intimidating man I ever met. The coke-bottle thick lenses of his glasses made it impossible for you to be able to tell which direction he was looking whenever he was casting his glare of consternation over the choir. He could seemingly be looking straight at you while leveling the soprano section at the same time. He usually saved his most vitriolic attacks for the beleaguered sopranos. He was Gene Kenney, choir director for Texas Tech University, and I learned more from watching his hands than any other person in the profession. He was my mentor, and he barely even knew me. I seriously doubt he remembers me at all.

I guess you could say that you felt in good company when he sought you out during a rehearsal to berate; at least you knew he saved no one from his wrath, and that you had caught his attention. He had the classic look of an arched eyebrow over his glasses, frequently taking the glasses off to sweep his hand through his thick graying hair to express some frustration or displeasure. I imitated both of those maneuvers and incorporated them into my rehearsal scheme. Unfortunately, my hair is now graying, but not thick. Now my students imitate those same moves. Kenney lives on, whether he knows it or not.

It was under Kenney that I experienced my first performance at TMEA in Fort Worth. We were to sing before a nationally known collegiate group (I will not mention) whom everyone was looking forward to hearing. We did the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Ginastera, which the following group also had programmed. The group that followed us dropped it from their program. Kenney beamed. I began to understand what it meant to “experience” a choral performance. Where I came from, there had been four different choir directors in four different years at my high school, all of whom were coincidentally the adult choir directors at the First Baptist Church.

Baptists and choir directors were a dime a dozen in my town, but good music was a rarity.

Shortly after I gave up my dream to become the next John Denver (took me

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almost two whole weeks to figure that one out) I decided to try my luck at acting, and changed my major to drama. While walking down the sidewalk away from the theater department pondering my dismal failure at becoming the next Robert Redford, I ran into Kenney. In the course of the discussion about my fate, he mentioned that he thought I had the ability and the gestures to make a good choral director. That changed everything. I would become a choral director. Twenty-nine years later, I haven’t looked back.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have rarely had an original thought when it comes to every musical thing I have ever taught. I have stolen most, if not all, of my ideas from someone else. 90% of all I have ever taught still comes from watching Gene Kenney’s hands. Maybe one day I’ll do Lamentations. Thanks, Kenney.

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by Dave Brewer 1. Walking into choir room everyday was often intimidating as a freshman knowing that I was in the classroom of a master of choral music. However, everyday that feeling of intimidation would leave when the choir made music like no one else had ever made music before.

2. Buddy Pedigo and I stayed out all night on a choir tour. It was about 6a.m. when Buddy and I came back in after some "extensive partying." Kenney was waiting for us when we "walked" into the hotel. Knowing we had a concert at 8:30 that morning, and that we were the " stud" basses, we knew he would let us go. NOT!!!!!!! Kenney unwrapped a couple of cigars for us to celebrate our evening. He made us smoke all of the cigar right then at 6 in the morning. We were two very sick campers for the rest of the tour! In fact, I still get a little nauseous sometimes just thinking about it.

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by Katherine (Killgore) Kennedy/ Horsman

Gene Kenney probably will never know the influence he had on me starting in the 7th grade. He was the visiting choral clinician for our junior and senior high school choirs. His powerful presence and demanding style is a lasting image for me.

As a high school sophomore he told me that if I worked really hard, I could audition and PERHAPS get into the Texas Tech choir. What a motivator that was! Not only did I work really hard, but I decided that I was going to pursue music as my college major and go I onto some professional vocal performance field…like Broadway musicals.

Well, of course my freshman year I didn’t get into the Tech Choir the first semester…I was crushed. But I made it for spring semester and every rehearsal was an emotional experience: sometimes leading to tears of frustration and other times, great satisfaction.

The fact that I (and many other sopranos) had a HUGE crush on Mr. Kenney made it all the more compelling to be a good musician and singer.

When Gene Kenney asked my mother to marry him, I blurted out: “Mr. Kenney!

Why didn’t you ask me ?!!!” His response, peering over those coke bottle glasses: “Honey, don’t you think 30 years age difference had something to do with it?!”

Gene Kenney has been a profound influence upon my family; bedrock of classy stability… mixed with downright sheer obstinance and stubbornness! Memorable as he will always be to the hundreds of singers in his choirs, he is most memorable to me as my stepfather!

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by Ben R. King It always comes back to those glasses. Noon. Rehearsal. The hands (oh, what hands!) would stop, fold. That leonine gray head would slowly lift, eyes the size dinner plates laser-focused. Then, the worst; the glasses came off! "King, if I hear one more flat note from that fat body, I'll ship you home to your mother as ground round at $.79 per pound!" "Yessir!" And away we went went, Apparebit repentina dies-ing away. That was in prep for a TMEA convention. After the concert, Kenney told us he'd heard someone say before the concert "My God, look at what they're attempting!"

After the program, he heard the same director say, "By God, they did it!" That was Tech Choir, Gene Kenney conducting. Unforgettable!

Another glasses moment. Temple High School, Brahms (the quartets, if memory serves, but maybe the Liebeslieder; Kenney loved his Brahms). We were in the middle, and suddenly, quietly, he closed his eyes and let the sound flow, lost for a moment in what we were making together. Unforgettable.

Gene Kenney could make you nuts. Gene Kenney could make your day. Once when I got caught in the middle of a bit of faculty politics, Kenney summoned me. He said exactly the gentle, encouraging things that needed saying. Unforgettable.

Kenney loved to laugh, when he thought we could afford it. Probably the high point there was the day George (Buddy) Pedigo sauntered in (late again!), John Wayne stride and voice to the max: "Hah, Gene. We gonna sang sum more o' that Brams tuhday? Ah shore lahk that Brams fella." I thought Kenney was going to fall off his chair.

The rest of us were on the floor. Unforgettable.

Gene Kenney taught me more practical musicianship and musicality than any conductor with whom I have ever sung or studied. Not a week goes by that I don't use something he taught us all. And one of the accomplishments of which I'm proudest is the A I earned in his choral conducting class. Unforgettable.

Lloyd Pfautsch Material prepared by Rosemary Heffley

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Lloyd Pfautsch Eulogy by Carlton Young Lloyd Pfautsch Professor of Music 1921-2003 Southern Methodist University

On Friday, November 14, 2003 friends, colleagues and former students convened at Perkins Chapel on the SMU campus for a celebratory evening of Lloyd Pfautsch memories. Sam Young, respected hymnologist, editor of the Methodist Hymnal and, coworker/friend of Lloyd’s for over half a century, delivered an eloquent homily leading all in attendance to an even greater appreciation of the life and legacy of this good and kind gentleman. We are grateful to Sam for allowing us to excerpt the following from that homily.

Lloyd Pfautsch: Musician of the Church and the Academy Carlton R. (Sam) Young How fitting it is to convene this service of remembrance in this space that Lloyd enlivened, distinguished, and helped define musically and liturgically. Most of us gathered tonight were privileged to observe, participate, assist in, and in some instances conspire with Lloyd in planning, and shaping the determining concerts and services.

During Lloyd’s first decade at SMU, both in this space and at the Meadows School, a significant part of his choral works repertory was developed and first performed at University Choir concerts, by the then all-male Seminary Singers in weekday worship, the Chapel Choir in Sunday university worship, and by the University Choir and Seminary Singers at the early December annual Perkins Christmas Worship Service.

How fitting, indeed, to gather in this space to remember Lloyd through his music, and through these reflections about his career that crossed over from the academy to the church, and from the church to the academy.

Lloyd Pfautsch was born in 1921, in Washington, Missouri, a farming and industrial community located southwest of St. Louis, on a bend of the Missouri River. St. Peter’s Reformed Church, whose congregation dates from the early 1860s, and where

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Lloyd was baptized, still stands. Two of the many industries of the river town achieved international fame---the Schwartzer Zither factory and the Missouri Meershaum Company where Lloyd’s father made corncob pipes.

Lloyd was raised within the rich cultural, musical and hymnic tradition of German Evangelical churches, which were practiced and contextualized by 19th century German immigrants in communities extending from Pennsylvania across the mid and upper Midwest.

The Evangelical and Reformed Church, (E&R), a joining together of several Reformed groups, was founded in 1934. As did its predecessors, the E&R church fostered the development of many well-recognized hymnists and church musicians. E&R colleges and schools, such as Elmhurst College where Lloyd, a pre ministerial student received his undergraduate degree in 1943, encouraged the practice of church music and hymnody. Lloyd’s worship-song roots were the Lutheran-style chorale that uniquely joined belief and song --- doxa and logia, praise and word. Lloyd often reminded his students and colleagues in the music division, but especially those at the seminary, that music for Martin Luther was next in importance to theology, a living voice of the Gospel, a gift from God, not to be trivialized.

Following graduation from their respective colleges Lloyd and Edie (Herseth) met in New York City. Edie studied voice and Lloyd pursued the Bachelor of Divinity and MSM at Union Theological School of Sacred Music. They both sang in Robert Shaw’s Collegiate Chorale, including that group’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Toscanini with the NBC Orchestra. They were a part of the exciting, innovative, creative, and productive decade for choral music that ushered in a distinctly American approach to choral and choral/orchestra repertory, composition, performance practices and conducting technique.

From 1948-1958, Lloyd was director of choral activities and taught voice at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL. A gifted soloist, Lloyd continued to present recitals and sing oratorio roles. Nearly fifty years ago Lloyd sang two performances of Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” in the same day --- one at the Methodist church on the campus of Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, OH., and the other clear across town in Cleveland Heights where I was music director. Here I first experienced Lloyd

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rolling his eyes into his forehead, a silent response when things were not in sync. It happened on the downbeat of the soprano aria, “Hear ye, Israel,” which begins Part II. The heat generated by the standing-room audience had caused the piano to go flat, and the organ to go sharp! As we approached Elijah’s recitative leading to the aria, “It is enough,” Lloyd’s furrowed brow signaled either the piano or the organ had to go! It was, indeed, enough!

Lloyd arrived at SMU in 1958 and was appointed to both the music and theology faculties. He taught voice for a short time following the death of the principal voice teacher, Mack Harrell. His initial tasks were twofold --- direct the university choral groups and propose the joint music/theology curriculum for an MSM program of study. In addition, Lloyd began a graduate program in choral conducting, made significant contributions to Perkins’ worship song, founded the Dallas Civic Chorus and maintained wide-ranging travel as the de facto ambassador-recruiter for SMU. Conducting University Choral Groups When he assumed leadership of the school’s choral organizations he immediately wentto the Varsity shop and bought a red shirt he wore in rehearsal for 35 years!

Some voice majors, encouraged by their former and perhaps their present teachers, did not audition for the University Choir under the guise their voice would be damaged if they sang in choirs! Using his consummate understanding of the voice and success as a voice teacher Lloyd challenged the assumption that vocal and choral singing are incompatible. During his three decades he linked the voice studio and choral rehearsal hall through a proven, and consistent vocal/choral pedagogy. The repertory of SMU choral ensembles greatly expanded under his direction with performances at many regional and national professional music groups [AGO; ACDA, MENC and others].

The MSM Program of Study Using insight he had gained writing his master’s thesis at Union Theological Seminary [A Survey of the Teaching of Music and Hymnody in Theological Schools] Lloyd proposed a required course in hymnody in the then basic theology degree and a jointly sponsored MSM degree between Perkins Seminary and the Meadows School

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of the Arts – Division of Music. He faced significant challenges. Some music faculty members opined if students couldn’t make it as a performer they could always become a public school music teacher or a church musician! And, there was the challenge of placing MSM graduates in churches whose leaders were accustomed to Sunday worship that featured 19th century gospel hymns, organ-choral music literally “blown” at the congregation as well as many songs chosen from the Cokesbury Worship Hymnal! Worship mostly void of sacramental interactions with the Word read, preached, and sung!

Lloyd’s considerable persuasive pastoral-political skills helped the faculties and church leaders define and meet many challenges, laying a firm groundwork for the successor directors of the MSM program of study. From the first graduates in 1962 to the present time participants have served with distinction in a variety of churches, schools and communities worldwide.

The Master of Music in Choral Conducting In establishing a master’s program in choral conducting Lloyd insisted that conducting could be taught, contrasted to those who said conducting is essentially something to be caught … in other words, “watch me!” Lloyd’s pedagogy was absolutely transparent. No tricks, gimmicks, just an organized sharing of a wealth of defined and proven ways to conduct choral ensembles. He often said to his conducting students: “Your choirs can sing anything you can teach them.”…. putting the burden on the conductor and her/his preparation of the score and ability to teach the music.

Lloyd’s contemporaries, who were also teachers of choral conducting, include Margaret Hillis, Elaine Brown, Daniel Moe, Harold Decker and Charles Hirt. Of these, Lloyd was the most prolific composer of original works, some of which became classic studies in presenting and solving conducting problems such as carefully placed rests to allow a breath, controlling choral sound, articulating beginning and ending voiced consonants, defining and shaping beat patterns that accommodated alternating meters and slowly developed crescendos. He still teaches through his compositions.

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Contributions to Perkins’ Worship Music Repertory and Performance Practices Lloyd’s approach to worship music, congregational and choral, was welcomed at Perkins at a time John Deschner and others, including Albert Outler, were redefining the school’s curriculum as fully Wesleyan: fully evangelical, fully catholic and fully Reformed. (By the early 1960s, worship music performed and practiced in this space had distinguished Perkins School of Theology as an alternative [some would say, countercultural!!] to Southwestern-urban-Methodist Sunday morning/evening worship music styles!)

Of the more than 300 compositions that he composed over a half century, nearly one-third are anthems and other short choral forms composed for services held in Perkins Chapel and local church liturgies. These works are strikingly original, poetically apt, and choral-centered. Other works were commissioned for larger choirs to perform under his direction at regional, national and international denominational meetings and choir festivals.

In addition to his own compositions he encouraged students and colleagues to compose works for inclusion in these services. Notable examples are Natalie Sleeth and Jane Marshall.

One of the most successful, enduring models of worship music that he introduced at Perkins was the annual Christmas Worship Service, whose initial audience was the seminary and university community. By the early 1960s this service was offered back-to-back in afternoon and evening services, the second for the larger Dallas community that packed this space. (Members of the University Choir will remember the quick dash between services to the Pfautsch home for Edie’s Scandinavian pastries!)

The Dallas Civic Chorus Lloyd was the founder and director of the interracial, interfaith Dallas Civic Chorus, which for three decades was the premier community choral group in North Texas. Their two annual concerts included first performances in Dallas of major choral and choral/orchestral works, including his own “Day For Dancing,” “Gloria,” “Befana,” and “Jubilate Deo.” These prized performances are preserved in the

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archival CDs prepared by his son Jonathan, which also include most of Lloyd’s choral repertory. Other memorabilia (scrapbooks, clipping files, photographs, performance programs, etc.) are housed at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Hamon Arts Library.

SMU’s Ambassador to Churches, Communities and Schools For many at a distance from Dallas, the name Pfautsch was SMU’s most exported name, rivaling football greats Doak Walker and Don Meredith. Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News music critic comments: “Pfautsch made SMU and Dallas the Mecca of choral music.”

[DMN, 10/5/’03] Lloyd recruited many prospective students to study theology and music, as well as other disciplines through his near omnipresence in choir tours, school and church festivals, adjudicator of choral competitions and conductor of all-state choruses.

Countless others were guided into church and school music careers through Lloyd’s music.

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Pedagogy, productivity and presence are the legacy of Lloyd Pfautsch which crossed over and joined the academy to the church and the church to the academy. He combined his penchant for persistence (euphemism for stubbornness!!) with that inimitable combination of pastoral-liturgical insight, and unwavering integrity. Five precepts guided his distinguished career: 1] RESPECT FOR PERSONS – Some students and colleagues misunderstood Lloyd’s rejection of verbal abuse, belittling, literally beating the music out of singers, as lacking the fullness of musicianship and pedagogy. What they missed was that for him, the rewards of making music are in the collegial task of making music together, not seeking the approval of the conductor, nor ultimately dependent on the conductor.

Lloyd completely fulfills Erik Routley’s definition of the professional church musician: “they handle mysteries and make them friendly.” The consummate teacher, Lloyd seldom failed to transmit to generations of students the “how” as well as the “joy” of making music.

2] STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE – He was able to strive for excellence without the liability of elitism, exclusivity and snobbery. Excellence was a quality that he brought in his entire music making: excellence of repertory; excellence in preparing the score; excellence in rehearsal technique; excellence in choral and choral/orchestral performances. He was a conductor’s conductor.

3] IMPORTANCE OF HUMOR AND LAUGHTER -- Lloyd often used selfdeprecating humor. For example, once when he ran across an old promo photo, he said: “There’s Hair Pfautsch!” A master of puns and one-liners. When Edie, commenting on her avocation, would say: “I have done a lot of weaving the past 20 years but it is pretty much on hold now.” Lloyd would murmur in that deep, purring voice, “The loom is still looming!”

He laughed with, not at, choir members’ faux pauxs. He often broke the tension of grueling rehearsals with humor. Latecomers to class or rehearsal were often greeted with humored disdain: “Well……the late Mr. Smith has finally arrived!” When

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students asked how grades would be given in a course, Lloyd responded, “I don’t give grades, I record them!” Who can forget the post-tour awards cleverly written by him, never hurtful, yet a helpful expose’ of how others see us; or the look on his face when, during the final concert of the tour, he opened his score to the inevitable Playboy centerfold! Once, when asked why Edie was chosen to sing so many solos with the Civic Chorus, he replied: "She has a very good, expressive voice, a flexible contralto and mezzo range; sings in time and in tune; watches the conductor, and” --- with that characteristic grin, the punch line --- “she’s my wife!”

4] WORDS MATTER -- Lloyd considered it important for those who sing great words of faith to consider, and carefully articulate them while learning to sing them, or, if these were not a singers’ words of faith, to clearly and expressively sing others’ words of faith and witness. For him, the choir’s diction was essential in prompting the hearers’ informed response. He diligently taught his students and singers to articulate the sounds of the words of faith. That pedagogy is carefully delineated in his widely used method, English Diction for Singers [1971] and a modest sequel, Choral Therapy, published in 1994.

5] MUSIC MATTERS -- From his Reformed-Lutheran tradition Lloyd affirmed a liturgy that sought to present the unity of The Word of God: read, sung, proclaimed, prayed, sung, musically exegeted and elaborated in a variety of styles, textures and tonalities. The Word made flesh; the showing forth of the divine mystery. Lloyd taught all of us that when choosing worship music --- congregational, choral, instrumental or keyboard --- the liturgy should inform the appropriateness of the music, and, the music, particularly the music of hymns, should compliment the words.

In the days following Lloyd’s passing affirmations of his influence beyond the campus began to appear on the Internet, including these three: Steven Kelly Jones: Dr. Pfautsch’s contributions to American choral literature enriched us all. From my high school days in the 1970s to the present, his music has challenged and inspired my generation. God bless Dr. Pfautsch.

David Smith: Dr. Pfautsch was my conductor at an honor choir in Oklahoma when I was 15. It was he that inspired me to become a composer. Praise the Lord for the legacy that he has left us in his music.

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Richard L. Sowers: Thousands of hearts, especially mine, have been transformed by the choral music of Lloyd Pfautsch. His many works will continue to live a kind of “eternal life” with every public performance of his supremely gracious music. ….. to which each of us could add our own affirmations …..

To close his homily Sam chose one of Lloyd’s hymn settings of a Charles Wesley text, “I want a principle within.” Composed in 1963 and named EUCLID [the name of the street where Edie, Lloyd, Deborah, Peter, Eric and Jonathan lived in Dallas], Sam acknowledged it to be a perfect example of the appropriateness of the enjoinment of word/music. And the people sang, “Amen !”

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Lloyd Pfautsch Remembered

by Dr. Kenneth W. Hart Director – Sacred Music Program Perkins School of Theology It is an honor for me to share a few remembrances of my friend and colleague with this distinguished congregation. In preparation for a book I am now completing on the life and music of Lloyd Pfautsch I was privileged to spend over 100 hours taping his recollections and ideas as I interviewed him in the spring of 1998. In transcription it fills 300 pages! He added much more to our discussions in the ensuing years.

There are many things about Lloyd to admire. You have heard and will hear from others about some of the more profound aspects of his life. I want to mention a few examples of what I consider an essential part of his presence: his humor.

I first met Lloyd Pfautsch when I came to Southern Methodist University to audition for my current position as the fourth director of the graduate program in sacred music, Lloyd being the first director and Sam Young, the second. Lloyd quickly invited me to attend his University Chorale rehearsal, noting that we could chat afterwards. When I entered the choral hall he had just finished warm-ups and stopped to introduce me to the choir. They proceeded on cue to give a single handclap, which he called “an applau,” the imagined singular form of the word, applause. This must have been a frequent trick, but the choir still enjoyed performing it and I was highly amused.

Pfautsch wrote several times about the importance of humor in choral rehearsals.

Once when the choir was on tour and were about to take the stage for their opening night, Pfautsch sensed the apprehension among his singers. To calm them he admonished: “If you ever make a mistake during this concert, don’t scowl like you are mad at yourself. Rather, just turn to the person next to you and glare at them as hard as you can!” He recalled that they all sang beautifully that night.

In an eloquent and moving tribute to her father at his memorial service last month Debbie Pfautsch concluded with this thought: “Well, the heavenly choir has a

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new director now and it’s time to get the diction right!”

While her view may be accurate, I couldn’t help wondering if she knew what Lloyd’s own concept of heaven was. Once, when he was trying to boost the morale of the bass section before a challenging concert, he told them: “Men, my idea of heaven is singing a choir where there are 5,000 sopranos, 5,000 altos, 5,000 tenors and only me singing bass. At a dramatic point in the rehearsal the director of the heavenly choir stops the music abruptly, looks over at me and says,….’a little quieter in the bass section, please, Lloyd! ‘ ” Pfautsch also thought it was extremely funny when members of the Dallas Symphony told him that the previous summer the standing joke on tour had been to use his name as an expletive! If someone dropped their music, for example, they exclaimed, “Oh, Pfautsch!” He considered this a compliment!

Finally, I want to offer a few of Lloyd’s quintessential aphorisms. These come from his first book, Mental Warm-ups For the Conductor (1969). He used to take a pad and pen to his boys’ baseball games and as these occurred to him, he would write them down. He told me that he was quite the ‘angry young man’ when he wrote this book. He wasn’t sure who else it helped but he felt a lot better for being able to vent his “choral spleen” (as he put it) in print. In his maturity he wished he could have softened some of the language, but not the points he was making.

On Conducting: A choral conductor should operate like a highly successful salesman who concentrates on selling his product rather than selling himself.

No amount of study of music literature, music theory, voice, etc. will ever supplant the importance of experience gained through participation in a vocal ensemble and through “standing in front of your own choir.” Moral: All theory without practice makes “Jack” a poor conductor.

A choral conductor, desiring more vocal intensity was once heard to shout, “SING LUSTFULLY!” Moral: All choral conductors are occasionally afflicted with “foot-in-mouth” disease, but it’s rarely fatal!

On Choral Contests: A choral contest is frequently an anathema. The conductor must receive a judgment he/she would rather avoid and the judge must make a judgment he/she would rather avoid. Usually the conductor thinks that he would

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make the better judge while the judge thinks he would make the better conductor.

How many times has neither been correct in his assumption?

On Singing: We often tell our singers to “relax.” But, if you relax completely you will fall over! What we want to get rid of is excessive and unnecessary tension.

Moral: Ask and it might be given unto you. But know what you are asking for.…and why.

Some voice teachers and conductors stress affected production and create a norm out of the affect. Thus, one hears some choirs who always sing with an “overemphasis on head resonance,” while others always sing with a “smiling face.” Right?

Wrong? Wrong? Right!!

The many charlatans in voice studios are usually the loudest in berating choral singing while protecting their own vocal “method.” Moral: You can still fool some of the students much of the time!

In closing I want to note that whether Lloyd Pfautsch is the only bass in the heavenly choir or is rather the diction-sensitive director of it, we do know with certainty that he has gone to a better place. As we learn in I Corinthians 12, no longer will he be made to “see through a glass darkly,” but rather, “face to face.” So sing on, Lloyd!

We already miss you.

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by Jane Marshall Composer, Conductor, Author November, 2003

Returning at age 40-something to SMU to work on a graduate conducting degree under Lloyd Pfautsch was not only a delightful adventure but an exercise in unlearning for me. It probably brought a sigh of relief to Lloyd, for he had seen me conduct my own music, in which I simply “made do.” His teaching cleared the muddy waters of my technique and gave me a way to analyze my gestures and silence my dependence on verbal directions. It must have been a relief to the choirs I would later conduct as well. When I finished the degree in choral conducting, I taught freshman and sophomore theory in the Meadows School of the Arts and passed on my newfound conducting skills to choirs I visited. I simply used what I learned from Lloyd, and carried it over into the workshop area, telling the participants in conducting class that what I was doing was nothing I had invented but information I was simply transmitting from Lloyd Pfautsch. In the ‘70s I moved into the Graduate Program of Sacred Music in Perkin School of Theology, where my chief responsibility was to teach choral conducting and church music. Again, it was Pfautsch transmitted by Marshall!

With my husband I joined Lloyd’s newly-formed Civic Chorus, which sang a repertory of music in venues as wide-stretched as the Dallas Symphony to half-time performances on Thanksgiving Day at the Cowboy games! It was during this period I discovered how keyed-up I was after Civic Chorus rehearsal and how long it took me to wind down before sleep. I finally figured out that I had been singing with my former conducting teacher but now from the point of view of the singer in the ensemble and, since the chorus sang many of Lloyd’s works, from a colleague in composition as well. Not many had the good fortune to operate from so many perspectives at once.

No wonder my mental ears were still working into the night, long after rehearsal was over!

The exposure to more of the Pfautsch repertoire than I would have known had I not been in the Chorus helped me with my own composing, and I soon learned, as

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Lloyd had learned earlier for himself, the value of rhythmic variation technique. My music began to show up in mixed meters more frequently than it had in my earlier writing, to the delight of some and the confusion of others! But I had learned the Pfautsch way of making all this easy. I use the knowledge now when in summer continuing ed classes, I teach conducting to choir directors. As many as 60 come in for 11 days, and all must get up to conduct and be critiqued by the class. Remembering Lloyd’s clarity in this exercise sees me through. Again it is Pfautsch transmitted by Marshall.

During those early years working on the degree I was a happy student of Lloyd’s infectious humor, even when he criticized. (He knew our weaknesses like the back of his hand and gave us repertoire to conduct that forced us to strengthen them. My worst was not being forceful enough on the downbeat, and I still catch myself reverting to it often enough to hear that ledger-line bass voice reminding me to “deepen that down stroke.”) Lloyd always treated us as colleagues, and that relationship for the two of us, almost the same age, deepened into even closer friendship. After we both retired, we had long gossip sessions on the phone, nearly always about our opinions of things choral, the ways of institutional bureaucracies and publishers. When Edie Pfautsch and my husband knew the two of us were on the line, they’d find something to do elsewhere in the house for an hour while we solved the musical world’s dilemmas!

The Pfautsches, the Marshalls and the Carlton Youngs –(Carlton [Sam] having been a former Director of the Master of Sacred Music Program at Perkins, a composer, and the editor of both the 1964 and the 1989 United Methodist Hymnals ) — all married in the same year and occasionally celebrated together. Those events in themselves provided a rich feast, seasoned as always be Pfautschian humor, kindness, and vast knowledge, and blended by our common interest in all things choral, theological and political. Savoring the memories of all this plus exposure to the amazing gifts and contributions of Lloyd Pfautsch are definitely worth staying awake for---over and over!

Jane Marshall, a graduate of SMU, returned in 1965 at Lloyd’s invitation, to secure a Master of Music in Choral Conducting . Since that time she has served the

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university in many capacities, continuing to teach in the Church Music Summer School at the present as well as pursuing a very active career in both anthem and hymn writing. She is a national treasure !!

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Lloyd Pfautsch Remembered

by Charles Nelson Singer, Conductor, Teacher, Friend November, 2003 In the middle 1950s I had not heard of Lloyd Pfautsch. I had, however, heard of Robert Shaw, who was the most outstanding choir director of our time. As vocal chairman of my TMEA region, I wanted the very best as a Region Choir clinician, so, while still not understanding my limitations, I wrote to Robert Shaw and invited him to be our Region Choir clinician!

With his polite rejection he suggested that we consider Lloyd Pfautsch who was directing the choir at Illinois Wesleyan. Reasoning that Robert Shaw wouldn’t recommend anyone who was not a fine musician and conductor, we invited Herr Pfautsch, and he accepted. At that time region choirs were not a group of auditioned singers but consisted of all the choirs that would learn the music and attend. We felt that the McAllen HS choir, conducted by Bev Henson, the Harlingen HS choir conducted by Al Autrey and the Edinburg HS choir conducted by Charles Nelson, would make a pretty good region choir even if nobody else showed up!

A tall, thin, personable man (whose name we were not sure how to pronounce) with a deep, resonant voice, a clear precise beat and an efficient rehearsal technique arrived, listened to our choirs perform individually and took us through our paces with the music he selected. It was a satisfactory occasion for all. A short time later we heard that Lloyd Pfautsch was to be the new choral director at Southern Methodist University. Those who had experienced his work in the Region Choir were glad to see him come to Texas.

For the rest of his life he lived and worked in Dallas. Above and beyond his sterling work at SMU, in the Music Department and the School of Theology, through his many musical compositions, his untold number of individual choir and region clinics and who knows how many services as UIL contest judge, he served us all. He organized and conducted the Dallas Civic Chorus which prepared and presented outstanding choral music for the public.

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In his early years, because of his musicianship and fine bass voice, Lloyd was invited to sing and record with the Robert Shaw Chorale.

Lloyd made significant contributions to the Texas choral scene for more than forty years. Our choral heritage is better for him having been with us.

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Lloyd Pfautsch Remembered

by John R. Atherton Choral Director, Pianist, Composer, Music Educator (retired) December, 2003 I met Lloyd at SMU auditorium; he had just finished his first Christmas concert with his SMU concert choir ...about 1955-56.

Prior to Lloyd’s arrival at SMU, Dr. Edgar E. Atherton, my father, hired Lloyd to direct his Methodist Choir at Weslyan Methodist Church in Bloomington, Illinois.

At the same time, Lloyd held a college position as professor of Music at Illinois Weslyan College in Bloomington.

Lloyd left Bloomington after ten years and came directly to SMU. Dad commended me to get to know Lloyd and inform him that I, too, was a music teacher in Dallas. When I introduced myself to Lloyd, he exclaimed, “Your father warned me you lived here!”

As I took music direction and choral composition from him and assisted him as a pianist, I heard Lloyd often express the need for Dallas having a community choir – using vocalists and teachers. I was there when Lloyd formed the Dallas Civic Chorus and sang under him for some 25 years. SMU had graciously allowed us to use their facilities under Dr. Pfautsch’s direction.

During these years, Dallas church and school choirs learned what a great musician we had here in Dallas and often looked to Lloyd for his recommendation for likely musical candidates. Also over these years, Lloyd produced talents that spread out and enhanced our world of music.

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by Pat Jousan Music Educator, Singer, Graduate of SMU- 1977 January, 2004

Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch taught me many things. However, the most important thing he taught me was that the humanities cannot exist without humanity. Like many others, I first became acquainted with Dr. Pfautsch through his music. When I sang the soprano solo in “Mary, Mary” my senior year in high school, I had no idea that I would be sitting in front of Dr. Pfautsch just three years later as a member of the University Choir. I only knew that I loved that piece of music. It spoke to me on a very human level.

Four years later, during my senior year at SMU, I was lucky enough to be a part of the first performance of Dr. Pfautsch’s magical “Befana.” His excitement was contagious. He radiated joy and exuberance as if he had never premiered a piece of music before! In the Italian legend of Befana, the three wisemen come to the home of Befana on their way to see the newborn king. They ask if she has a gift for the child.

She, however, is too busy cleaning and doing chores to be bothered. After they leave, she is busily bustling around her home when she comes across a doll that belonged to a child that she lost. She decides to give this doll to the infant king as her gift. The sopranos sing this poignant section of the music.

Ten years later, I was lucky enough to perform the work again under Dr. Pfautsch as a member of the Dallas Civic Chorus. However, this time when the sopranos sang the doll sequence, I was surprised to find tears rolling down my cheeks. I realized at that moment that I now had a child of my own and I could connect with Befana on a different, more “human” level.

Dr. Pfautsch was so approachable and down to earth on a personal level as well.

My favorite “Pfautschism: occurred when he would make a rare mistake during one of his meticulous rehearsals and declare in that booming voice, “I sit corrected!” How very human. Throughout my choral directing career, when I came in contact with the more combative, pompous director, I could not be influenced by them. I had been

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taught differently. My reaction to them would simply be, “Gee, why is he being so arrogant?

He’s not even conducting his own compositions!” Dr. Pfautsch never acted like that and he WAS! Now that he is gone, there is a little less humanity in the world. However, his legacy of humanity will live on indefinitely through his music.

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by Donnie Ray Albert Professional opera/concert artist; SMU Vocal Performance Graduate, 1975 January, 2004

My years of graduate work at SMU were highlighted by the choral activities directed by Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch. The choir tours introduced me to new areas of the United States which I, otherwise, would not have seen. Dr. Pfautsch’s presence on the podium, his conducting style, his humor, and his choice of repertoire were a blessing to all of us. I am honored to have had his trust as a musician, mentor and friend.

Donnie Ray, along with some 150 others, participated in the service choir for Lloyd’s memorial service on October 7, 2003 at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. Additionally he sang a beautiful rendition of Schubert’s “An die Musik” as his own special tribute to Lloyd…. from bass to bass

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Lloyd Pfautsch Remembered

by Eleanor Grant Retired Choral Director – Houston, Texas January, 2004 A gentleman, friend, mentor, distinguished educator, composer, and musician, Lloyd Pfautsch leaves for us a legacy that begins with his guidance and influence upon multitudinous students, as well as non-students, and his ties to and respect for fellow colleagues. Far and wide, Lloyd’s link to others seems boundless.

Well and truly, Dr. Pfautsch touched the lives of Houston’s Robert E. Lee High School students through his choral works. Privileged to have met him during preparation for a combined concert with Mesquite High School in 1975, the young men and women of Lee’s mixed choir still recall the memorable occasion of his sharing personal time with them as they were preparing several of his compositions.

Those who have studied with Dr. Pfautsch seem to reflect a confidence, an energy and enthusiasm, grace and love for conducting and communicating the essence of choral literature instilled in them from Lloyd’s ever-present positive and encouraging approach. Those of us as non-students attending Lloyd’s conducting and rehearsal techniques seminars have benefited significantly from learning his techniques and applying them in our own rehearsal situations. We continue to honor Lloyd for his genuine interest in our journey through the education scene, teaching others not only to use the voice appropriately, of course, but also to appreciate the value of being able to continue participating in the choral organizations, church choirs and vocal ensembles for a lifetime.

How lovely for each of us to know that we are perhaps part of Lloyd’s legacy!

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by Tom and Winifred Council Choral Director; Church Music Minister, Composer (Tom) Singer, Voice Teacher, Children’s Choir Church Ministry (Wini) SMU Graduates January, 2004

Last evening at my rehearsal I was concerned about the choir getting the final “t” at the end of beat two. I found myself attempting a little “Pfautschism” hand motion.

We all remember those special little motions that only Lloyd Pfautsch could do that the rest of us could only attempt to master in his conducting class! How well do I remember the time we spent in working on the “v’s” in “vibrate” or the inner “m’s” in “slumber on” from his setting of “Music When Soft Voices Die!” And what about all of those vowel sounds? Oh, yes, many hours of working for just the right formation for that vowel ….. not to mention the diphthongs! But it goes beyond good consonants and vowels. In my own compositions I find myself writing a little rhythm pattern and thinking … a little “Pfautschism” there.

But, it’s also about Lloyd Pfautsch the person, the teacher, the musician, the composer, the mentor that I remember. I remember running up those long three flights of stairs in McFarlin Auditorium (long before there was a Meadows School of the Arts with nude statues in front !!) to a four o’clock rehearsal of the University Choir. You could only hope you would not be late. And never, ever did one want to walk in late with a girl!!

Yes, forty-one years after walking past the nude statues in front of Meadows for the last time as a student, I find myself remembering and practicing the little “Pfautschism” to hopefully make my choir sound better. And now, when a former student of mine tells me that he or she remembers something that I said when standing in front of their choir, I find myself saying, “another little ‘Pfautsch’ musical grandchild!”

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I also remember running from Dallas Hall to Selecman Hall on MWF for our rehearsals of University Choir. I was so excited to be a freshman member of the “auditioned” choir. I remember being one of four specially designated “boy sopranos” for pieces that required that type of sound. Dr. Pfautsch even gave us special names. Mine was “Wilfred!”” Going to choir rehearsals was something I looked forward to, even at 4:00 PM on Fridays!

I also sang in Chapel Choir with Dr. Pfautsch and Dr. Young. The wonderful concerts at Christmas and our tours. I was allowed to take his vocal and choral techniques class as an undergraduate and remember trying to conduct with my face ...(no hands allowed! ). I have often been grateful that there were no video cameras then, although it probably would have been very helpful. I probably learned as much about teaching voice, which is what I do, from Pfautsch as from anyone I studied with. I was very flattered when he assigned the name of Robert Shaw to me for grade-posting time!

There is not a choir rehearsal with my children’s choir that I don’t use something that Dr. Pfautsch taught or said. When I directed the Garland All-City Boys Choir, I got a chance to use even more of the techniques I learned from him. He always invited a “guest choir” to sing on the Christmas concerts in Caruth (Meadows School of the Arts Auditorium) and I accepted nervously when he asked the Boys Choir. I just never wanted to let the man down! He really knew how to pace a rehearsal---when to really work and when to relax and have fun. We did both and had a wonderful choir.

Actually my first experience with Dr. Pfautsch was in an All Region Choir in the mid 1960s. He was our clinician. He had such a “way” with kids and we all loved him., That was just another reason that I wanted to go to SMU. There are a lot of legacies out there thanks to one, Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch. ***We have a very special tie to Dr. Pfautsch. He was the minister who married us some 35 years ago in Perkins Chapel. Some may not know that Dr. Pfautsch was also an ordained minister. So, along with starting our musical careers, Dr. Pfautsch was there to help us begin our married life together. And, standing there before him on that hot July evening, we would not have been at all surprised to hear him say, “Wilfred, will you take Tom…..?

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by Sid and Linda Davis Attorney; Singer (Sid) Choral Director; Singer; “Mom” (Linda) January, 2004

My earliest recollection of Lloyd is as an All Region clinician when I was in high school. I thought I was a bass, so naturally, I was impressed by his booming bass voice and the ease with which he sang notes all we pseudo-basses could only whisper! I had no idea at that time I would meet Lloyd again, as an adult, and enjoy many years of wonderful singing under his baton.

When I returned to Dallas after law school in 1979, my fiancé’, Linda Jackson, was already singing in the Dallas Civic Chorus. I auditioned and was accepted (although I remember seeing Lloyd’s comment sheet which, among other things, said “no low notes!” See first paragraph!!)

Singing in the Dallas Civic Chorus under Lloyd’s direction was one of the musical high points of my life. I had never before been exposed to rehearsals which were both challenging and great fun. Among the many wonderful memories I have is the inventive warmups he used, singing vowel sounds preceded by each consonant in the alphabet (forwards and backwards ! ), or randomly calling out the section names in rhythm (and occasionally the accompanist’s name) to repeat a particular note or phrase.[Insert Linda: Rehearsals of Civic Chorus flew by. We always left with far more energy than we arrived with never a moment wasted, but always lots of fun!!]

But as we learned and performed some of the great works of choral literature, we also learned about Lloyd. He and Edie were both fun and approachable. He enjoyed a good laugh. And when he walked out at the beginning of a concert, he was pure sophistication and elegance. He looked as if he were born to wear white tie and tails.

One of my now deceased law partners lived next door to Lloyd and loved to imitate Lloyd “gliding” to the podium. And after the music started, I never remember a time when, as a singer, I was unclear about what he wanted. He was both stylish and precise.

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I will always be personally thankful for Lloyd’s encouragement. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to sing a few baritone solos with the Civic Chorus, and he was always free with his compliments. A few years ago, Linda framed a letter which Lloyd wrote to me after a concert, and it hangs in our bedroom. He was a consummate musician, a wonderful man, and a sweet spirit.

Although the epitome of positive reinforcement in conducting class, Dr. Pfautsch was not a cream puff or pushover! If I, as a young whippersnapper, thought everyone who didn’t love a certain composer’s work as I did was dumb and bad, he let me know that was not a mature and professional attitude.

As a member of my Masters committee, during my orals, he asked questions that were broad and deep in scope, based on intuitive knowledge of who I was, and causing me to call upon many aspects of what I had learned rather than regurgitate information. His intellect was staggering, so how was it that we never felt intimidated?

Maybe that he knew and respected each student and kept the focus on our development.

In conducting class (some of the most stimulating fun I’ve ever had), he never tried to make us clones of his conducting style; rather, he took what we as graduate students already knew and helped us polish our own style with his amazing method that has help for everyone, novice or expert. His own conducting was so beautiful — clear, precise, musical — he had no peer in that realm. His eyes sparkled even when his brow furrowed.

Such a consummate gentleman !

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by Kevin R. Riehle Conductor; Composer; Artistic Director, CANTARE Houston SMU Choral Conducting/MSM - 79-82 January, 2004

My memories of Lloyd Pfautsch are rich ones, indeed. Besides being a consummate musician, singer, conductor, and composer, he was for me, a true mentor. His genuine love of life, his work, his family and students inspired me daily, far beyond the times in the class or rehearsals. Over the years, I found the frequent touchdowns with him --- workshops, tour visits, guest clinician sessions with my choir, performance of his work, phone conversations, and pop-in visits to his office/studio --- to further nurturing and encouraging. He always encouraged me, was interested in my life, my family and my work in that order.

Dr. Pfautsch’s passing on October 3 occurred at a particularly open and vulnerable time and space for me: the day of the first of two concerts by my newly formed professional ensemble CANTARE Houston in which we performed Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli and Arvo Part’s Te Deum. It also occurred in the same week I learned of the death of my undergraduate teacher/conductor/mentor, Donald Forsythe, also of a massive stroke. It also occurred in the midst of a string of losses of people near and dear to me. One of my CANTARE singers, after hearing my dedication of the concerts to the memory of these important men, commented that the weekend was about the “passing of the torch.” I hardly feel worthy of such comparison or of such a task, but I imagine that many of us who have been touched by the spirit of Lloyd Pfautsch may, indeed, feel similarly. It is now our turn to be mentors to younger artists, to search and reevaluate ourselves and our lives in order to be of service to others in ways as yet unimagined.

After a particularly difficult time in my life, I saw Lloyd and Edie at the convention of the Texas Choral Directors Association, an organization which has honored Dr. Pfautsch on several occasions. He stopped, both of them, did, asked the usual

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questions: How’s your family, how’s your work? And then, as I learned to expect from him, his eyes focused more keenly, his head leaned in and he asked: “And how are YOU?” I was able to answer him truthfully, and then, with all the love and support of a proud father, he said, “I’m very proud of you.” That one comment did more for me than passing oral and written exams.!

How many of us have known that side of Lloyd? I dare say, many. He had a way of looking to the heart of the matter, to the essentials --- the unified vowel and its color, the crisp incisive consonant, vehicles to the communication of the text and spirit. His wit, his sense of humor, his joviality, and his loud guffaws are image bits and sound bytes that I will always carry with me.

I am proud to be a “Pfautsch-ite..” In rehearsals and concerts it was the prayer of a few of us: “Pfautsch-safe, O Lloyd, to keep us this day without sin…” The sins of choral conducting are many. By studying with him, by knowing him, I am less apt to succumb to most of them.

So may it be with us all!

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by Lou Williams-Wimberley Composer; Organist; Retired Choral Director, SMU graduate February, 2004 Anyone who attended the memorial services at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church shared in a wonderful celebration of Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch’s life and work. Each participant summoned memories of days long past, yet as fresh as yesterday in my mind.

There was the day he was telling me about guest conducting a choir of hundreds, and I asked him if he were going to use a telephone pole as a baton so they all could see him?! The Sunday at Perkins Chapel when the Pfautsch boys came with their dad, and he was proud to say they were studying the numbering systems of ancient civilizations during services. I remember with pride when he asked me to serve as chapel organist one spring semester and when he told me that he had selected one of my arrangements to go into the chapel music library.

Who could forget the games of one-upmanship played with fellow punsters, or those rich deep, but never loud or raucous laughs? I will never forget being asked to tell what I knew about ballet in my master’s orals. I had tried to memorize specifications of Silberman organs, to discuss philosophies of music education and to explain various teaching methodologies, so I was caught off balance by the whole subject of ballet! Someone on the panel tried to help me by asking “what about Adolphe Adam.”

In a feeble attempt to come up with any answer, I said, “didn’t he write “O Holy Night?” Dr. Pfautsch broke the tension with a laugh, “well, you can tell where she has been spending her time.”

The memorial service choir, most of whom were Dr. Pfautsch’s former students, was not only a tribute of, dedication to, and respect for their teacher and friend, but also appreciation for Dr. Pfautsch’s continued support and concern for his former students. We must remember a teacher whose lectures and lessons were as clear, concise and clean as his conducting style. We remember his concept of English diction

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executed with correct vowel sounds and precision of consonant formation; his analysis of conducting skills and how to put them to work; his approach to text setting and choral arranging/composition. We remember always being welcome to seek advice and counsel long after commencement. We not only remember, but we continue to teach others what we learned from this choral scholar and master teacher.

Finally, we will always be able to recall the vision of Dr. Pfautsch as he approached the podium with confidence and dignity. We will remember that he was a gentleman, even in the most trying situations. And we will always be touched by the inspiration and pride we felt as students, choristers and colleagues of Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch.

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by Terry Price Minister of Music/Fine Arts Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church Dallas Conductor; Singer; MSM Graduate - SMU February, 2004

On October 3, 2003 the world of choral music was saddened by the passing of Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch. He had suffered a very serious stroke just a few days earlier, and was surrounded by family members at the time of his death.

It would be easy to fill a book on the legacy Dr. Pfautsch left to choral music; however, space will not allow. He was truly a legend in his own time due to his great success as composer, arranger, singer, conductor, clinician, and teacher. His works continue to be performed regularly across the country. He served as clinician in almost every state and in many countries. He was honored to be selected to conduct a massed chorus of over 2,000 voices for the 20th anniversary celebration of the founding of the United Nations.

He was an ordained minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church. While studying in New York, he and his wife, Edie, sang regularly under both Robert Shaw and Arturo Toscanini in concert, recordings and broadcasts. He sang Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the composer. As an outstanding soloist and choral singer he was in constant demand and was well known for his “Elijah” role in the Mendelssohn oratorio.

Any story of Dr. Pfautsch must include the great love he had for his family. He and Edie, married for 57 years, were the proud parents of daughter Deborah and three sons, Eric, Peter and Jonathan. Their children and grandchildren were constant sources of love. Dr. Pfautsch was dearly loved by the countless students who studied and sang with him. He was a thorough and demanding leader, yet his rehearsals were always enjoyable. He is renowned for his great humor and for his love of puns and word plays.

The memorial service for Dr. Pfautsch was held October 7 at Preston Hollow

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Presbyterian Church in Dallas. A huge choir of his former singers overflowed the choir loft and chancel coming together to honor this good man. Dr. Pfautsch had planned the service, in his usual thorough manner, years before. The magnificent music he selected included Mendelssohn, Brahms, Vaughan Williams and Bach. Of the hundreds of his own works that would have been significant to include for the moment, he selected only one. That speaks to all, but it also was a telling reflection of the life of this man. The text is attributed to the Venerable Bede and to Lloyd.

May we live in the world as those who always seek to serve.

May we live as those who know the love of God. With our eyes may we see, with our ears may we hear; With our lips may we speak, may Your Word be always clear.

Thus, as we live each day, may Love sustain the will to serve.

Amen.

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by Jim Moore Choral Director, Music Educator, Friend March, 2004

I remember very distinctly many of my experiences with Dr. Pfautsch., It was during the time at SMU when he was in charge of choral activities and also directed the Dallas Civic Chorus. What an imposing presence! Not only in physical stature, but in command, presenting himself with dignity, assurance, yet always with concern for and interest in the person to whom he was speaking. I admired, and found myself to emulate, his conducting style – precise, accurate, and clearly understood by the ensemble. As a choral conductor in Irving, there were many times that our students knew him as a conductor and clinician of various choral activities. Singing with him, their response was always positive, with a great deal of respect and admiration. The Irving High School choir was invited to sing on the program of his Christmas concert in Caruth Auditorium in 1969. I remember the excitement and the apprehension.

But I most remember his comments to us after the concert and his encouragement to me and the choir members. He made it a most positive experience.

Who can forget performing with a choir “Beautiful, Yet Truthful,” “Love’s Antiphon,” “Annunciation,” “Musick’s Empire,” “My Dancing Day,” …. etc. It was known that a composition by Dr. Pfautsch would speak first to the singer, then to the listener. When a singer, having previously performed one of his compositions would meet him, it was obvious that a relationship had already been established.

I am grateful to have known him and to have been in the Dallas area during the time he was teaching, conducting and composing. His influence over many will continue to exist for years to come. ……. "would with you Heaven’s Hallelujahs raise!” …….

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by Lois Land Music Educator, Organist, SMU Faculty 1964-1980 March, 2004 I first met Lloyd Pfautsch in the late 1950’s soon after he had come to SMU. I was organist at First United Methodist Church in Corpus Christi where he had brought the University Choir to perform. His musicianship, coupled with such enthusiasm, good will and wonderful humor were much in evidence, both with the choir students as well as the audiences for whom they performed Some five years later I was in Dallas for my daughter’s graduation from SMU and had occasion to lunch with Lloyd and Edie. At the time he told me of his appointment as chair of the music division and outlined many of his aspirations and goals, one of which was the expansion of the music education curriculum. Suddenly he asked if I would consider coming to work as part of the music ed faculty. The invitation was totally unexpected. I had had no thought of leaving Corpus Christi.

In the following weeks I found myself excited about the opportunity he offered.

His goals for music education at SMU interested me and I anticipated having the opportunity of working with him in the accomplishment of some of those aspirations.

So, in September of 1964 Dallas became home. I was Lloyd’s first appointment as chairman.

At that time the School of Music was housed in a renovated men’s dormitory which contained little space for classrooms of any kind, much less music education!

Those working on the basement floor often stepped around water puddles from rains and/or leaks. However, that was to change dramatically.

Thanks to Lloyd’s (and many others’) patient and dedicated work, a gift from the Meadows family/foundation had funded a beautiful new facility for the arts. In high gear and full of enthusiasm and excitement, Lloyd gathered both faculty and students for a march through the campus on moving day. It was quite a sight! As we settled in, Lloyd’s delight with the new building was immeasurable. He gleefully led tours to everyone who visited, delighting especially in demonstrating all the acoustical and

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engineering wonders of Caruth Auditorium, the performance hall.

Those early days his steady guidance and encouragement for both faculty and students enabled us all to pursue that higher standard of performance he had described those years before. Leadership skills were plentiful and everyone was treated fairly, honestly and with a large dose of pure kindness. He was a good administrator and an even better friend.

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by Dede Duson Composer and Pianist Private Composition Study with Lloyd Pfautsch – SMU, 73-74 March, 2004

One year of study … Thirty years of friendship …

My very first conversation with Lloyd Pfautsch revealed so much of his kind and generous spirit. It came as a long-distance call which not only interrupted his choir rehearsal, but also requested the possibility of one-on-one instruction in choral composition. His teaching load was more than full, yet he graciously agreed to take on an unknown 35-year-old for a year of directed studies --- and, said he could remember my name because it sounded like Edie!

That next year at SMU was invaluable. In choral arranging class he gave very structured assignments to help us improve our craft. We learned from each other’s mistakes as well as our own, while gently receiving his ever-tactful and constructive suggestions. That same easy manner prevailed in our one-on-one sessions --- always pleasant and positive and encouraging, and very often punctuated with irresistible puns! He let me choose the texts and voicings, with his weekly advice usually including the phrase, “now, let’s see whether there is another way that this would work better” --- never a more pointed criticism that surely was deserved!

Dr. Pfautsch always was thoughtful to send some of our arrangements and/or compositions to his publishers, certainly giving them more reason to have a look at our unknown names. His choral conducting class was both fun and hard work, with such innovative thoughts and motions that he could communicate so easily and clearly. In playing for him at various workshops or choral programs that he guest-conducted, the time spent was enjoyed by all. There was humor instead of ego, concern for every marking within the score, and very defined leadership toward achieving each musical goal.

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To me, his compositions are so like his voice --- rich and strong and convincing, while at the same time very lyrical and uplifting. He always asked of my creative endeavors, even writing a note of thanks for contributing to public school literature.

That kind, generous spirit always will stay in my heart. How fortunate we all are to have known him.

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by Rosemary Heffley Music Educator; SMU graduate March, 2004 To have had this amazing opportunity of reliving Lloyd Pfautsch’s life and works with these friends’ heartfelt comments has been such a blessing. And he was just that, a marvelous blessing to so many.

Dede’s memory of receiving his generous notes led me to complete our journey with just that…. because he always had time and inclination to let us all know he cared – about our work, our lives and just simply about us. We glimpse that humanness and generosity-of-spirit that so many have spoken about.

----received from him during the late summer in the 80’s Dear Rosemary, I was pleased and pleasantly surprised to see you in my TCDA sessions. I suppose I figured you had seen me work enough through the years! Then, to receive your gracious and generous commentary on these sessions was an added source of challenge to me. I must confess that being able to work ICDA and TCDA in the same week made me realize how fortunate I am to be involved with choral conductors this way but even more, it enlarged my sense of privilege and gratitude that I seem to be back in “full steam!” I leave on Thursday for Minneapolis and Seattle then Philadelphia doing reading and workshop sessions for Augsburg at their stores. Then, back to SMU and the start of a new year. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness and your friendship over the years.

---and, finally, an excerpt from a letter received after he and Edie had attended a 1998 Mesquite Civic Chorus performance featuring two of his “Seasonal Songs.”

Dear Rosemary, On the way home last night, somehow the words “Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude” haunted me. I knew I had thanked you for using “Winter” and

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“Summer” on the concert but I suddenly realized that I had not commented on the performance.

I thought the performances were very good. The dynamics, tempi (and changes thereof), nuances and the contrasting spirits of the texts were beautifully ordered. I know how difficult it is to achieve textual clarity which is especially important in my setting of these two poems. However, I thought your careful rehearsing resulted in superb diction, especially initial and final consonants, e.g., “blow” and “freeze.”

Such results require patient persistence on your part and disciplined responsiveness on the part of the singers. That was the first time I had heard “another” chorus sing these songs and I hope that all who have sung this work approximated the quality of your performance. My sincere thanks to you and the members of the chorus for preparing and sharing these two songs with such engaging enthusiasm and at such a high level of choral excellence I was especially pleased that you had selected “Summer” since I had dedicated the setting to you. The esteem which that dedication represented continues at an extended level. I can say the same about Dede, for you two have given so much of yourselves to the choral art in addition to your very special educational and performance contributions. Surely you both know that so many people are most grateful to you!

Sincerely, Lloyd Is it any wonder that this man was truly and genuinely loved by us all? Thank you.

A . M. Autrey Material prepared by Sheryl Murphy-Manley & Walter Foster

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A.M. Autrey Biographical Sketch of A.M. (Al) Autrey 1922 - 1988

April 12, 1922 was a fateful day in Sommerville, Texas, for on that day was born one who would be a prime mover in public school choral music in the state of Texas.

Early on in school he was attracted to the trumpet which he played all through high school. Becoming a “music teacher” was the farthest thing from his mind as he grew up doing all the things young boys did in south central Texas in the 1930s, like skinny dipping in the town’s water supply reservoir and “cruise’” the town for girls.

However, one episode did stand out in his mind. During his high school years, a politician came to Caldwell, where the Autrey family was living. He needed someone to drive him about the county to meet the people and solicit their votes. When Al’s father heard this, he said, “My boy Al will drive you”. Surely the man who became U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator and ultimately the President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, didn’t remember the high school boy who drove him all over Burleson county, but Al never forgot.

Al was among that vast group of young men who were just the right age to become soldiers in World War II. He chose the Army Air Corps to do his service to his country and ultimately piloted B25 bombers and P51 fighter planes. Al was the prototype of the “fighter pilot”. He was short enough to fit comfortably into the cramped cockpit of a fighter plane, had a type A personality, was handsome, and had the self assurance that there was nothing he could not do, including directing a men’s chorus at Ellington Air Base in Houston.

Following five years of military service in the U.S. Army Corps, he returned to Sam Houston State Teachers College to continue his academic studies. Like so many war veterans from World War II, Al did not talk much about the actual combat, killing and the horrors of war, but he would thoroughly enjoy telling the funny things that happened along the way, i.e. the time during his flight training when he fell out of the open cockpit of the trainer he was flying and the week end he and his buddy were skinny dipping in the Pacific ocean and someone stole their uniforms. They had to spend

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the entire night in the water before getting help the next day. For the rest of his life he suffered from a “bad” knee, that was a result of having to bail out of the P51.

At SHSTC he fell under the influence of Euell Porter. Al, a trumpet player who had developed a fine tenor voice along the way, was one of the several band members Euell Porter recruited to sing in the choir. Al ultimately chose to follow the discipline of choral music.

Following his graduation at SHSTC, he accepted a position as choral director at Tarleton Junior College in Stephenville. During the summers he began study for his Master of Music Degree at UNT at Denton. He continued additional studies at the University of Texas and the University of Denver.

Following two years at Tarleton, he moved to Amarillo High School which had 1900 students in grades 10-12. The choir program boasted 600 students. Surely this must have been the largest choral program in any high school in the State. The Bel Canto Chorale, the best 60 singers, presented a 15-minute program on the local NBC radio station, KGNC, every Sunday afternoon. They recorded the program on Fridays. They prepared one major selection during the week and sight-read the rest of the the program. One year, he prepared and performed Brahms’ German Requiem at an astonishing high level for high school singers. While there, his choir won the coveted Gulf Sulfur contest. The prize was a performance with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on a radio broadcast that covered the entire state, and beyond.

Al continued his singing, during his Amarillo years, by singing in the Blackburn Shaw Funeral Home male quartet. When this group was not performing in their professional capacity, they sang Barbershop with exceptional skill. On these occasions they were known as “The Four Hearsemen,” and, even more informally, as “The Four Stiffs!”

His next appointment was at Travis High School, followed by Harlingen High School, McAllen High School before making a transition to college level work. While at McAllen, he was elected conductor of the Valley Civic Chorus.

Having taught at John Tarleton Junior College, and through some research he had done while working on his Masters Degree at North Texas, he became vitally interested in the the concept and development of community colleges. It seemed nat-

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ural, therefore, for him to migrate from high school teaching to a position at San Antonio College, a two year “community” school. For five years he directed Victor Alessandro’s opera chorus for the San Antonio Opera Festival and directed the Meistersinger Chorale. He sang comprimario tenor roles in some of the operas.

While with the San Antonio Opera Association he was involved with one of the very early performances of Carlisle Floyd’s “Susanna”.

He was appointed choir director at his Alma Mater, Sam Houston State University, in 1965. During his forty years of teaching he inspired many of his students to life careers in music. His work, at every level, in the several places he taught, was admired and respected by his peers.

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A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by Walter Foster Professor of Music, Retired Sam Houston State University Following his graduation from Caldwell High School and Sam Houston State College, A. M. Autrey became director of the Sam Houston State College Men’s Chorus. Then, during a 5-year career as a pilot of P-51’s and B-25’s he directed the Men’s Choir at Ellington Field, Houston. After receiving his discharge, Autrey taught voice and directed choral groups at John Tarleton State College at Stephenville. He later did post-graduate work in vocal music at North Texas State College, receiving his Master’s degree from there in 1951. While still working on his Master’s, Autrey came to Amarillo in the capacity of choral director, succeeding Mrs. Julia Dean Evans in 1949. In his first year at Amarillo, he produced an outstanding organization, the Bel Canto Chorale, winning an appearance with the Houston Symphony in the spring of 1950.

I first met Al Autrey in the fall of 1950, my junior year at Amarillo High School, when I auditioned for a spot in the Bel Canto Chorale. At that time enrollment in Amarillo High School (grades 10-12) totaled around 1900 students, over 600 of whom participated in the choral program. The Bel Canto Chorale, consisting of the top 60 students, presented a 15-minute program on the local NBC radio station, KGNC, every Sunday afternoon. We actually recorded the program on Friday afternoons, having prepared one major selection during the week and sight-reading the rest of the numbers at the moment. It kept everyone alert! During the spring of 1952, my senior year, the Bel Canto Chorale presented Brahms’ German Requiem in its entirety. That was when we all met the marvelous baritone soloist, Charles Nelson, for the first time.

The high school officials didn’t entirely appreciate the level of repertoire we were performing. They thought we were much too “high brow.” After Commencement, the Superintendent of Schools complimented Al on the music we sang for the ceremony and expressed his wish that we should sing more numbers like that. The selection was

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the fourth movement of the Brahms Requiem, which the man had never bothered to come hear earlier in the year. Such were the perils of mid-twentieth-century choral educators in Texas!

Not only did Al conduct, he also sang very well. In addition to his work as a soloist, he performed regularly with a male quartet at the Blackburn Shaw Funeral Home in Amarillo. When this group was not performing in their professional capacity, they sang Barbershop with exceptional skill. On these occasions they were known as “The Four Hearsemen,” and, even more informally, as “The Four Stiffs!” One year they were finalists in the SPEBSQSA (Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America) Competition. The next year they were the First Place Winners.

Al picked a student male quartet out of the Bel Canto Chorale. I was fortunate to sing bass with the group, along with Bill Cormack, tenor; Bob Davis, lead; and Adam Ortiz, baritone. Adam, Bill and I all went on to pursue music as a profession. After decades of outstanding success in high school choral music, Bill went on to become Executive director of TMEA. Adam attended college briefly, then joined the Air Force, where he quickly became the Director of the Keesler Air Force Base Chorus and had incredible opportunities for traveling and performance experience in all parts of the world. After his stint in the military, Adam did music degrees in Mississippi and continued his career in music education. I completed degrees at UNT and UT Austin on the way to a college teaching career in voice and opera.

Al Autrey had a very positive, decisive influence on each of our lives. It was especially rewarding for me to teach with him years later at Sam Houston State University.

A.M. Autrey

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by Suzanne Medlen When I became a graduate assistant in 1969 at Sam Houston State University, the requirements for my assistantship were to accompany vocal students and to be the choral assistant for the A Cappella Choir. Alvis Autry was the choral director and voice teacher under whom I was assigned to work.

For the next two years, Mr. Autrey proceeded to place wonderful and difficult repertoire in front of me to sightread for his voice students. Never having been good at sightreading piano scores, it was “sink or swim” time. This method forced me to develop abilities that have been invaluable throughout my career. It allowed me to be exposed to a tremendous volume of outstanding vocal repertoire.

The most important aspect of my graduate accompanying experience was the opportunity to watch a master voice teacher work with many different students. This allowed me to develop an ear for vocal sound and Mr. Autrey would graciously answer my questions during our coffee and Dr. Pepper breaks. He frequently would explain different techniques during lessons. He allowed me to begin my teaching style when he would send me to start a student’s lesson. Alvis Autrey was one of the finest vocal coaches that I have had the privilege of studying with or observing. He seemed to always be mindful that he was training future teachers.

I also had the opportunity of studying voice from Mr. Autrey for a short period of time. This provided me with great insight into my own vocal instrument.

He was tremendously helpful in preparing my graduate recital because I was not on campus during this time. My Mother (my accompanist) and I would come from Stephenville, Tx for rehearsals. Special arrangements had to be made for practicing and Mr. Autrey always accommodated his schedule to facilitate our rehearsals.

Alvis Autrey was a wonderful teacher and an excellent musician. His musical insight and teaching skills have impacted many singers and teachers. He had a tremendous influence on my teaching career.

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A.M. Autrey A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by Walter H. Hodgson, Dean, School of Music North Texas State College

For at least a dozen years, Amarillo High School has had one of the ranking high school choirs of the country. Musicians like, Mary McCormic, Julia Dean Evans, Jim Bob Nance, Cloys Webb, Janet Catterton, Harlen Nesbit, Adrian McClish, Helen Marshall, Ruben Noel and many others from Amarillo, are prominent names of the North Texas State College School of Music.

When Mrs. Evans came to NTSC three years ago, we had a chance to reciprocate and send one of our finest students, Alvis Autrey, to direct the Bel Canto Chorale. It has been a great source of great satisfaction that Autrey has been able to carry on the work of yesteryear and add to the laurels of the Chorale’s Distinguished tradition.

Last spring, when I heard the chorale sing, I could truly say it was one of the finest three or four high school choirs I have ever heard. My experience includes 20 years of judging in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. I prophesy this album will add greatly to the Chorales reputation, and I would like to have album number one for the NTSC music library.

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A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by Sheryl Murphy-Manley Al’s presence in my college life extended far beyond the realm of merely being my voice teacher. He was a father figure away from home. He was an encourager and one who helped me as a young college girl put the world into a larger perspective and walk boldly toward my goals and dreams.

He was perceptive and quick to assess his students’ frames of mind. He was always ready to listen, offer advice, or reprimand when necessary. He had an uncanny way of knowing what each student would achieve once they graduated, or if they even would. I saw over the years, that his predictions were almost always correct. Knowing the accuracy of his perceptions, I came to trust his advice and his observations even more as the years passed.

More than anyone else in my college years, Al helped to instill in me the desire to seek the career paths that he saw I truly desired. He did this for all of his students.

He was the most honest individual that I had ever met. He told me truthfully what a career in music would bring: both the pleasant and not so pleasant. He always had his students’ best interests at heart and was able to help us sort through our young adult minds that were full of extraneous ideas.

There are times in my adult life that I think of him daily, missing his sincere and realistic approach to music and life. His kind and spunky spirit inspire and encourage me today as I can still hear his words of advice, gently reassuring me. His sense of humor was endearing and his smile unforgettable. His kind gestures were an assurance to all who knew him that he had created a better world for so many people who were blessed to have called him teacher, friend, and colleague.

With sincerest and fondest appreciation to you Al — we will always love you and remember you.

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by Charles Nelson

As I remember, it was the summer of 1950 (it could have been 1951) that Al attended summer school at NTSU. We had some classes together and his affable personality made me seek his company beyond class time. He was a trumpet player who had sung in Euell Porter’s choir at Sam Houston State and decided to make his “fame and fortune” in choral music. Being young ambitious choral directors, Al and I had a lot to talk about, and did, over coffee at the student center and in the swimming pool and at every other opportunity we could find.

About that time, he moved from his first job at John Tarleton Junior College in Stephenville to Amarillo High School where he accepted the responsibility of a large (perhaps the largest) high school choral program in the State. The program flourished under his direction. They won the Gulf Sulfur competition for a radio performance with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. One spring he invited me to come to Amarillo and sing the baritone solos with a performance of the Brahms Requiem.

His singers did a remarkably mature performance of that great masterpiece; well beyond high school choir norms.

Al’s ability to cause high school singers to sing extraordinarily well became well known throughout the State and he was looked to as a leader in the field. The prowess of his choirs in Amarillo, Austin, Harlingen, McAllen High Schools won him a teaching position at San Antonio College. In McAllen he became the second director of the Valley Civic Chorus. While working at San Antonio College, he was appointed Chorus Master for the San Antonio Opera Company and director of the Meistersinger Chorale. Al also had a fine tenor voice and sang many comprimario roles with that company. He completed his teaching tenure at Sam Houston State University where he directed choirs and taught singing. As our friendship grew, we sought every opportunity to be together. Our wives and children became friends.

Al was a colleague whose outstanding ability I recognized and admired. Since I admired his skill, I never wanted him to hear my work, as a choir director or as a

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singer, unless it was the best I could possibly produce. I wanted to enjoy the friendship and have the approval of the best talent in our profession. Al was one of the best.

I shall not forget his influence upon my private and professional life.

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by R.B. Norman, Principal Amarillo high School

I have told several people that the Bel Canto Chorale is the best choir ever to come out of Amarillo High School. I believe it is also as fine as any choir I have heard anywhere.

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A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by A.D. Nance San Jacinto Kiwanis Club Alvis Autrey has the best choir to come out of Amarillo High School in many years. He has done wonderful things with those youngsters. I have heard them many times, and I can truthfully say the Chorale has the best blend, balance, harmony and tuning I’ve ever heard. I’m not a music critic, but I know when music is good, and that choir is good.

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by Carl Bates, Pastor First Baptist Church

The Bel Canto Chorale is one of the finest musical organizations I have ever heard.

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A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by Euell Porter, Choral Director Hardin-Simmons University I think the Bel Canto Chorale of Amarillo High School is one of the finest high school choirs in the Southwest.

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by Mary McCormic, Director of Opera North Texas State College

It is with great pride that I learned the Chorale is putting out an album of records. Being a native of Amarillo, I’ve always taken great interest in the musical life there. I think there is no better choir anywhere. The Bel Canto Chorale is a group of which Amarilloans should be very proud.

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A.M. (Al) Autrey Remembered

by Bob Watson, Assistant Manager Radio Station KGNC The Bel Canto Chorale is terrific . . . and the skill with which Autrey directs this splendid group of voices is wonderful. It is gratifying to know that Amarillo students are being given the opportunity to study music under the directorship of so capable a musician as Autrey.

B. R. (Bev) Henson Material prepared by Brad Bouley

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Bev Henson Biographical Sketch of Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson 1929 - 1998

In Kerens, Texas, June 9, 1929, just four months before the stock market crash which ushered in the Great Depression, Ruth (Noble) Henson and John Henry Henson gave their two children, John Noble and Shirley Ann, a gift of twin brothers. Only one of the twins survived. Who can imagine what the choral music climate of the State of Texas would have been had there been two, the likes of Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson!

He was born into a family of musicians. His great aunt, Willie Hines, taught piano lessons and coached singers. His aunt Golder Noble and his mother Ruth Noble, were graduates of the Chicago Conservatory of Music. Golder studied violin and piano and Ruth studied trumpet. After completing their musical education in Chicago, Golder and Ruth returned home to teach in the family school of music, which was in their home, in Kerens. As an infant and young child, Bev sat in the lap of his aunt Willie as she taught her music students. One might predict that in those very early, formative years, the young Beverly Ray learned a lot of music by osmosis.

It is difficult to say when Bev first began playing the piano. Given the circumstances of his youth, he probably “played the piano” (at some level) all of his life.

Circumstances allowed the family music school to expand and take on a dancing teacher who added ballet and tap dancing to the curriculum. Since Bev weighed only three pounds at birth, when he was old enough to move about on his feet, the doctor suggested that the youngster would benefit from dance lessons to improve his strength and agility. In 1942 aunt Willie retired from her position as organist/choir director at the First United Methodist Church and was replaced by 13 year old Bev. Few 13 year old youngsters (even precocious youngsters) have the opportunity to play for formal church services and to train the singers.

In the early ‘40s’ the majority of men from 18 to 30, volunteered, or were drafted into military service. When the band director of Kerens High School was called to serve, the band directing chore was assumed by Bev’s older brother, John Noble

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Henson. When Bev entered the band, there was a decision to be made. What instrument should he play? Since the band needed a tuba, and since Bev was strong enough to carry the giant instrument, he became a tuba player. Legend has it that he was a “tuba virtuoso”.

Following high school, he registered at Navarro Junior College. Since all college students have the burden of tuition, books and supplies, food, transportation and incidental expenses, Bev opened his own dance school, and maintained it for two years. Television had recently reached Dallas and fledgeling TV stations were looking for talent. Bev was happy to help fill air time with his dancing.

From Navarro Junior College he went to Southwestern University in Georgetown where he majored in piano, organ and music education.

It is always fortunate for a student to find gainful employ which will hone the skills of his chosen profession. Bev became the organist for the First United Methodist Church in Austin. Along the way he had become quite expert at playing jazz piano which put him in demand for a band that played for dances on the weekend. Add these extracurricular activities to regular college studies and keyboard practice and interesting situations can occur.

On a regular basis, the dance band would play for Saturday night dances in Georgetown and about the surrounding countryside. Sometimes the band would be employed far from Georgetown and play into the early morning hours. It was not unusual for Bev to arrive at his organ console at the church, just in time to begin the prelude. He really did intend to practice the ambitious prelude, offertory and postlude he had posted in the order of worship earlier in the week. However, as activities unfolded, he really didn’t have time to get to the church and practice. REAL talent, coupled with a creative boldness, can get one by on the spur of the moment. One Sunday morning, his musician fiancee Evelyn Deschner, froze in her pew when she heard, coming from the organ, the offertory, (listed in the order of worship as from J.S. Bach) an embellished, improvised version of “Pennies from Heaven” which the band played for the dance the night before. On another occasion, for a postlude, the exiting parishioners were treated to strains of a well disguised “Anchors Aweigh”!

While attending Southwestern University his intelligence, talent and charm

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earned him many positions of leadership. While there he was president of the student body, president of his fraternity, president of his music fraternity, selected by his teachers to represent Southwestern University in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, selected to be a member of Blue Key Honor Society and received the Pearl Neas Award for Excellence. During his senior year, he was employed by Georgetown High School to direct their choral classes. This extraordinarily well prepared young musician was ready to burst forth and take on the world of school music.

In the summer of 1952, following his marriage to his college sweetheart, violinist and singer, Evelyn Deschner, he was hired by the school board in McAllen, Texas, in the lower Rio Grand Valley, to take over their “choral program” which consisted of eight students. Six months later he he carried a choir of fifty one singers (24 boys and 27 girls) to the UIL contest. Of the eight original students, all eight became choral directors.

He was also hired as choir director for the First United Methodist Church in McAllen. In a very short time reports of the excellent choral work coming from McAllen spread throughout the Valley. Not only was the town suddenly aware they had a special choir director, but the members of the First United Methodist Church began to hear their choir sing outstanding liturgical music from the great masters. If two jobs were not enough, he invited excellent adult singers from all over the Valley to form the Valley Civic Chorus. Their several concerts a year included works like Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ German Requiem, Ernst Bloch’s Sacred Service etc. In 1957 the Valley Civic Chorus performed Howard Hanson’s Drumtaps with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra on a Community Concert Series in Weslaco. This was the genesis of the San Antonio Symphony’s Valley Festival which lasted for years and gave the high school choirs of the Valley opportunity to sing major choral works with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra.

After five successful years at McAllen, (and the production of two daughters, Evelyn Ann and Nora) he joined the music faculty at Trinity University in San Antonio. Following a pattern, begun when he was 13 years old, he also secured a position as choir director at a Methodist Church in the Alamo Heights section of San Antonio. The choral program at Trinity flourished. Victor Alessandro, conductor of

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the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra and Opera Festival, who had heard his choir work in Weslaco when the Valley Civic Chorus sang the Howard Hanson Drumtaps with his orchestra, hired him to become chorus master for the Opera Festival. For a 28 year old boy recently from Kerens, via Georgetown and McAllen, this foray into the world of professional music was heady stuff and required a “quick study”. There was no room for incompetence when dealing with International singing stars like George London, Richard Tucker, Beverly Sills an scores of equally impressive vocal artists. Adding opera to his repertoire was exciting, but having Maestro Alessandro, a conductor from the “old school” as a mentor, was not always comfortable. At one rehearsal, following an abusive tirade which included cursing the orchestra, the Maestro slammed the baton on the stand, bolted from the podium and yelled, “Mr. Henson, take over”! Bev had a strong feeling that Alessandro designed this situation to test the metal of his young protégée.

Since Bev was, at heart, a “choral man”, as he rehearsed the opera chorus, he heard them performing the great choral literature like Brahms German Requiem, Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces, his grand Manzoni Requiem, the great Bach Passions, et. al. From this dream was born the Meistersinger Chorale. A “boy” still in his 20s had to walk a fine diplomatic line to convince a dyed in the wool opera festival conductor to allow his opera chorus this radical expansion. It worked, for to this day, The Meistersinger Chorale serves as the choral instrument for the San Antonio Symphony.

When Bev’s academic mentor, Frank Hughes, head of the Music Department at Trinity University, accepted a position as Dean of Fine Arts at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, he convinced Bev to move with him.

By the time they arrived in Fort Worth, he had successfully built an outstanding high school choral program at McAllen, developed a fine choral instrument at Trinity University and had a hands on experience with the real professional music world.

With firm backing from the Dean of Fine Arts, Bev was more than prepared to build an outstanding choral program at TCU. Building on the reputation he had established at McAllen and San Antonio, he had little difficulty in building an outstanding choral program at TCU. The music they made, as they toured about Texas and

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throughout the United States, inspired eager young choral directors to come to TCU. Bev became the choir director at the University Christian Church and uplifted the congregation with great liturgical literature. Continuing his “two jobs is not enough” philosophy, he auditioned adult singers and founded Schola Cantorum of Fort Worth. With this choral instrument at hand, he no longer just prepared the chorus for the maestro, but became the maestro himself and hired the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra to make music with “Schola”.

He founded the Institute for Advanced Choral Studies and imported outstanding pedagogues like Julius Herford to come work with the young aspiring conductors as they prepared works like Bach’s Passion according to St. John. Both the TCU choir and Schola Cantorium learned a vast amount of literature and performed to critical acclaim.

An opportunity arose for Bev to go to Norman Oklahoma and establish a doctoral level curriculum for choral directors at Oklahoma University. Upon the announcement of his arrival, there was no lack of applicants for the choral program.

True to form, he also began an adult choir for the area; the Oklahoma Chorale. To know about his accomplishments in Norman, read the above. It happened yet a fourth time.

Circumstances arose which led him to a decision to return to Texas and take the position of Director of Choral Activities at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. The success he had accomplished at all his other appointments were repeated in Huntsville. He spent a time as choir director at the First United Methodist Church in Huntsville. He formed the Bev Henson Chorale which performed in Houston. He continued to imbue young men and women with a passion for choral music which inspired them to spread the good news to the whole world.

Not all of this inspiration came from the classroom or in rehearsals. Bev and Evelyn, the perfect hosts, built a large house in the woods on a lake just west of Huntsville. Bev drew the plans which were a reflection his personality. The centerpiece was a very large living room with a vaulted (really vaulted) ceiling. The room was furnished with a grand piano, dining table and comfortable living room furniture without being crowded. On one side of the room was glass revealing the woods and the

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lake. Opposite the glass windows was the kitchen, which not only overlooked the living room, but had an opening into the big room so that as Bev prepared his famous gourmet meals, he would not miss any activity or conversation. Students were always welcome. Many declared that they learned as much music and philosophy at the house as they did in the classroom.

His Alma Mater, Southwestern University honored him as Outstanding Alumnus and bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate degree. On their campus he established a summer choral conductors institute where he continued to teach, even after his formal retirement from SHSU. Perhaps the most outstanding tribute to his life and work was evident at his funeral. The sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church in Huntsville was filled with his family, his faithful companion Evelyn, his two daughters Evelyn Ann Bouley, her husband Brad and Nora Henson (his student of which he was most proud), his beloved grandchildren Nicki and Noel Bouley, and a host of friends and students.

Proper eulogies were given. His son-in-law Brad Bouley conducted a hundred+ of Bev’s former students in “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place O Lord” from Brahms German Requiem which they sang with proper fervor, accuracy and style. The entire congregation was moved. But beyond the biblical text which Brahms so marvelously set to music, came the hymn singing. As fervently and artfully as “How Lovely” was performed, by his instructions of “piano”, “forte”, “crescendo” and “decrescendo” etc., Brahms held the singers hostage to his will. That’s as it should be. On the other hand, as the organ introduced “All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing Alleluia!”, the entire congregation, most of whom, in one way or the other had been influenced by Bev Henson’s music making, were given license to pour forth heartfelt praise to God in tribute to a friend and teacher who, during his life had contributed so much to music making. Through the progression of verses each singer fed on the energy of his neighbor until all were singing with full heart and full throat with an excellence born of years of vocal study and musical understanding. The combined endeavor was not inhibited by instruction from the composer or conductor. The product was far greater than the sum of the parts. That moment expressed the result of a life spent in pursuit of musical excellence. Following the hymn singing,

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the Pastor’s first words were, “This sanctuary has never heard such singing”. Indeed, it may never again hear such singing.

Bev Henson did not invent choral music, nor was he the only extraordinary talent to devote his life to the propagation and perpetuation of singing, but to those whom he taught, he was an inspirational ambassador of the art and the world is better off because of his life and work.

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Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Alan Hightower, Director of Choral Studies Sam Houston State University What a great privilege it is to share with you my personal recollections of the profound influence Bev Henson was upon my life as a musician. As a member of the Livingston High School Choir, I first knew Dr. Henson by his amazing reputation and through several clinics he lead at our school. Those early exposures to Dr. Henson made my choice for undergraduate school quite easy. In fact, I only applied to one university‌the school where Bev Henson was the choir director.

I attended Sam Houston on a scholarship that designated me as his choral accompanist. You can imagine the sense of awe and fear that an 18 year old might have, sitting at the piano to accompany the legendary Bev Henson.

Those four years were for me an amazing time of growth. I have never worked with a choral musician that was more instinctively musical than Bev Henson. His natural gifts were quite remarkable. Five days a week, for nine semesters I watched and listened as he took an enthusiastic group of young singers and molded them into an amazingly expressive ensemble.

I occasionally felt that Dr. Henson was especially hard on me. It is only with 15 years of retrospect that I can truly appreciate what I believe he must have seen in me at that tender age. I have vivid memories of him scooting me off the piano bench to demonstrate what he wanted from me or from the choir. His innate sense of line, understanding of structure, sensitivity to musical groupings, and commitment to the score became my role model for professionalism. His passion to make complex concepts understandable to everyone serves as a model for my own teaching. He was above all a master teacher.

Many knew Bev Henson as the choir man with great baton technique. Truly he was a man with outstanding conducting skills. I shall forever be grateful for the conducting skills that he imparted to me, skills upon which I continue build.

I often share with my own students at Sam Houston the fact that during my freshman year I took more notes in choir than in any other class. (I have the grades to

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prove it!) To complete this letter of gratitude, I’d like to include a few of the quotes that I recorded during those years as his student. I’m sure they’ll ring familiar and true to many of you.

I am enormously grateful that he chose to invest in me and that he demanded the very best from me. His legacy lives on through countless former students who continue to strive for choral excellence.

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Quotations from Bev Henson • No two notes are alike.

• Dynamic change occurs with the pulse, not the pitch change.

• The most beautiful distance between two points is a curved line.

• Always approach a rehearsal as building on the previous one.

• All art has contrast and balance.

• No two sections are alike, just like no two notes are alike.

• No singer in an ensemble can hide. Each singer must participate in the decrescen• do, or he sticks out because he didn’t change.

• Technique must come before talent.

• An ensemble should have an ensemble memory of dynamic levels, and must stay within the composer’s dynamics.

• After an inner grouping relaxes, the next phrase must move in tempo.

• Sing sounds of words, not words.

• Unlike notes make music happen.

• Vibrato must confirm, not confuse the pitch.

• A conductor must get every individual to the same place in the ensemble before he can move the entire ensemble to the next level of artistry.

• I want to hear your intelligence, not just your voice.

• Change colors as often as the composer gives you an opportunity to change.

• A ritard is one of the most expressive devices at your disposal, therefore do no start it too soon.

• Control your own voice. Never let tone or sonority drag the tempo.

• Every piece has a heartbeat, just as every person has his own heartbeat.

• Use your technique to serve the score.

• The bigger the ensemble, the less emotion needed…more attention to accuracy.

• If a composer can write a crescendo, he knows enough not to write one.

• It is better to be vulgar than non-existent.

• Sing Brahms off the principle, not the interest.

• No note is isolated, but has relationships.

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Bev Henson Quotations from Bev Henson, continued

• Absence of thought is absence of color in the voice.

• Soft does not mean puny.

• You must sing a text as if it were set exactly the way would have set the text yourself.

• Pitch is mental.

• Sonority must fit tempo and rhythm.

• Impressionistic is not imprecise.

• Save the word for the grandest of musical instructions…put it in the hands.

• You must forget what you know about Brahms and Mozart in order to perform Palestrina.

• Frame the marking, the note before and the note after it have to be different.

• Obligate your brain to the rehearsal.

• When a note is foreign to the tonality, one leans into the dissonance.

• Blend is a matter of quality and vowel.

• Music undulates, not marches its way across the page.

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Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Nora Henson When I think about my father I remember a story teller, dog lover, gourmet cook, avid fisherman, and a man who loved to spoil his daughters rotten. My sister and I loved for him to sing and play his jazz rendition of "The Three Bears" for us. He also loved to entertain large groups of people in our home, so I probably learned as much about choral music from that environment as I did in my college coursework. Our home was usually filled with choral directors and college students, and there were too many lively conversations to count. Now that I look back on my childhood I realize it was quite an unconventional home in which to grow up. How lucky I was to have such colorful parents!

I was also fortunate to study with my father at the University of Oklahoma and Sam Houston State University. I was so proud of him as a teacher. He felt very strongly about the depth of literature future choral directors needed to learn, so we sang incredible amounts of music of all genres. We loved to sing in choir under his direction - the music we made in those college choirs created unbelievably artistic experiences for us. He knew how to make the complex simple and the simple profound. I remember him saying, "You’ve just got to know how it goes." He said it in a very simplistic way to prove his point. From his work with Julius Hereford he had gained a total conviction to integrity of style, and that was what mattered above all else.

After I graduated and began teaching he was very supportive of my work. Even when I struggled as a beginning teacher I would hear how he had been bragging about my choirs. During our many long distance phone conversations, when I would doubt my abilities as a choral director, he was always encouraging and assured me that things would get better. He was able to come and work with many of my groups through the years, completely entertaining and charming my students. He coached me through my orchestral conducting experiences and helped my choirs through convention performances. It was so amazing to be able to call him and ask him musical questions about literature, style, or instrumentation and he was able to answer off the top of his head (usually while watching a Western on television.) Who needs Groves or Google

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when you can just call your father? In his later years he became forgetful of little things, but still had razor-sharp answers for musical questions.

I miss those conversations and singing under his direction. I miss his jokes and the stories which got more elaborate through the years. But I am fortunate to have many reminders of him in my life - my mother’s love of people and dogs, my sister’s clever wit, and my brother-in-law’s masterful conducting all help to keep his memory fresh in my mind. People come up to me and reminisce about my father all the time. He would have liked that a lot, to know that his light is still shining.

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Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Terry Eder In honor of my teacher and friend.

I will never forget the first time that I heard the TCU A Cappella Choir sing. It was astoundingly beautiful and artistic. I knew at that moment that I had to find a way to study with the director of that choir, Mr. B. R. Henson. Going to TCU was the best decision that I ever made and it began what was to become a lifelong friendship for me with one of the great choral musicians of our time. The years at TCU were full of wonderful music making with the TCU A Cappella Choir and the Fort Worth Schola Cantorum. We all learned to love Brahms and no one could show us better how to do it than Bev, who had a special affinity for the style and character of the music of Brahms. I cannot begin to recount all the great choral music that was heard in those days at Ed Landreth Auditorium—Brahms Requiem, Bach B Minor Mass, Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer, Mozart C Minor Mass, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms—just to mention a few. I will never forget the performances of the St. John Passion with Ira Schantz singing the Evangelist and Charles Nelson the part of Jesus.

I followed Bev to the University of Oklahoma and continued to study with him as I worked to develop my skills and talents as a choral conductor. At OU Bev trained some of the top choral students in the country in my opinion. Many went on to become fine choral conductors and teachers and the great tradition of choral music that Bev began there has continued with them. Because of Bev we were all fortunate to have the opportunity to come in contact with other great teachers like Julius Herford and Robert Shaw.

Bev loved to have people around all of the time and we all were so lucky that he and Evelyn were so willing to share their lives with us. I probably spent as much time in the coffee shop with Bev as I did in the classroom and the teaching and learning that took place was unbelievable. I knew in my heart that I was getting the opportunity to be around a great teacher and choral conductor. I literally lived to be around

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Bev to learn everything I could from him. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go with him on some of his choral clinics—in Oklahoma, West Texas, the Valley, and all over, just so I could observe how he rehearsed and conducted choirs of all types and kinds. He could absolutely mesmerize kids as he molded them into a beautiful choir.

Sometimes others probably thought that those who spent so much time with Bev were really part of some kind of a cult or something, but it was not a cult—we just knew that Bev was a great teacher and musician, a down-to-earth person who was willing to give us whatever he had to give. We had so much desire to learn what he knew, always with the hope and dream that somehow we would be able to do what he could do with a choir. Bev always treated us as his equals even though we weren’t. He was always extremely proud of the successes of his students and he left a real legacy to the choral art through those students who continue to touch other lives through choral music.

I was always amazed at Bev’s phenomenal artistry as a teacher. Even in his last years when his health began to fail, when he would stand before a choir or a group of choral directors and start teaching, he would absolutely come alive. Teaching was his “shot-in-the-arm” and for those moments it was as if time had stood still.

In the spring of 1973 a group of students and friends honored Bev with a commissioned work composed by Daniel Pinkham. The occasion was conceived to honor a great teacher during his lifetime rather than waiting until he had passed on. The front page of the score of the work, “To Troubled Friends,” bears a dedication that was read and presented to Dr. Henson at the premiere performance of the work in 1973. It continues today to eloquently capture the essence and greatness of Bev Henson, a beloved teacher and friend: • To a teacher who has taught us by example to make the complex appear deceptively simple; • To a musician whose commitment to humanitarian ideals has wrought a civilizing force in all of us; • To a friend who has given us encouragement and faith when we did not deserve it; • To a man whose art has touched our lives and through us so many other lives.

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by Charles Nelson The TMEA Region meeting convened in Weslaco September 1952. Having just moved to Harlingen, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, an area I knew very little about, I was anxious to meet my colleagues from other schools. Little did I expect to meet anyone whose friendship would last a lifetime.

Among those who introduced themselves that afternoon was a young, newly married couple, Evelyn and Bev Henson, who had just been hired as music teachers in McAllen. If I recall correctly, Bev was twenty three years old, tall, thin with plenty of red hair. I don’t remember just how it all came about, but it wasn’t long until the Nelsons and the Hensons were spending many Sunday evenings together in Harlingen or McAllen.

Soon “The Valley” began to hear that great music was coming from the McAllen High School Choir, the First United Methodist Church Choir and the Valley Civic Chorus. It was obvious that Bev Henson was putting his stamp on the McAllen community. Before long I was driving round trip (60 miles) from Harlingen to McAllen each Monday night to sing with the “Valley Civic Chorus”. It may have been a busman’s holiday but I found it refreshing, after a long day of working with high school students, to join a choir of mature, competent singers. Bev was able to assemble and retain most of the best singers in the Valley.

When we were together we always dreamed and planned to make our music better and more beautiful. We visited each other’s classes and rehearsed each other’s choirs. We even planned a TV program where he would play and I would sing hymns on Sunday morning. We were sure we could do a better show than George Beverly Shay. Of course, it never came about, but it was still a good idea. If either of us had any business sense, we could have pulled it off and at doubled the money we made teaching. One of our early schemes paved the way for the San Antonio Symphony to establish the “Valley Festival” which lasted for years and gave Valley high school choirs multiple opportunity to sing with a professional orchestra.

After a five year tenure in McAllen, Bev accepted a position as Choral Director at

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Trinity University in San Antonio. Because of our association with Victor Alessandro (SASO conductor) performing Howard Hanson’s “Drumtaps” in 1957, he hired Bev as the chorus master for his Opera festival. When Mrs. Alessandro suggested that Victor didn’t know enough about this young man, still in his twenties, to assign him such responsibility, he said, “Anyone who can successfully assemble and conduct his peers (the Valley Civic Chorus) is good enough to do this job”. He was right. It was not long until the “opera chorus” became the “Meistersinger Chorale” and expanded beyond the Opera Festival, to include performances of most of the major choral works in the repertoire. Forty five years later, the Meistersinger Chorale is still in active.

Victor Alessandro became his mentor and offered him opportunity for significant growth.

After several years at Trinity University, Bev was offered the choral position at TCU in Ft. Worth. To no ones surprise, the success he demonstrated in McAllen and San Antonio was repeated in Ft. Worth. By this time news of his prowess as a choral director had spread throughout the area and serious students of choral music wanted to come to TCU and study conducting and sing with Bev Henson. In Ft. Worth he founded another mature choral group, “Schola Cantorum” which still exists as “The Schola Cantorum of Texas”.

At the University of Oklahoma in Norman OK and at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville he continued to do outstanding work. Four of the five community choral organizations he established are still active, bringing their respective communities outstanding performances of great choral literature. It speaks well for his ability to infuse a community with such high choral standards that the tenure of those organizations span generations.

Bev had an unusual ability to attract and retain those choral students who were serious about bringing choral music alive. His passion for making music was infectious and inspired us all to greater heights. He nurtured his students and never ceased to bring them inspiration to help them become better musicians and better conductors.

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by Roger Bryant Bev Henson was a true "Artist-Teacher". I regard him as one of the three most significant positive influences on my musical life.

Sometimes Mr. Henson (as he shall always be known to me) made you feel rather "small" -- imposing, at times intimidating figure that he was, he could do that.

BUT... sooner or later you would realize that he knew how much "BIGGER" you could be -- musically and artistically -- if only you were willing to combine discipline and hard work with whatever degree of talent you "brought to the table".

I shall be forever thankful for the opportunities for learning and musical collaboration with our mentor, Mr. Bev Henson, during years spent at Texas Christian University (1967-71) and beyond, always remembering him with deep appreciation.

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by Tammy Charles Patterson

Bev Henson changed my life. I was a soprano who could not count and he taught me how. He entered my life at Sam Houston State University my junior year, and taught me that “vibrato should confirm the pitch, not confuse it”, and so much more.

He provoked thinking that I never knew existed and I remember thinking how lucky I was to be in the right place at the right time. I was in awe of him as he worked Schubert’s Mass in G, on a visit to our choral rehearsal. Later, I learned how students traveled from all across the country to study with this master, and yet, he chose to be a part of the faculty at Sam Houston State University. What a life-altering experience his decision was for me. I knew that I had to stay and continue my study of conducting with him in graduate school.

He insisted that we look at music with integrity and with the composer’s intent in mind, both through score study and performance practices. He said that the performer was there to serve the music, not the other way around, and making music was not about me, but was about the music. Now, that was a new concept for a budding “prima donna”!

Dr. Henson saved me from my ignorance and taught me to hear and analyze music in a completely different way. His passion and drive has influenced me throughout my career and his voice is always near as I prepare a score or solo performance. Some of my fondest memories are of his home in Huntsville at stick-making parties, where we ate his delicious food, (I learned to make great cobbler), and sat around the living room talking of music. Of course, Dr. Henson was doing the talking and we were doing the listening. He never tired of our questions and we never tired of his stories. We were happy to be in his court.

I remember the first Brahms piece I taught, “Der Abend,” and debating over the decisions I was making, wondering if they would meet with his approval. I felt secure because I had sung and studied so much Brahms with him. Being careful not to “overRomanticize” it to death, my choir sang with great depth and understanding of the composer’s intent, just as my mentor had taught me. I know that my success as a choral

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director is due to Dr. Henson’s profound influence on my life and I will always be grateful.

Dr. Henson made me what I am today, and I hope that he would approve of the musical decisions that I have made with hundreds of students. He provided a knowledge base that has allowed me to teach with confidence and always “flock with the eagles.” He always said to avoid the buzzards, and I have.

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by Dee Ann Gorham

Most memorable and meaningful phrases from Bev's mouth to my tympanic membrane: Reference: Baroque melismatic phrasing-"These three go here" Beauty of Sound - :Sing Sounds, Not Words Music & Life - "What must be precedes the How to" Bev Henson was particularly remarkable at both of the preceding. It was always a joy to sing in TCU A Cappella choir, something to which I looked forward with great anticipation every occasion. Bev always seemed to know exactly "what must be" (regarding sound and bringing the beauty to silent notes on a page in particular) and the "how to" was always an exciting and soul-deepening adventurous journey. The day is rare that I do not think of Bev, in my teaching, in my life's journey, and reflect and remember "Bev's Kitchen Hints" and be grateful for the journey......meeting and working with such dear people as Charles Nelson, Julius and Hannah Herford, Robert and Caroline Shaw, Bill Gorham, and Roger Melone; and meeting and knowing people such as Brahms, Bach, Handel, Bruckner, and so many other masters; and having such magnificent experiences such as singing with the San Antonio Symphony as chorus in the Tales of Hoffman and being on stage with the young Placido Domingo, and Beverly Sills, and Norman Treigle. My life is so much richer because of Bev Henson, for whom I am eternally grateful.

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by Jerry Perales The year was 1967 and I was this skinny necked-tied tenor at Del Mar Junior College in Corpus Christi, Texas when I first met Dr. Henson. Ron Shirey, my director at Del Mar, set up an audition for me with Dr. Henson and that was the beginning of many wonderful opportunities along my travels and pursuit of musical knowledge.

Little did I know at that time how wonderful those opportunities would be.

After spending three fantastic years at Del Mar College, I transferred to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth to study with Dr. Henson. Mike Gallagher, Tim Collins, Terry Eder, Bill Gorham plus myself and many others from Corpus Christi moved to Fort Worth to study with one of the finest music directors in the state of Texas. At that time, there were three names that were tossed around as the three top directors in our state. Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch, Dr. Gene Kinney, and Dr. Bev Henson were known as the Big Three! They were certainly that and so much more. I was privileged to know and work with all three as a youngster. It just doesn't get any better than that or at least that is what I thought.

At Texas Christian University, I was afforded the opportunity to sing great literature, learn conducting techniques, and most of all, have a second family away from home. La Senora Henson took me in as well as others from Corpus. I would get to practice my very poor Spanish with her and she in turn would speak to me in her very articulated Spanish. She made wonderful snacks for those of us who frequented Dr. Henson's home.

Dr. Henson took a real interest in me and my career and made me feel more than just one of his students. There were many opportunities to visit with him as he invited students to his house so we could pick his brain and continue our musical education. I realize how fortunate I was to have a teacher who was willing to give of himself so much to me and others.

There were several of us students who would pool our money so we could go watch Dr. Henson do region workshops. We would pile in someone's car and drive to

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McAllen or Brownsville or wherever he was so we could watch him clinic groups. That was really educational!

I could go on and on about my days in Fort Worth and what Dr. Bev Henson meant to me. Suffice it to say that I considered myself the luckiest student in the world. Whenever I think of Bev Henson or hear his name, I immediately think, my Mentor, my Teacher, and my friend.

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by Terry Morris As a high school student of Mike Ware at Conroe High School, my first experiences with Dr. Henson came in the clinics he often provided as a service to his former students. This was the first time I heard Dr. Henson use the term "grandstudent." I was fortunate enough to have sung in Dr. Henson's church choir at the First United Methodist in Huntsville starting the end of my senior year. I commuted to Huntsville every Wednesday and Sunday to sing in my first Messiah, with Charles Nelson singing the Bass Solos.

I was looking forward all spring to singing in the Chorale and studying voice with Al Autrey the following fall. Unfortunately, Mr. Autrey passed away that spring, but I was still excited about singing for Dr. Henson every day.

For a freshman, walking into the SHSU Chorale was a daunting task. The Chorale had already begun to prepare for Henson's last TMEA Honor Choir performance. We didn't know that at the time. Handel's Dixit was on our plate, and that was a full plate. After nearly twelve years of chorale and solo singing, I still have never sung anything else so difficult. I did learn the importance of preparing for choir rehearsal and not just my voice lessons.

I continued to sing in his church choir and I was honored to sing a brief solo on his last concert at SHSU. After he retired in the spring of my first year at SHSU I began to immediately look for another school to attend. His advice and guidance was invaluable and I landed at Stephen F. Austin State where I had the great opportunity to learn from David Jones, Ric Berry, Terry Eder, Jan McDaniel, Ron Anderson, Tim King, and many other wonderful teachers. Dr. Henson was brought over by Terry Eder to clinic our choirs before we sang at TMEA and the Southwest ACDA conventions.

I have always wished that I could have had more time to study directly with Dr. Henson. The reason I am writing is to recognize the effect that he had not only on his students, but on his grandstudents and great grandstudents.

As a graduate student, you have to be nearly obsessed with the citation of

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resources. This habit has crept into my everyday teaching. There are few sentences that I begin that don't start with "my teacher used to say..." When I say "my teacher" that could mean any one of the aforementioned masters of the singing art, as well as a few others that I was fortunate enough to learn from at Michigan State like Meredith Zara, Charles Smith, and Jonathan Reed. But with few exceptions, everything I ever paraphrase could find its way back to something Henson taught. Someone taught him as well. I seem to remember the name Julius Herford being cited by Dr. Henson on a number of occasions.

Henson's legacy will continue as long as we remember his teaching and pay him the honor of recognizing him as one of our great original resources. His legacy will continue through his students that are committed to instructing the teachers of the future. I count myself as very fortunate to have the opportunity to be judged, cliniced and taught by men like Mike Ware and Brad Bouley and women like Nora Henson. I hope that Henson students, grandstudents and great grandstudents will continue to help one another as we look to the future of Music Education. Encourage your current high school students that hope to major in music education to audition at universities with former Henson students.

I want to thank Mr. Nelson for taking on such a huge task. I hope that the compilation recordings will be made available for purchase. Maybe their sales could go to benefit a scholarship in Dr. Henson's honor. Bev Henson deserves a lasting remembrance that will forever connect him to choral music education in the south.

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by Gene Holcup I did not take the time to carefully craft each sentence, rather, I am speaking from my heart. Hopefully, that will be enough to convey the love and respect that I have for Dr. Henson.

The first time I met Dr. B.R. Henson he made a lasting impression. I recall being charmed by his Southern whit, drawn to his charismatic story telling, and amazed by his incredible musicianship. I knew after that first meeting that Dr. Henson understood music on a deeper level than I had ever known (and most likely ever will know). Dr. Henson was a master musician and a master teacher. I was truly blessed to have the privilege of studying with him.

Dr. Henson opened the door to the world of music for us. He showed us musical form in a way that made sense--always reminding us to learn to master the art of making the complex simple (rather than the other way around). He was sure to introduce us to fine musicians and educators--either bringing them to teach us in the classroom or inviting us to learn from them at his home. I learned more about the world through two European choir tours with Dr. Henson (one behind the iron-curtain just prior to its demise) and from hearing Dr. Henson talk about his travels. Dr. Henson taught us style, class, and an appreciation for fine music and fine cuisine.

(He was a master chef.) I can recall many graduate school round-table discussions during an exquisite dinner at the Henson home. Dr. Henson was a kind and gracious man who was genuinely concerned for the well being of his students.

Dr. Henson introduced us to a circle of musician-teachers who would grow to become our extended choral family. He always told us to seek out advice from our colleagues. (That lesson has saved me countless times!) Dr. Henson showed us the power of being a skilled communicator. He showed us how to conduct music in a way that reflected the way the music should sound. He modeled the art of story telling...albeit, I doubt any of us will ever rival his talent for telling a tale. He was able to hold a choir's attention in so many ways. He reminded us that we were to teach from the "interest" and not the "principal" of our knowledge. He taught us so much.

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On the lighter side...who could forget his laugh? Remember his filing system-in a pile on top of the stereo speakers? (Okay, it works... I use it too...) How many of us learned to appreciate (if not like) strong coffee with chicory? Or the scent of the ritual cleansing of the coffee pot as he brewed the steaming vinegar in it. (He had another name for it... you know!) Remember the times when no one prepared their conducting assignment... so we would try to "talk him into telling us stories", thereby avoiding the shame of being slackards. He somehow always knew when we were stalling.

I recall an instance when I was Dr. Henson's page-turner. I have no idea why or how I was selected for this honor, since at that time, I had no piano skills and possessed severely limited score reading skills. I simply followed the vocal-line and ignored the piano score. During a long piano interlude I was completely lost...foolishly, I decided to turn the page only to discover I was completely wrong. Dr. Henson didn't miss a note and kept playing! Afterwards I apologized to Dr. Henson. His gracious reply was a nonchalant "don't worry about it."

Another fond memory, seeing Dr. Henson grinning ear to ear while wearing a little "beanie" hat bearing the words "Ich bin ein freundlicher Wiener". (I guess you had to be there.)

Several years after graduate school, I saw Dr. Henson at TMEA. He called me over, gave me a big hug and asked how everything was going. The last time I saw him was when he was honored by TCDA. He was just as kind and cordial as he was the time before. His affirmation still means so much to me today. I know that I am the musician I am because of all I have been taught by my teachers. I am proud to have known and learned from Bev Henson.

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by Rob Seible How to describe Bev Henson and even scratch the surface of the impact he had and continues to have on my life - a daunting task. As a young student at TCU, I was constantly in awe of, and at the same time, intimidated by his extensive musical knowledge, his intense passion for music and the intensity with which he taught on a daily basis. The musical "highs" I experienced singing in his choirs became the addicting, driving force that has kept me going for nearly thirty years of teaching.

His teaching extended well beyond the classroom, however. Some of my fondest memories of Bev are from times spent with him and Evelyn at their homes in Fort Worth, Norman, and Huntsville. For innumerable evenings, the Hensons opened their homes to many, many students, offered us some great food and drink (Ah, Bev - the gourmet chef and "beverage" connoisseur) when most of us couldn't afford to eat. But the best part was sitting around and listening to his countless stories - most of which I imagine were true (although the stories seemed to "expand" over the years).

They were stories about his life in this profession, about students he had taught, and about legendary conductors he had known and with whom he had the privilege to work.

There are so many things he taught us, it is impossible to even attempt a list.

There are, however, three things I live by that I attribute to Bev Henson 1. Always give credit where credit is due. He was the first to name the source of his many musical truths.

2. Always be humble before the great masters of music and not impose one's self on something that has already withstood the test of time.

3. Don't envy the gifts of others. Take the gifts you have been given and develop them as far as you are able.

Of the plethora of Henson quotes, my favorite is "It's better to be vulgar than non-existent."

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I have had such a wonderful life. I could die tomorrow with no regrets. Many people have contributed to my happy existence - Bev Henson is one of my top one or two. Upon graduation, I said to Bev, "How can I ever repay you for all you have done for me?" He responded, "You have the rest of your life to do it." I hope Bev is looking down on me and is proud of my work and proud that I was his student.

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by Mike Ware

Bev Henson: Master Teacher, Conductor and Friend.

I first met Bev Henson in 1978 while in my first year of teaching at Magnolia High School. Al Autrey contacted me about dog sitting for Dr. Henson while he was in Aspen teaching at a choral institute. Little did I know that this was the beginning of my life being changed as a person, musician, teacher and conductor.

Over the course of the next 20 years, I would have the opportunity to sing under his direction with the Bev Henson Chorale, study privately with him as graduate conducting student at Sam Houston State University, sing under his direction with the TCDA Director’s Chorus and work extensively with him over a course of ten years at the Conductor’s Institute at Southwestern University. In addition to all these opportunities, I was fortunate to have Dr. Henson visit my classroom and work with my choirs almost yearly. Words are inadequate to express how I have been shaped as a person, musician, teacher and conductor by the privilege of all these experiences. Bev inspired me with his passion for music, for teaching and for conducting music in a way that always looked exactly as the music sounded.

The standard he set for his students and his choirs was the same standard he demonstrated on the podium time after time. Bev’s legacy is living on in the hundreds of his students who are teaching across the nation, in public schools, churches and colleges. Many of my former students who are teaching today still comment about his visits to our choir rehearsals and the passion and dedication he had to choral music and to teaching students how to teach and conduct music for music’s sake.

I will always be grateful that I had the opportunity to be mentored by Bev. I know that my success as a teacher and person are directly related to his influence.

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by Kathy L. Hackett

MY FRIEND, BEV……

I recall the day—ending the rehearsal in total frustration. Did we even tune one chord the entire day? Out of desperation and feeling defeated, I swallowed my pride, picked up the phone and called Dr. Bev Henson at Sam Houston State University.

“How do I ‘fix’ these vowels in Southeast Texas TODAY?” After a long pause on the other end of the phone, he responded, “Well, it would take me a few years and a college degree to teach you to do that.” Thank goodness he could not see me blush. I answered with “I only have until tomorrow….these are smart, talented kids who deserve more than what I can give them…you are the expert…help me!” The next day the choir and I started all over! On his advice they learned WITH me and it was the best year ever.

At that point my friend, Dr. Henson, was a regular consultant. He ridiculed, made me laugh at myself, but was sincere in making me a better teacher. I introduced him to my choirs from the picture on the front of his editions which were frequently on my music stand. He graced my choir room and shared music with my students. He brought his marvelous choir to sing for us so my kids could hear a vowel. The greatest compliment of all was when he sent one of his best students to work with me as a co-director knowing that I would learn from her everyday of my life, and she soon became my very dearest friend.

I attended his workshops at Southwestern and watched as his students sat at his feet indulging every word of his stories in an unusual worshipful atmosphere and absorbing every word of wisdom in the genius of his music. Soon, I too, was at his feet listening carefully and pursuing a unique conducting method.

Visiting with Nora, I asked if it was awesome growing up in the home of the master---always listening to great music, gathered at the piano—all that I envisioned.

“Heck no. We fought over the remote just like everybody else”! Not what I hoped to hear but a humorous perspective in the life of this great musician.

Now I look back at the wonderful musicians in the State of Texas over the years.

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What a wonderful time to be a part of the music world in our State. Great musicians who were there for you and willing to help even if you were not a student in their school‌.just a student from a distance. Bev shared music, stories, laughter and intensity. The music and legacy live on as his students continue to teach the style and share the expertise that he instilled in them----in all of us.

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by Julie Birkner

As I end my 26th year of teaching Choir, I know, as I did in the beginning that Bev Henson has been the greatest single influence on what I actually teach. He has touched my life both directly as my professor during my Master's Degree, but also indirectly as I continue to learn from his many other students in the field of Choral Music. I sometimes marvel at the sheer numbers of musicians who have benefitted from his legacy----in the thousands, I am sure.

We all have our favorite "lesson". Mine is taken from his ability to reduce every musical idea to its simplest form, thus putting the tools for success in the hands of every student. His exceedingly sharp intellect was not displayed in trying to overwhelm us with the complexity of music, but rather with its elemental simplicity, and the way in which these elements could combine and change in infinite ways. When I am stuck as to what to do next, I always can hear him saying, "Remember, Julie, music ONLY moves in two ways---in 2's and 3's!" Seems to solve a world of problems.

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in his tribute----as I am grateful to have had him in my life.

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by Rosemary Heffley Bev Henson was such an inspiration. What an understatement considering that the literally hundreds of students and the thousands of choristers who gained artistry and knowledge from him over his career! Many had opportunity to actually enrolled in the course of study with him. My experience was just peripheral, observing his choral rehearsals, seminars and workshops at various venues, enjoying that amazing hospitality he always conveyed, no matter the hour or place. . . . (in fact, the later the better!!) But, in some ways, that almost meant more than the actuality of being that formal student.

He was such a continuing source of enlightenment about style, phrasing, well, any of the essential elements of creating communication in music, actually. And, always seemed so effortless to him, which of course, it is never the case in reality. But the essence of music, any period or style, seemed to flow from him and engaged the ensemble with incredible focus.

Make no mistake he was totally serious and committed to perfection, but goodness, what humor he processed. The “Dr. Henson stories” are legendary and his students, friends and family have an abundance of them. We have no doubt these tributes will be filled to the brim with them!

It was Dr. Henson who delivered one of those “moments-of-truth” experiences for me and it continues to influence my work and thought to this day. He was discussing Robert Shaw’s theory on time and change in music. Simply put: that the essence of music is time and the essence of time is a change. Therefore, the essence of music is change. Then, Dr. Henson quietly but emphatically went on to say: “Would this also means that lack of indicated change in music could make a performance UNmusical and NON musical?”

From the simple comes the profound, I suppose. What a concept! Artistry in musical expression is predicated on realizing the inherent “change” and “inflection” factors in musical conversation and it’s my responsibility as a conductor to accomplish such! I’m sure many of my teachers had attempted to stress this truth to me. Yet, it

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was Bev who did and I will forever be grateful.

Julius Hereford, Bev’s mentor and teacher, often commented about the difference between “learning about things” and “learning things” just as there is a difference between “speaking about music” and “speaking music”. It is an indisputable fact that Bev Henson spoke music!

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by Paul T. Vickers May 22, 1957 Gentlemen: You are addressed in the impersonal fashion, because I do not know who was the smart man on the board that employed Bev Henson for your music faculty. Bev Henson is a modest man, and may be embarrassed when he gets a copy of this letter I am sending you.

I have been associated with high school work for about 40 years as a newspaper man, principal, and Chamber of Commerce manager, and have never seen a director of music who even approached having the ability of Bev Henson.

Not only has he developed the best choral group that Mac Allen ever had, but he has done outstanding musical direction for a Valley choral group, outside the schools, and he has taught the school students more than mere singing. He has helped to develop them as young ladies and gentleman, and has been a good moral influence on them.

He has high qualities of leadership, executive ability, and a pleasing personality, as well as being an expert technician in the field of music. His wife is also an accomplished musician. His fine community spirit will make him asset to San Antonio, as well as Trinity University.

I regret very keenly to see him leave McAllen, but rejoice in his advancement.

Yours truly, Paul T. Vickers

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1.

Involved the first and last note in a phrase. They must relate to the whole rhythmically and dynamically.

2. Isolate and expose (at the proper dynamic level) the motive of a section. This is at the grass roots of establishing relationships which begets musical ensembles. If it is visible to your eye, be sure you make it audible to the audiences ear.

3. After motive is discovered, let it “motivate” the phrase or section to the next climatic point. Achieve direction. Music moves across the page in time, it does not jump up and down in place.

4. After phrases are discovered, relate them to one another. One phrase is climax to the others. Find it and move toward it with an inevitability that is audible to the ear.

5.

Most music has a metric beat. All music has a pulse. Keep the pulse but always in the right proportion.

6. Consider alteration and balance carefully. To make the craft and art. What goes up comes down; what speeds up slows down; what gets louder becomes softer.

7.

Dynamics follow the pulse of the music, not the pitch change. Music grows, it changes, becomes through time . . . constantly, steadily. (Just as you do!)

8.

Work for musical reaction of static parts. Relate them to moving lines dynamically. (Another step toward ensemble,)

9. Examine the score carefully for “written in” retards. It is very common through the Baroque to use longer note values to slow music down. Do not retard more than is written.

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10. Guard against retarding too soon and too much. Retard means “retard later�.

11. Avoid following one retard by another. Instead, return to the original tempo. (tension - relaxation - tension also means movement - rest - movement) 12. Avoid slowing tempo in soft sections, or with the diminuendo. Likewise, an increase in the tempo of the crescendo is not always desirable.

13. Train your choirs to sing pure vowels. Then train them to find these sounds in the words they sing.

14. Vigorous consonants. Releases should match attacks. Study rhythmic diction.

Learn where to sing consonants as well as how !!

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by Roger Melone

Bev Henson was my teacher, mentor, and finally one of my closest friends. In the fall of 1964, I stayed with Bev and Evelyn Henson while I was transferring from Del Mar College to TCU. Almost from the beginning they treated me like a son in their family.

I still remember my first TCU A Cappella Choir rehearsal; the gorgeous sounds of the choir as well as the number of graduate students who possessed superior vocal equipment were amazing to me. “Mr. Henson” was soon trying to draw me into oneon-one discussions about choral music. I listened respectfully until he finally insisted I discuss and even disagree. Those discussions began with one of the richest learning periods in my life. I told him that I would not have put my voice alongside those forces in the top choir. He replied “Anyone who studies with me to be a choral director is going to sing in the top choir!”

I often reflect on his observations and insights, which I was fortunate to hear for many more years. After our only major disagreements and arguments, Bev opined, “There is a larger grace than being right.” How often that statement has come back to me.

When Bev conducted choral clinics, he sometimes requested me as his accompanist. Again, I got to observe and learn. He recommended me to replace him at the University Christian Church in Fort Worth. Then, through his close association with Victor Alessandro he got me the job of chorus director for the San Antonio Symphony, which in those days included grand opera. I owe my career in professional music to Bev Henson.

When I met Bev Henson my choirs were well-regimented, consonant slot machines, and they sounded ugly. Bev taught me when to ease up on the regimentation and shape a fluid phrase. He taught me how to make an ugly sounding ensemble make pretty sounds, or at least prettier sounds.

Every day, I use what Bev taught me about music as well as what Bev taught me about life.

Bev Henson

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Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Dede Duson One of a kind!

When thinking of Bev Henson one’s mind goes to Bach and Brahms and how extraordinarily beautiful their music was under his baton’ Those of us who had opportunities to play for him at workshops and other occasions were thrilled to attempt to follow that baton, and therefore were challenged to hold his high expectations. he would remind young groups especially that if need be, a phrase might have to be practiced at least 100 times or more to get it right and then to be sure of it every time!

He was Dr. Henson when rehearsing and performing, and very serious when the tux or tails were donned. His musicianship was sound and scholarly, yet it seemed also to come from within in such a natural way.

When telling a story and relishing the company of students, family and friends, he was the highly entertaining Bev that we all loved to be around. This personable manner was so magnetic and gave everyone an opportunity to approach and speak, and laugh, and be a part of it all.

One summer a group of us was gathered in this way at Mo Ranch. Bev was at TCU at the time, and I bravely approached him for advice about a couple of pieces I had written. Lo and behold, he said that if I’d add a third piece to make it a set, he would sing it with the TCU choir. Thus the TRILOGY ON GWEN FROSTIC TEXTS was completed, named (by him) and sung!

This was encouragement beyond belief for a then young composer and that interest and support from him was extended to so many students and colleagues throughout his distinguished career. Bev truly was one-of-a-kind.

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by Gloriana Tadlock

Those of us who experienced a relationship with Bev Henson belong to a unique clan, and we know that words are unnecessary. We Just understand.

Bev Henson’s very soul flowed with the “music of the spheres”, and he honored that God-given gift with his never-ceasing quest for knowledge. The integrity of style and composer’s intent were never compromised, his personal dedication was never inconsistent.

His passion was to share, to pass on the essence of all he knew and felt. He was compelled to teach those who had ears to hear and the spirit to receive.

We received not only in our souls and spirits, but also in our practical lives. Years after the fact, I learned that Dr. Henson had secured my first job even before I interviewed. He, himself, conducted a clinic for my Junior High choir! He arranged an assistantship for my master’s degree. He counseled me through eighteen years of choral conducting. I was not unique! I simply understood that my responsibility was to continue the process, to accept my part of the mantle, and to pass it on.

Those of us who received knew our responsibility from the first chord with Bev Henson, and we knew that we were changed forever. I am eternally grateful.

Bev Henson

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B. R. (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Sheryl K. Murpry-Manley Bev Henson is my musical father. He taught me how to phrase, how to conduct, how to teach, and how to create music. The hundreds of rehearsals and dozens of performances under his direction are engraved in my innermost being. He was the musician who showed me my first real musical encounters. His insistence on musical accuracy and expressiveness has benefited my own approaches to teaching both in the classroom and in the studio.

Everything that he taught his choirs could be applied to instrumental, vocal, solo, or ensemble performance. His conducting gestures were inspiring to us as students as we strove to look and move exactly as he did. We were amazed at the ease with which he demonstrated his musical genius. It seemed at times supernatural, as if he were connected in some unseen way with the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Nobody knew Bach or Brahms as well as he, and generations of musicians now benefit from his selfless and unending giving of his experience, time, and knowledge.

He was generous in his profession and also in his personal life. Which one of us can forget the incredible meals that he so graciously cooked for us? And, which one of us can forget the stories of conductors and performers that he shared, hoping to make a lasting impression on our young minds.

Well, Bev, you have made an impression: one that is lasting and unfailing. We owe our musical experiences and successes to your patience with us in our musical training. You have hundreds of musical children who miss you and yearn for your presence and approval. You must know how we still aim to meet your standards and extend your legacy into following generations.

We love you, and always will.

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by David Kates

I already loved choral music when I met B.R. Henson. While studying with him, I grew to love it much more.

His teaching opened up new worlds to me. Dr. Henson helped me to see more deeply why I was drawn, not only to choral music, but to great art in general. As his student, I learned to understand the beauty in many things: orchestral music, poetry, fine art, and even the culinary arts.

His interdisciplinary approach to music and life gave depth and meaning to the world of choral literature as he taught it, and it shaped me into the choral musician I would become.

After my time with Dr. Henson, I was equipped share my growing understanding and love of choral music with others. It was from him that I learned to teach. He brought passion and energy to musical details that others seem to miss or treat as mundane, all the while approaching the monuments of our art with humility. His ability to reduce choral techniques to their essential components, and to teach these components to amateur singers was uncanny and delightful. To this day, I rely on at least one choral method that I learned from him in every rehearsal I conduct.

As a teacher of choral music, B.R. Henson was an artist driven to bring out the best in those around him. He would do anything to help his students succeed. I miss him as a friend and teacher, but his legacy lives on, if in only a small way, in my own teaching and music making.

Bev Henson

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Beverly Ray (Bev) Henson Remembered

by Conan Wood When Evelyn and Bev Henson landed in McAllen, circa 1950, the music scene in the Rio Grand Valley was moribund. In almost no time, dynamic Bev had charged the local atmosphere with live music of high quality. About the same time the high schools of Brownsville, Harlingen, and Edinburg brought in excellent choir directors. It was like a contagion. Marvin Pollard to Brownsville, then to PSJA; Bob Buchanan to Brownsville; Charles Nelson to Harlingen, then to Edinburg; Al Autrey to Harlingen. (Later when Bev moved to Trinity University in San Antonio, Autrey came to McAllen and Bob Irby came to Harlingen.)

Soon Bev had a thriving high school choir program. He started rehearsals at 7:30 a.m. with the rationale that the student must really want to be in the program to come that early. He also had a fine choir at the First Methodist Church in McAllen where he was also the organist. Bev naturally attracted most of the better singers. He could uniquely play and conduct with total efficiency. He was not above having fun with it.

One of the church sopranos couldn't help snorting when she laughed, and Bev delighted in making faces at her during a performance to hear her loud snorting.

Another lady was prematurely wrinkled. She accepted her looks and made sport of it.

Once she was talking during rehearsal and Bev said “Nan, if you don’t stop talking I’m going to pin two of your wrinkles together!”

Bev had a wide swath to circle. He organized the Valley Civic Chorus, with the incomparable Dr. Robert Osborn as accompanist. He brought in a representative of Columbia Artists Management to organize the McAllen Community Concerts Association, now in its 51st year. After moving to Trinity University he became conductor of the the San Antonio Mastersingers and had a very close working relationship with maestro Victor Alessandro. This led to the birth of the Rio Grand International Music Festival and grand opera and various San Antonio symphony concerts here every Spring. Until cigarettes took Victor down (and who is to say that Bev might not still be with us, enriching the music scene all over the country had he stopped smoking twenty years sooner) what terrible losses of two true giants of music!

As it is, Bev’s contribution is incalculable.

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by Margaret Mathis

Real epiphanies are so rare that when we experience one even the setting comes to mind as we reflect on it. Such is my recollection of a sunny room at Southwestern University in Georgetown some twenty-five years ago as I listened to Bev Henson make the complex simple as he spoke of musical phrasing, ritards, crescendos and such so that my entire approach to things instinctive regarding musicality became intellectualized and therefore able to be taught so much more clearly. Isn't that what a real teacher does - - pass on his art?

Bev chose to turn his formidable intellect to teaching and passing on that which we all know instinctively to be true musically. Bev was also willing to effusively praise that which he admired and by which he was moved. So many musicians are content only to be revered for their own personal work but they hesitate to acknowledge the work of their own students. I suppose it is fear of being eclipsed by gifted underlings. Bev was not like that. Not that he couldn't be highly critical of things he did not like but when he liked it he could say it in glowing, excited and sincere terms thus making on the student an everlasting impression.

A brilliant, charming, sensitive, amusing TEACHER. That was Bev. He used to say in praise of this or that musician that they "knew how the music ought to go."

Bev knew how the music ought to go and we who experienced it with him in turn learned better how it ought to go and how to enhance its power to communicate and move others. Isn't that why we are all musicians?

What better epitaph for a musician and teacher than to say he helped us show others how the music ought to go.

Bev Henson

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B.R.(Bev) Henson Remembered

by Beth Baldwin Casey In the course of our lives we have people who shape, influence and completely change our direction. B.R. Henson was one of those people to me. Hearing about Julius Hereford and Robert Shaw, singing a measure where every note had a nuance, and actually learning how to make a musical phrase were the things that Dr. Henson taught me.

Of course, away from the university, he also taught us music while in his kitchen - making pancakes for all of his graduate students at midnight after an exhausting discussion of the Bach B Minor Mass. We enjoyed listening to him play jazz piano and sing The Three Bears or talk about the Brahms? Liebeslieder waltzes . He was a master teacher. He touched people’s lives and influenced their music making.

He was a hard-headed man who, thank goodness, never gave up on us. I can still hear his voice in my mind during my own rehearsals saying “Better to be vulgar than nonexistent!” “No two notes should be the same unless indicated.” Those who studied with him share stories about “. . . remember when.....” and they all have a central theme of great teaching and great learning.

When we lost Dr. Henson we lost a true mentor and master in the art of music making. I feel blessed to have been one of his students and a part of his musical family.

Ruth Whitlock Material prepared by Mary Jane Phillips

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Ruth Whitlock Biographical Sketch of Dr. Ruth Whitlock

by Mary Jane Phillips

Dr. Ruth Hendricks Whitlock was born in 1935 in McAllen, Texas. She and her sister, Judith, attended McAllen public schools. Dr. Whitlock graduated from McAllen High School in 1953. She attended college at Tulane University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Piano. While at Tulane, she directed her first chorus - a group of her Kappa Alpha Theta sorority sisters! She stated that it was "more fun to boss people around than to sit in a practice room all day", and a legendary career in choral and elementary music education was born. She later received her M.A. from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California and her Ph. D. from the University of North Texas. During her education, Dr. Whitlock studied with some of the foremost choral musicians and music educators in the world, including Julius Hereford, Elaine Brown, Edwin Gordon and her beloved mentor, Howard Swan.

Ruth Whitlock's remarkable teaching career began as a student teacher for Bev Henson in McAllen. Her first paid teaching job was general music for third through eighth graders in Georgetown. She began a volunteer high school choir in Georgetown, and this choir earned a first division in its first contest. Charles Nelson was one of her judges at that contest, and she was still gratified years later by his glowing assessment of her musicianship at her very first choir contest. After two years in Georgetown, she taught elementary music in Austin for several years. Charles Nelson then invited her to come teach with him at Edinburg H.S. and establish a "music conservatory" for students in the Valley. Unfortunately, these two talented people never worked together. Dr. Nelson accepted a teaching position at a college in Tennessee, and Dr. Whitlock (then Ruth Summers) took over his job as director of choirs at Edinburg H.S. She remained there for eight years - achieving great success with her choirs. She stopped teaching public school for a few years upon the adoption of her son, Hal. During his preschool years, she taught private piano lessons from home.

When Hal was older, she began teaching elementary music again - this time at Sam Houston Elementary in McAllen, one of the poorest schools in the barrio. She was

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recognized by her students and colleagues as one of the most inspiring elementary music teachers they had ever known. Some of her Sam Houston elementary students even went on to become music teachers. Dr. Whitlock then moved to the Metroplex and taught choir and general music at Vivian Field MS in the Carrollton-Farmer's Branch ISD. After her tenure at Vivian Field MS, she began her doctorate at the University of North Texas. Serving as a teaching fellow at UNT, she taught music for elementary education majors and directed the Women's Chorus. She was soon hired as Director of Music Education Studies at Texas Christian University. During her years at TCU, she cheerfully taught everything from freshman ear training to Choral Methods, as well as directing the Chapel Choir for many years.

It was during her years at TCU that Dr. Whitlock's remarkable gift for "teaching teachers to teach" emerged. Her students learned not only HOW to teach music, but WHY she felt it was the most important job in the world. She took great pride in the fact that her former students taught music at every level from elementary to university. Many continue to be very successful, and still share her resounding joy for teaching. She was a legendary and beloved professor at TCU. She was honored with a Mu Phi Epsilon Outstanding Faculty Award in 1979, as well as a Mortar Board Preferred Professor in 1987 and 1993. In 1988, her former students honored her influence by funding a Texas Choral Directors Association scholarship in her name.

Ruth Whitlock was a lifelong learner and a great scholar of various music education theories. She was a contributing author to the state-adopted textbook Sing!.

She also wrote a series of books titled Choral Insights which help choral directors incorporate music information from different historical periods into their teaching.

She created the Vocal Connections sight singing tapes, CDs and booklet and edited the Songs for Sight Singing series published by Southern Music. She published articles on various music education topics in the Choral Journal, Southwestern Musician and Texas Sings. She was listed in the World Who's Who of Women, World's Who's Who of Musicians, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in American Women and Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century. She was a proud Episcopalian, and a member the Chancel Choir of All Saints Episcopal Church in Ft. Worth. She also held memberships in the American

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Choral Directors' Association, Texas Choral Directors' Association, Texas Music Educators' Association, Mu Phi Epsilon, Pi Kappa Lambda and Kappa Alpha Theta.

Dr. Ruth Whitlock died in 1995 at age 60 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. She is survived by her son, Hal; her mother, Lucile; and her sister, Judith. Her joy for teaching and unending devotion to her students is her great legacy. The ripples of her life's work continue, and we are all better for having known her. Whenever and wherever a group of her former students gather, the conversation invariably turns to remembrances of Ruth Whitlock. Someone always says "I wish she were here so I could tell her about?"

The "?" is always an important event in one of our lives - sometimes musical, sometimes not. I can think of no greater tribute to the influence of Dr. Ruth Whitlock than those words. She was the consummate teacher, and a lifelong presence in her students' lives. Instilling in us the pure joy of teaching was her wonderful gift to her students. We were never quite finished being Dr. Whitlock's students - even after graduation. We continue to be her students even now.

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Ruth Whitlock Remembered

by Dede Duson Having heard of and about Ruth Whitlock for so many years, finally our paths did cross during the years when she was teaching at TCU. Through mutual friends, I knew that her professional standards were very high. As she and they all work together on various music education projects, I was able to observe firsthand her most gracious and convincing ways. It was obvious that she loved teaching and love sharing her enthusiasm and passion toward doing it in the right way!

Then I begin to see this very kind and caring side of this tenured Dr. Whitlock with a whimsical, creative flair about her as well. She was so respectful of every aspect of music making, including the efforts of us “current� composers. Often she would share, analyze, or perform our pieces with her classes, while she herself was extremely creative in presenting them. As a 50th birthday present to me, she wrote and sang three very disjunct and imaginative haiku type settings of texts about friendship.

Ruth possessed a winning smile, a teasable personality, a charming manner. She thoroughly enjoyed all gatherings in the name of good food and good friends! She was proud to be from the Valley, and proudly was a devoted Episcopalian She was taken from us far to soon, but always she will be remembered with great fondness and respect.

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by Rosemary Heffley

The mental image is still present from those many years ago . . . Ruth Summers, slightly flamboyant (!) full of life and music, very funny and, just a bit irreverent. In fact most of the infamous Texas choral directors of the s0;s seemed that way to me.

Those perceptions were to change, however. Late in the 70s Ruth was completing her doctorate from UNT. The final dissertation project involved a practical and extremely useful method of integrating the teaching of style and history of performance literature in the choral classroom. To assuage concerns of the advisors as to academic value (!!) she called on several of us high school directors to assist her in field studies. We became her Choral Insights guinea pigs! She was strateies and Kjos later published the project in four style periods. A real triumph for the now Dr. Ruth Whitlock, TCU Professor of Music Education.

Happily we became friends and colleagues enjoying many adventures together, always full of laughter, philosophical chatter and, yes, that wee bit of irreverence crept in from time to time. A few seem pertinent to mention: . . . innumerable phone calls and several trips to Austin for TMEA Symposium planning. Her contributions to those gatherings [1977, 1980, 1985] were enormous.

Many rather short-sighted critics suggested TMEA had better ways to spend its resources than on such “lofty� Topics. Gentle and persistent prodding by leaders, including our dear Ruth, enabled and assured success of those projects. . . . her penchant for seeking the best from whom to learn led many of us to friendships with Howard Swan, undeniably an enormous influence. . . . Together surviving (barely) a hike at Aspens Ute trail one summer afternoon. . . . For gentle suggestion/invitation to redesign her garden in her new home. . .

Since I enjoy outdoor work! Whew! Speaking of surviving. . . But, we were so pleased

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that she seemed to take real pleasure in it as her illness intensified. . . . and, of course, the annual burst they get into: May 7th - J. Brahms; May 8th R H; May 9 DD; and May 10 - Dr. Ruth! ( naturally she always claimed to be the youngest!) Laughter, wonderful meals and yes, a wee bit of spare expense all added to the great times over a 20 year period.

Columnist Robert Wilson introduced us to a new term some years ago. It seems most adequate to describe Ruth.

Duende - - - To do something - anything - with a minimum fuss and a maximum of style. It has to do with no wasted motion and the ability to convey the exact motion required without sentimentality. Duende is the ability to deliver, embracing grace and class. But, it encompasses more than that, it is a collection of that use whose worth is so inherent that no outside applause is required.

Ruth embraced that ideal of duende and shared it with all of us. It is no wonder we miss her, still.

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by Charles Nelson

It was during the middle 1950s that I first became aware of this remarkable woman. Bev Henson had invited me to McAllen High School to clinic a girls choir.

Ruth Whitlock was completing her degree from Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans and was doing her practice teaching with Bev in the McAllen High School choral program. From the beginning, even as a student, one could tell this was a special person.

Several years later, after I had judged her choir at a UIL contest, I knew she was the right person to have in a new, comprehensive program of enriched teaching I had dreamed for the Edinburg CISD. She agreed to come work with us. I had no ideas that at that very time I would be offered a teaching position at a college in Tennessee that I could not refuse. Instead of being colleagues in this wonderful educational venture, she actually took my place in Edinburg. (I’ve always wondered what would have happened if I had stayed.)

Ruth’s teaching prowess became legendary. I followed her teaching progress with great interest. Once, years later, when I was visiting McAllen, I visited a third grade class she was teaching, and it was one of the most extraordinary demonstrations of teaching music I have ever seen. The depth of her teaching and the student’s response was amazing. I had never seen anything like it.

The professional teacher, Ruth, always planned for the future and wanted to know where we were going and what process would best help us reach our goals. She was not satisfied to teach just another song to the children. She had some grasp of the enormity of what we were trying to do and wanted all of us to do a better job. Her influence caused the first TMEA Symposium which examined this problem. As far as I know, we’ve only had one subsequent symposium. We should have one at least every five years!

Her influence expanded as she taught Music Education courses at Texas Christian University and imbued her students with not only the knowledge of techniques, but an enthusiasm to become the best teachers they could possibly be. Through her stu-

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dents, and their students, and their students, the influence of Ruth Whitlock will be everlasting.

As cancer ravaged her body, she continued to teach. One evening I called to see how she was doing. She had just come home from teaching. I did not recognize her voice. She told me she was on the way to the hospital. She died before morning.

Those who knew her shall never forget her.

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by Armentia Newcomb

Dr. Ruth Whitlock . . . what a name. My first memories of Ruth go way back to the year of 1962. At that point in time her name was Ruth Summers. She was a “Valley” girl. Ruth grew up in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Her parents lived in McAllen and her grandparents lived in Mission, Texas. I actually knew her grandparents before I knew her real well. I was a freshman in high school at Edinburg high school. Ruth was the choir teacher.

I come from a large family and she had “four” of us in Choir all at the same.

Behind Houston, Tim Houston, Jim Houston and me. All of the four rich and blessed by having had her as a teacher. The three boys all got degrees. Jim Houston became an orchestra teacher. All four of us to this day still participate in singing in a variety of ways. One thing Ruth liked about the four of us is that we were “Church of Christ” and that meant we could sight read music because we did not use musical instruments and the boys all knew how to conduct.

She was always encouraging, pushing, nudging us to do our very best. She had a way of making you love music of all different varieties. She had extremely high expectations and somehow you never wanted to disappoint her so you worked hard to reach those goals.

There were several favorite things that happened as a student of hers besides the wonderful music and teaching. One was getting to have her come to your house for dinner. It was chosen with care and you felt like you were having royalty come to your house. She was always gracious and made you feel very special.

Another thing that I remember was if we got straight A’s we got to go to her house for a special party. Most of us came from poor families and her house was something else. One of my first trips away from home was a trip Ruth plan to TCU in Fort Worth, Texas. We got to stay in TCU dorms and perform there.

Any time any of us went home we always went to the choir rehearsal at Edinburg High School. She always had us sit and sing with her choir. Ruth and I reconnected when she moved to Fort Worth. I can still remember how excited I was. Guess where

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I got to sing . . . You got it, TCU with one of her choirs.

I kept in touch with their until the day before she died. She was calling to ask how my brother Jim was, he had a tumor and has since passed on. I will never forget that especially at a time in her life when the days were numbered. When I went to the funeral I looked around and wondered how many of the other people felt the loss of such a wonderful, gifted person. What about all the students who would not benefit from her wonderful style of teaching? She is missed still to this day.

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by Sally Schott

Dr. Ruth Whitlock was a shining example of a visionary educator who utilized her many years of successful public school teaching to create a valid music education program at the university level as well as to provide innovative teaching materials for the secondary choral director. Her insistence upon he importance of adopting a philosophical approach to teaching music was aptly demonstrated in her own career. to her, the “why” of teaching was equal in importance to “what” and “how”.

As one of the teachers selected to participate in the primary study for her 1981 dissertation, “The Design and Evaluation of Study Materials for integrating musical information into the Choral Rehearsal”, I had the opportunity to utilize he distinctive approach to performance class curriculum with students at South Houston High School. These materials formed the basis for her unique series of publications entitled “Choral Insights”.

A greater privilege was getting to coordinate the writing team for the secondary textbook “Sing!”, a project which allowed Dr. Whitlock to collaborate in creating student chapters and teacher’s guides to developing music literacy. It was marvelous to see her creative mind at work. I cherish having been able to prepare and present teacher’s workshops with her. Watching her interact with teachers with such fervor, logic and sense of purpose was simply unforgettable.

Ruth Whitlock espoused lofty ideals but was always mindful of the necessity of following a step-by-step process to develop skills and understanding. She was imaginative, tenacious and unfailingly inspiring to all who worked with her. Her contributions t music education are of inestimable value. Ruth Whitlock was truly one of a kind.

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by Amby Tanner Aside from my mom and dad, no single person has had more influence on my life than Dr. Ruth Whitlock.

I met Dr. Whitlock when I was a junior at TCU in 1974. At that time I was a choral music education major without much of an idea of why I had chosen that direction for my degree. Thanks to Dr. Whitlock, I not only found out why I wanted to be a choir director, but also because of her influence, discovered a passion for the profession.

That passion is with me still today.

You know, it was a lot more than just the nuts and bolts of teaching choir in Texas, which she certainly did teach us. It was the joy of teaching itself that she managed to show us that I am most thankful for. There are many very talented choir directors in Texas, but no matter how great a vocalist, pianist, or conductor they are, I feel sorry for many of them because they find no real fulfillment or pleasure whatsoever in the art of teaching. They are not the students of Dr. Whitlock.

I wish I was an author, or better yet a composer, in order to do some justice to what the lady meant to me. I won’t go into any more detail other than to say she came into my life at the right time and that any success, and certainly all of the joys, I have experienced in my years at this job is directly related to the delight of knowing Dr. Whitlock.

Toward the end of my first year of teaching, I told her how much I had learned during that first year and how much better I would be next year. She told me something that I use every year to keep me going. She said, “Amby, if you ever get to the point that you think there is nothing more for you to learn in order for you to improve, then please, quit teaching. Learning how to be better teacher is a life long task, it never stops.”

I appreciate her more each and every day that I teach.

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by Amy Detrick Allibon TCU, 1985-89

There are teachers that teach their subject, and there are teachers who teach people. Ruth Whitlock managed to do both with grace, wit, spunk, and the patience of Job. When I walked into her cluttered office at TCU during registration my freshman year, I remember stacks of papers, mounds of books, and struggling to find a path to her desk. She was my advisor, and I had to schedule my classes with her. I told her I wasn't sure about the whole music major thing - that maybe I wanted to be a communications major (must've been staying up late with all the girls going through rush in the dorm - they were ALL communications majors). She made some passive/dismissive comment and filled out my schedule; the only non-music course was English. I left thinking, "Oh great, another adult who isn't going to listen to what I want."

Notions of pursuing anything other than music vanished the moment I walked into my first TCU Chorale rehearsal. I was back in the music groove and loving the other people around me. We all seemed "different" from the typical TCU student, probably because we were significantly poorer. Dr. Whitlock was the regal matriarch of the music building -when she wasn't holed up in her cluttered office working on projects or advising students, she was shuffling through the halls with a cup of coffee in her hand, smiling at all of us over the top of her half glasses like a proud mama.

I'm not sure we gave her all the much to be proud of in the early days, but she still smiled at us.

I had a class with Dr. Whitlock almost every semester for three years, but the most impacting class was Choral Organization and Management my junior year. I still have the two 3" binders from this class that are full of everything I need to teach successfully short of the patience and drive. I occasionally refer to those binders, looking for some article or reference that we touched in that class. I marvel at that year with Dr. Whitlock and the wealth of information and topics we covered. With only four students in the class, our time together was more intimate. We shared a lot of personal stories. She made us think and analyze music and the sounds of different choirs. She

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made us write and write well. She made us aware of the big picture of choral music.

She even made us memorize the TCDA officers by name and picture. She connected us with TCU graduates in the teaching field so we wouldn't be alone once we left her nest. We also had to read a book of our choice - any book - and discuss it with her in a private conference. I remember that meeting with her; it was perhaps my first insight into her as a person rather than just as a professor.

There were times during my TCU years that I worried that Dr. Whitlock was in an ivory tower. I was there during her fascination and intense study of Edwin Gordon; I could never fathom saying "do da di" with a group of kids. The lesson I was absorbing, albeit subliminally, was to keep learning. Dr. Whitlock stayed on the cutting edge and always wanted to discover ways to help kids learn better. Her constant quest for knowledge inspires me to this day, and my cluttered office is living proof!

My favorite times with Dr. Whitlock were the personal moments. I would look forward to watching her put on her bright coral lipstick before class. I would hope that she would wear her turquoise linen jacket - it was my favorite. I enjoyed hours at her house - I remember sharing experiences and more than one bottle of wine. I enjoyed sharing music with her. I loved her patience with all of us. I loved the time at the TMEA/TCU reunion that she had a little too much wine and stood on a chair and announced that she loved everyone in the room. I love being old enough now to understand some things I didn't then, and I hate that I can't share that with her.

I love Ruth Whitlock - she saw things in me that I didn't see until years after her death. She not only taught me all she could in four years, she planted seeds for me to keep growing the rest of my life. I ache to share things with her to this day - to share my frustrations and successes with her. Her influence on my life and teaching is very personal, profound, and simply immeasurable.

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by Brad White

Ruth Whitlock has been for me, one of those constant voices of conscience.

I was always fortunate to have outstanding teachers in my career. Ruth Whitlock is at the top of that list. I joked with my TCU students that my own teaching demeanor was simply a composite of personalities like Jim Casey, Charles Nelson, Ron Shirey, Bobbie Douglas, Cherie Townsend and of course, Ruth Whitlock. With all of these wonderful teachers influencing the way I taught, it's no wonder that my students stayed in a continual state of confusion!

Dr. Whitlock (I NEVER could bring myself to call her Ruth, even though she tried) was a constant inspiration to me in my classroom. I remember many moments in which she would "pop into by brain" as I was teaching. Often times, it would not necessarily be over musical decisions, but more often, when I was dealing with students and their hearts.

One of my favorite memories of Dr. Whitlock was singing with her in the Chapel choir at TCU. Even though Chapel Choir did not offer the refined musical experiences of other ensembles, it offered what was most important in my teaching career; an understanding of human nature. Dr. Whitlock had the uncanny ability to make you stop and think.

At the close of one concert, during the applause of a Handel piece, Dr. Whitlock held up a score for the audience to applaud for the COMPOSER. THAT was what I learned from Ruth Whitlock.

I thank God for the wonderful influence Dr. Whitlock had on my life. To simply reduce a description of her to "influential teacher terminology" is not worthy of the depth of understanding which Ruth Whitlock brought to her students. She was a gracious, intelligent, motivating, loving lady who had a deep understanding of human nature. Our lives are all richer because she touched us so deeply.

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by Brian Miller Sam Houston State University Ruth Summers (Whitlock) taught choral music for a short time in my hometown of Edinburg. Although she moved on before I joined the choral program in the sixth grade, her influence on music education continued to be felt in our community. Our paths would cross years later after I transferred to TCU to study choral music education.

"WONN-DERFUL" was one of Ruth Whitlock's favorite expressions, and the way she conveyed it brought new meaning to the word for me. One of my fondest memories was watching the joy on her face and in her eyes (over her signature half glasses) while she conducted Handel's Dixit Dominus. She loved music and loved sharing music, and I continue to be impressed as I reflect on her willingness to share her podium time with her choral music education students, so that we could have a taste of the joy of making music.

Like most choral directors, Dr. Whitlock had her way of wanting things done, but above and beyond that she was an educator and an advocate for her students. After discussing with me an uninspired effort at organizing my major project her way, she allowed me (after the end of the semester) to reorganize my project, giving us both the opportunity to explore another approach to the project. We agreed if I could convince her of the validity of approach, she would reconsider her assessment. I recall that experience with Dr. Whitlock regularly, for the lessons I learned far exceeded the bounds of that project, and I have shared that story many times. That was my last class with Ruth Whitlock.

While I was an undergraduate, I was aware that Ruth Whitlock was highly respected in music education circles, but it was only after I completed my coursework and had been teaching for several years that I realized how fortunate I was to have been a student of Ruth Whitlock. I recall some of the conversations she and I had after I had a few years of teaching junior-high and high school choral music under my belt. As in my hometown, she is missed, but her WONN-DERFUL influence continues to be felt in the music education community.

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by Carol Smith, Conductor SHSU Symphony Orchestra 3.20.95

Thirty-one years ago this month, I was first introduced to Ruth Whitlock when Bev Henson brought this young, energetic, articulate, extremely passionate teacher/musician to the TCU campus to speak to all of the young conductors. None of us have ever forgotten that visit for it changed our lives. Everyone who could become a professional musician/educator did--I was one of those lucky ones.

When I was a young teacher, Ruth helped me organize the knowledge I had and define the parameters for its use. She promised me that I must know the scope and the sequence of each step I took with the minds and talents of the young musicians I taught. She did the same for all whom she taught. For it was through Ruth that new ways of seeing old information and old ways of seeing new information were honed until new ways of seeing new information began to develop into precise and meaningful skills.

In the 70s, on a regular basis Ruth reminded us--all of us--that we, as a profession and as a state --must look to our TMEA, as incredibly effective as we were, --and ask to come together to consider our ways.

It seemed two issues were pretty clear to her: For one, we had become focused on the product and had allowed the process to slip into disarray. We were so concerned about the performance of music that we had forgotten to consider the methods, materials, and the means we used to get to our performances and our goals. And more importantly, our students-these precious children- had been, on occasion, inadvertently left out of our real planning--------------Ruth never demanded that we retool ourselves and our work. She was much to genteel to demand. What she did do was to start planting the seeds for change by talking to us individually--and where 2 or 3 were gathered --to whip all of us into a frenzy----She made us believe it was our idea to ask ourselves who we were and what we were doing and, for God's sake, why we were doing it. She inspired us to move mountains and in the midst of that process,

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we began to define ourselves --with her help and that of many others. Our profession owes so much to so many--to Ruth we owe much for showing us the way to rediscovering our core.

How grateful we are, Ruth, that you taught us by example - to acknowledge and revere a life elevated by involvement with the art of music and with those dedicated to the teaching and performance of that music. There is none better than the honor to be chosen to pursue this profession. It is to Ruth that my mind runs when I read Henry's monologue at the Battle of Agincourt from Shakespeare's Henry V:

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires: But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.

God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

And now, we have to be what you taught us to be--we have to reach back and become what you always told us we already knew how to be. We ask for strength and courage unbounded by our own frailties, formed and modeled by your gift to us over these our years together. You would be embarrassed by an uncontrolled outpouring of our group--so as you taught us, we will be measured. But never fear that we will forget your passion for life, for music, for teaching, for children, for humanity, ....and for all of us. Our assignment is clear--- the torch we must take in hand now...all of us.

And now to you, Ruth -- dear Friend, sweet Comrade, honored Colleague -- we say a gentle good-bye.

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by Clara Dina Hinojosa Texas Christian University - BME '87

While reading the book, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of A Teacher's Life, I was frequently reminded of Ruth. The author, Parker J. Palmer, raises important questions: "What subject shall I teach?" "How shall I teach?" and "Why should I teach?" However, he strongly asserts that two other questions regularly remain unaddressed: "Who is the self that teaches?" and "How can educational institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good teaching comes?"

Long before its 1998 publication, the concepts of this book were issues that deeply concerned Ruth and significantly shaped TCU's music education program.

She was convinced that developing the "inner landscape" of young music ed. students was an essential component in fashioning effective, creative, and successful educators.

She believed in teaching or "forming" the whole person - mind, body, spirit, and voice. Ruth's initiatives at the regional, state, and national level helped to reform and improve the face of choral music. Humble yet confident, she knew her efforts would positively impact future educators and music students around the country. Ruth Whitlock was not only the quintessential educator; she was the epitome of a life-long learner, continually exploring the meaning of life in all areas of human experience.

She remains the single most influential person in the development of my skills as an educator. She may well be the greatest mentor that I will ever have.

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by James Taylor, Class of 1991 Back in 1985 when I was considering college options, I spoke to my high school choir director and asked her opinion of the three schools that I was considering, namely North Texas, SMU or TCU. It was at that time that I first heard the name Ruth Whitlock. My choir director couldn't say enough about her. She told me that she was a special lady and a great teacher and that I would be in the best of care studying with her. It was largely because of my choir director's input that I chose to go to TCU and work with this remarkable woman, who was destined to become one of the major influences in my life. Dr. Whitlock instilled in me the desire and need to teach and share with others the joys of music. She was an extremely caring, warm person who always made me feel welcome, supported, cared-for and capable. From no other teacher did I receive so much pertinent, practical and applicable information regarding music education, musical concepts and aesthetics in music. I remember her wonderful smile and laugh and often would stop by her office just to chat or say hello. We would often share thoughts about concerts we had attended, travels in Europe, art exhibits and even the church music that I was discovering in the choir at All -Saints Episcopal Church, where she was also a member. At the time I found it amusing, that while most people give something up for Lent, her "sacrifice" was to sing in the church choir. But, that was somehow typical Dr. Whitlock. She was a very busy lady, and it was her time that she sacrificed.

Since graduating from TCU, I have been living in Germany and working as a concert and opera singer. Even now, over 15 years later, scarcely a week goes by that I don't think about Dr. Whitlock, especially now that I find myself teaching voice as a college professor. Her image comes racing back to mind and I am reminded of words like "wonderful," "marvellous," "aesthetics," "right-brained" and of course "DOOda-dee!"

Through my career, I have had the opportunity to travel a great deal, and to sing in truly inspirational settings. I don't know how many times I have said to myself, "Oh, I WISH Dr. Whitlock could see or hear this!" I would love to see her purse her

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lips in that characteristic way? see her eyes light up, shake her head from side to side and hear her say, "Oh how wonderful Jimmy, just wonderful!" Before she died, she expressed interest in coming to visit me in Germany, but unfortunately that never came to be. Her strength during her sickness and her ability to "roll with the punches" was also profoundly inspirational to me. She never seemed to lose her ability to marvel at life's wonders. She was the definition of a great lady and I miss her terribly.

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by Janet Bonicelli Hatcher, BMEd 1990 I know many of us wish that we could have had the chance to tell Ruth Whitlock what she meant to us and how she influenced our lives. Here is the letter I wish I had written to her.

Dear Dr. Whitlock, Unfortunately, we all get busy with our daily routines, family, jobs and second jobs. We forget to say the things we need to say to the ones we love and admire.

Hopefully you knew how we all felt. Hopefully you know now that you live in us each day in our classrooms.

From the moment I decided to go to TCU you were there to fight for me. Since I decided at the last minute to go to TCU instead of Sam Houston, I thought that it was too late for financial aid of any kind. You knew I needed the money and you believed in me. You pulled scholarships and grants out of your magic bag to help me in the door. I remember you calling me at my summer job and just telling me that everything would work out. I knew then that you were someone I could trust and count on in my times of need. The next four years I leaned on you and you never gave up on me. You always lifted me up. Your lessons went beyond the classroom. You always seemed calm and nurturing. How did you endure all of our talks together? My life dramas had to seem so silly to you. But, you always listened. You always cared. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who came to you with problems. I hope that I can show understanding and support to my students like you showed us.

I am a better choir director because of you. I found out that most college graduates aren't really ready for the classroom when they graduate. You prepared us for real life. You made us practice teaching in front of each other. Even though we were embarrassed and sometimes didn't quite get our lesson taught with expertise, you were there to help us. You told us what was wrong, had us figure it out ourselves, or even worse, we had our friends sitting there evaluating us. I guess you thought that if we could survive teaching in front of our peers, then we could survive teaching in public

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school. You were right!

Finally, you changed our profession. I know that many of us would be in completely different careers if it weren't for you. You spent hours and hours fighting for Fine Arts in Schools. You made sure that we would have jobs to go into when we left TCU. You are an icon in Choral Music Education.

Thank you for all you did for us, for loving us, for giving us skills, and for sharing yourself with us. I feel honored to have been your student.

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by Mary Jane Phillips, Class of 1989 I entered my freshman year at Texas Christian University in August 1985 as a vocal music education major. I had come to TCU upon the recommendation of Terrie Preskitt, a TCU alumnae and private voice teacher at my high school. I had met Ron Shirey, the TCU choral director. At that time, I didn't even know Ruth Whitlock existed, and I certainly had no idea of the influence she would have upon my teaching and my life.

There is a line in the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom that says "Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine?" Ruth Whitlock was exactly that kind of teacher. She had an uncanny ability to see what her students could be - far beyond the unfocused teenagers that sat in front of her each day. I was never a great singer, never an All-State Choir member, never a star in conducting class, never a great music theory student - the list of "nevers"goes on and on. I know that many of the TCU music faculty saw me as silly sorority girl who was not talented enough to be a music major. Somehow, Ruth Whitlock saw me as something else entirely - a musician and a teacher. I will never be able to repay the debt I owe her for seeing what I could be, and then insisting that I live up to my potential. I know that any success I have ever had or ever will have in this profession that I love so dearly traces directly back to her vision for me. It is a profound lesson that I try to remember with my own students each day.

It is not, however, the most profound lesson she taught me. That lesson came just a few weeks before her death from breast cancer. When she became ill, I (along with several of her former students) chipped in to help teach her classes at TCU. I was visiting her in the hospital to discuss what her "babies" needed to be taught in the next class. Although she was weak and had lost her hair, she was sitting up in bed wearing a hat. After "school talk", we had a wonderful discussion about life and all its assorted challenges. She was cheerful and upbeat even though she was very ill. As I was about to go, fellow alum Brad White walked in to visit with his wife, Hollie and son, Taylor.

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Taylor, who was between 1 and 2 years old at the time, immediate crawled up onto the side of Dr. Whitlock's bed. This delighted her, since she had an unbridled love for children. As we all sat and talked, Taylor stared at Dr. Whitlock - obviously interested in the hat she had on. She looked at him, smiled and said "You want this hat, don't you?"-then handed it over to him without flinching. She sat there and grinned as Taylor played with the hat. With no hair on her head, she acted as if no one should worry at all, so we didn't. I left a few moments later in tears at the grace I had just witnessed. It was the classiest thing I've ever seen anyone do. It was also the last time I ever saw her. I was not at all surprised to find out that her last act on earth a few weeks later was to go teach her Choral Methods class on the day she died. But when I remember my last moment with her in the hospital, I am always reminded about the things that matter most in the world. Not only did she teach me how to live and teach, she showed me how to have humor and dignity in death. I will never forget her and I will never be quite finished learning from her.

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by Philip Glenn Dr. Ruth Whitlock: Why I Do What I Do Quite simply, Dr. Whitlock was responsible for me becoming a choral director.

As of January of my senior year in high school, my plans were to attend North Texas and major in mathematics education. By the end of February I was applying for scholarships at TCU and auditioning for Ron Shirey and Ruth Whitlock in the basement choir room at University Christian Church.

The process of coming to love and respect this incredible woman enough to listen to her advice began a year and a half earlier. My wonderful choir and band directors all instilled in me a love for music. However, I always resisted choosing it as a career. My junior year at L.D. Bell High School, Bobbie Douglass introduced us to a dynamic lady who radiated joy and passion for music and for people. She taught at TCU and was doing research for her PhD, and we were going to be one of her test groups. Over the next year we worked through the material that would later become Choral Insights, answering questions and doing analysis for the literature we performed. Ruth Whitlock stopped by regularly to assess our progress and get our feedback on the program.

The next year, to our delight, the energetic (and now PhD) Whitlock was back.

We worked weekly with her to prepare a presentation of her research for TMEA. In the process, we grew to know her warmth, her passion for teaching, her intellect, and her joy in all aspects of life. The choir wanted to thank her somehow for what she had taught us and the opportunity she had given us. The choir had to return home, so they took up a collection, and those of us who were All-State members took her to dinner at Little Rhine. Dr. Whitlock made us all feel at ease, though none of us were experienced "fine diners". She grilled us all about our future plans and encouraged, without pushing, us to remain musicians - whether professionally or not. Personally, she advised me to look into the scholarships available at TCU for academics as well as music in order to make the school affordable for my family and contacted the Financial Aid department herself. With her support and her interest in me as an

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individual, my life path shifted, and I was off to Frogland.

I am sure that many will also relate how Dr. Whitlock prepared us for teaching literature cards, "the notebook", listening evaluations, UIL form preparation, UIL contest observations, careful student teaching placement, and a plethora of information about "the real world". Or how she taught us to appreciate the aesthetic experience, to remember that the reason for music is to communicate on an emotional level, and to realize that the impact on the soul of the student is what music education is about. All these things are undeniably true, but the biggest impact of Dr. Ruth Whitlock on me was in helping me find my way to the calling of choral music education. Without her, my life would be much less interesting and satisfying.

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by Wayne Robinson My tribute to Ruth Whitlock has to begin with a long, sad sighĂ– As I recall her image in my mind's eye, with those half-glasses perched on her nose, I can recall the focused energy she was able to generate and share on a daily basis. I was fortunate enough to have that energy focused in my direction as an undergrad, grad student, and finally a colleague over the course of 20-odd years. To summarize Ruth Whitlock's lasting impact on me isn't easy, but perhaps can be suggested as the sum of a series of contrasting information and ideas that we examined together for many years: Philosophy vs. Psychology Art vs. Science Learning vs. Teaching Idealism vs. Pragmatism Spirituality vs. Religion Left Brain vs. Right Brain Right vs. Wrong Visionary vs. Traditionalist Sacred vs. Secular Teacher vs. Friend Liberal vs. Conservative Over the years that Ruth and I collaborated, I can look back now and realize that it was very much like a long conversation that sometimes paused, changed direction, took a tangent, but never ended. Perhaps that's the way meaningful relationships grow and mature, by keeping a long chat going for months, years, and decades. So, that's why this tribute to Ruth had to begin with a sigh - a sigh of regret for not being able to finish a very important conversation with a very important person.

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by Terrie McKenzie Preskitt A Tribute to My Mentor

Dr. Ruth Summers Whitlock was a “freshman” at TCU the same year that I was.

We share the same birthday, both loved Dr. Howard Swan (even though I only knew him through singing under his baton at All State Choir in 1974 and she knew him as a colleague!), but our most important link was that we were passionate about the effects that we knew music could have on the lives of all people. She taught the music education kids so much more than “methods”. Her Chapel Choir rehearsals were a true lab for her courses, and back in the early days of her time in Fort Worth that choir was full of future teachers and conductors, learning directly from her rehearsals about how to incorporate style into the choral rehearsal. We learned from Schutz, Monteverdi, and Pergolesi through her splendid teaching. We were exposed to the value of careful planning and the choreographing of a choral rehearsal. She was hardly ever seen without legal pad in hand, always reworking her “plan”.

Learning was not limited to the masters of long ago. We were all privileged to observe the greatest area teachers thanks to Dr. Whitlock’s tireless efforts to convince the ‘powers-that-were’ that young teachers needed to see wonderful teachers teach.

I’ll never forget the lessons learned from watching Bobbie Douglass, Teddy Brown, Linda Harley, Fredericka Braidfoot… What a privilege it was to help with the typing of then Ms. Whitlock’s doctoral manuscripts which eventually were published by Kjos, giving all teachers a guide for fabulous ways to teach the stylistic characteristics to students during the choral rehearsal. The treasures jealously guarded in our “Whitlock Notebooks” actually became the blueprints for our first years of teaching.

Ruth Whitlock was a deeply spiritual person, and shared that gift with us as well.

At her memorial service at her beloved Episcopal church, her priest shared with us that at the moment of her death, the Psalms were being read to her. This devotion to her Creator was evident in the literature she chose to teach, in the methods that she used to ensure the success of all students, and in the kindness that she showed to all.

Dr. Whitlock’s legacy is evident in so many of the fine choral music educators in

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and out of Texas. Many times in planning rehearsals, my thoughts turn to her – Would Dr. Ruth approve? – Does this teach enough or is there something deeper the kids can learn here? – Am I using integrity in this lesson? She guides me still.

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by James Jordan Westminster Choir College

To Everyone who knew Ruth Whitlock: When I was a young person in this profession, and had just completed my doctorate, an unknown woman at that time, became one of my biggest advocates. She supported my work when no one else did, and for that alone, I will never forget her.

As I write books on The Musician's Soul and The Musician's Spirit, I realize that ethical and personal models appear in our lives. Ruth was one such figure in my life.

I have never known a greater teacher and a more dedicated person to the cause of teachers teaching well.

Ruth had a secret that we should all learn from. She was a great teacher because she was a great human being. Always honest, always loving and always caring, she touched thousands and changed thousands of lives. Quietly, she loved all her friends, colleagues and students. Without doubt, she remains an inspiration to me and my work.

I miss her deeply, but her spirit is constantly with me.

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by Allison Reynolds I come from a family of teachers. Although I loved playing “school” and “teacher” as a young girl, I knew when I was 18 that I did not want to teach for a living. So, instead of music education, I selected music performance as my major at Texas Christian University. I made that decision in the spring of my senior year in high school—without any knowledge of who Dr. Ruth Whitlock was. The first week of my freshman year, I met Dr. Whitlock. She was the director of the T.C.U. Chapel Choir, and I was among its members. Little could I imagine then the far-reaching implications of this new relationship.

For starters, she knew before I that I would want to be a music education major.

When I did “see the light,” it was she who encouraged me to include a general music methods course in my Texas certification. For the rest of my time at T.C.U., Dr. Whitlock shaped my philosophy of music and music teaching, and my skills as a musician and music educator. I, like my classmates, interpreted her approval and disapproval (about anything we heard, saw, felt, thought, performed, or taught) as an essential part of my continuing development. If she were satisfied, I learned much from her reasons why; if she weren’t, I learned equally as much! She effectively modeled (oozed) musicianship, elegance, intelligence, and diplomacy in every situation.

In short, she taught me much that I cannot be sure she realized she was teaching.

After I graduated, I taught elementary general music. On the last day of my second year of teaching (a Friday), the school’s secretary buzzed my room to summon me to the phone in the main office. I was surprised and pleased to hear Dr. Whitlock’s voice on the phone, but even more surprised when she told me to come to a workshop she had organized at T.C.U! She told me that a man named Edwin Gordon was giving a workshop, and that I needed to come hear it. I sensed she was not issuing invitation, but an ultimatum: I would go to this workshop. Is it fair to say ultimatum now?

Would she agree that is what is was if I could ask? But here, I share my clues with you as a way of further describing Dr. Whitlock. I suppose I reveal a bit about myself, too!

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Alison: When does the workshop begin?

Dr. Whitlock: Sunday evening.

Alison: This Sunday evening?

Dr. Whitlock: Yes. silence Alison: But my summer vacation starts this afternoon.

Dr. Whitlock: Postpone it.

(Okay, I’m paraphrasing this conversation, but this was her general message!) silence Alison: How much does it cost?

Dr. Whitlock: Cost does not matter. You cannot afford to miss this.

Instinctively I knew I could not argue, and Sunday found me headed North to Fort Worth. After all, when had Dr. Whitlock ever led me astray? In the year after that workshop, which had an incredible life-altering influence (I’m sure she predicted it would, in some ways), Dr. Whitlock continued to mentor me through my decisions about attending graduate school in music education. As though that weren’t enough, several years later she made recommendations to others about my abilities that I am sure helped secure my first offer to teach at the college level.

In the summer of 1993, Dr. Whitlock came to New Haven, CT. She had been teaching at Hartt, where T.C.U. alum Al Holcomb coordinated Hartt’s summer music workshops. Coincidentally, Al and I both had spent the previous year teaching music in New Haven public schools. Al arranged for us to meet and tour New Haven and the Yale campus. Dr. Whitlock had recently traveled abroad with her son, and related many tales about how deeply moved and positively affected she had been by her traveling experiences. I can still see her on that day: she literally was moving like a ballet dancer along the streets of New Haven to describe what she had seen, heard, tasted, and felt, and thought. Her buoyancy then, as before, captured what I always experienced in her presence: hers was an outward, gracious, and contagious thirst for life and art—even after beginning her battle with cancer. Al, my husband Patrick, and I enjoyed our visit with her. Patrick immediately placed my admiration for her in con-

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text, and I was pleased he had the opportunity to finally meet her.

In 1994, Dr. Whitlock accepted my invitation to speak to inservice and preservice music teachers at Ashland University in Ohio. Her Vocal Connections and Choral Insights captured their interests. They, along with my colleagues, enjoyed my mentor’s workshop. And, this time, Dr. Whitlock inspired my philosophy as a music teacher educator. After her presentation, we traveled together to Cincinnati for the MENC conference.

I had no idea about Dr. Whitlock—the jewel in TCU music department’s crown, in the world of music education, and choral music education—when I arrived there as a freshman. But it was not long after entering the profession that I learned of the respect she had earned and deserved. I feel lucky to be at TCU with her and to have been ready to learn so much from her. When I am reunited with TCU friends, we share fun memories and remember our “fear” of the workload and the joy of our successes with her, and especially the music we made with her. At work now as a music teacher educator, I cannot be conscious of every way in which she still asserts her influence. I am happy to know that she simply and unquestionably does.

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by Al Dee Holcomb

When I came to TCU in the fall of 1980 with a declared double major of music performance and religion studies, my career goal was to become a minister of music.

Around the middle of the semester, I was walking down the second floor hallway of Ed Landreth, when suddenly a smiling woman wearing half glasses and a long denim skirt descended upon me. After escorting me to her office for a brief conversation she insisted on knowing two things: why I was not majoring in music education and why I was not singing the Chapel Choir. Before I could think of a good answer, she began to explain the importance of music education and why I should be a teacher. By the time I left her office, I was excited about my new career path and the thought of singing in two choirs. This was to be only my first encounter with the power of Ruth Whitlock.

Over the next few years, I developed great respect for this woman who would become ?verklempt? (smiling, eyes closed and right hand fluttering over her heart) at the mention of Brahms, Howard Swan, Bennett Reimer, or Brad White. She could not comprehend why we as junior music ed majors were not as excited about the history and philosophy of music education as she was. Although it was never in her syllabi, it was just assumed that we would find the time and money to attend TMEA, ACDA and TCDA; subscribe to the MEJ and The Choral Journal, buy lots of books and recordings, and skip classes to go observe great choral directors. It became obvious that mediocrity and partial participation were not options for music education students.

I also grew to love Dr. Whitlock. I had a special relationship with her. I know that each of her students feels they had a special relationship with her but my relationship with her was truly special - I was her house cleaner for two years. My classmates were awed by the notion of my privileged access. When I came to her house, we talked about music, family, life, faith, politics, struggles, and love. We listened to Paul Harvey, cooked meals, and rearranged furniture. It was during these times together that I grew to appreciate what a kind, spiritual, generous, sincere, and devoted person

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she was. She helped me find my first job. Two years into teaching, Dr. Whitlock contacted me about a summer seminar that she thought I should attend. A few years later, she helped me choose a graduate program. It is not surprising that I still consider her to be my mentor.

Her picture sits on top of a bookcase in my office at the University of Central Florida. The shelves are filled with books on methodology, philosophy, world musics, teaching techniques, lesson planning, assessment, choral conducting, choral music education, elementary music education, and vocal technique. Students flow regularly in an out of my office for advisement, help with an assignment, auditions, or just to chat. In my classes, I regularly find myself becoming energized and excited by the discussion. In rehearsals, I regularly have students move to the music, chant syllables, and describe phrases. It is amazing that after two more degree and years of teaching, I still find myself contemplating what Dr. Whitlock would do.

Hugh Sanders Material prepared by Charles Fuller

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Hugh Sanders Biographical Sketch of Hugh Sanders

by Charles Fuller

If there’s such a thing as “quiet charisma”, Hugh Sanders was the supreme example. He led with the quiet and unmistakable confidence of one who knew what was possible, knew what he wanted, and knew hot to get it from those he led. He was a man of deep faith who loved people as much as he loved music.

Born March 10, 1935 in Portales, New Mexico, Hugh Sanders knew poverty from an early age. His hard-working father could neither read nor write and was only able to house his young family in a dugout. Later Sanders would seldom discuss those days and certainly never complained about lacking for anything as a child.

Music and refined culture were certainly not a part of his early development. As a teenager he was befriended by several families in Portales who encouraged his musical and artistic development. Some of these were faculty families from the local college as well as the family of the local school superintendent. These families encouraged Sanders in his musical activities, but his greatest interest in high school was basketball.

After graduation from high school, Sanders headed to Abilene, Texas and Hardin-Simmons University. There he met the first of two people who would have the greatest influence on his life: Euell Porter. Euell Porter, the choral director at Hardin-Simmons recruited Sanders for the choir. Sanders, who was at HardinSimmons because of his basketball scholarship, wasn’t sure at first. He scrutinized Porter carefully to be sure that he wasn’t a “sissy” choir director. It was the beginning of a lifetime friendship marked not only by their love of choral music, but also their shared love of sports.

Porter almost literally adopted Sanders, often taking care of some of his personal expenses along the way. Such was their relationship that when Porter accepted the position of choral director at Baylor University in 1955, it was Sanders who helped pack the truck and went along helping, as was usual, with caring for Porter’s invalid wife, Christine.

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It wasn’t long before Sanders met the next most significant influence on his life, his soon-to-be-bride, Rinky. In the summer of 1957 they had their first date at the Southern Baptist Conference Center in Glorieta, New Mexico. Rinky was a fine musician and pianist and they would be partners as both parents and musicians, to the delight of both school and church people for years to come.

After their 1958 marriage, they traveled to Port Arthur’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Hugh’s first job. He had finished his Bachelor’s degree and had nearly finished his Master’s degree from Baylor by this time. After a year in East Texas, they headed back to the flat country and dry air of West Texas and Hugh became choral director at Pampa High School in Pampa, Texas.

His time at Pampa was marked by outstanding ratings for his choirs and invitations to sing for the American Choral Directors Association as well as the birth of son, Stan, and daughter, Stacie. During this time he served the Texas Music Educator’s Association as Vocal Division Chair and President. It was during these years that the Panhandle of Texas had some outstanding teachers who would later go on to lead the profession. Bill Cormack, from Amarillo’s Tascosa High School, would later lead TMEA as Executive Director. Lynn Whitten, at Dumas High School, would later lead the choral area at the University of Colorado to national and international prominence. It was during this time that Hugh would be noticed by John Green, the fine arts dean at West Texas State University.

Choral music at WTSU was led by composing and arranging legend, Houston Bright. It was the late sixties and Bright was in ill health. Green brought Sanders to WTSU for a year and then helped him to immediately take a leave in order to complete a doctorate at the University of Colorado. Two years later, Sanders returned to WTSU to head the choral program upon the death of Houston Bright. Thus began a fifteen-year string of success upon success, which included almost annual selection of the WT Chorale for performances for ACDA, MENC, TMEA, and other significant choral organizations across the country. During these years he and Rinky continued their church music careers at First Baptist Church in Canyon. Hugh also was asked to teach during the summer of 1975 at the University of Southern California as Distinguished Visiting Professor.

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In 1978 WTSU named Sanders Dean of the School of Fine Arts. Sanders embraced the position, which he fulfilled in addition to continuing as conductor of the WT Chorale. He accomplished a great deal as leader of that school. The crowning achievement of his work as Dean was the formation of the Harrington String Quartet, endowed by the Harrington Foundation and a shared endeavor of both WTSU and the Amarillo Symphony. During these years, the endowment of the School of Fine Arts grew from 15,000 to over 1.5 million dollars.

In 1984 his alma mater came calling. Baylor needed a new choral director and offered the job to Sanders as the Ben H. Williams Professor of Music. It was considered a coup for the university to secure a conductor of such renown to rebuild a rich choral tradition and they were especially grateful that this famous conductor was one of their own. He would soon assume the presidency of the American Choral Directors Association and was a charter member of the new International Federation for Choral Music.

The move to Baylor was followed by more invitations to sing for prestigious music groups, the most significant was the World Choral Symposium in Korea in 1990.

During his career he conducted thirty-five all-state choirs and worked with countless schools and churches around the country.

In 1993 Sanders stepped down as Director of Choral Activities to head the Baylor Institute for Church Music & Worship. TCDA named Sanders Texas Distinguished Choirmaster in 1997. Retirement followed in 2000 and he died at the age of 66 on August 31, 2001.

The legacy of Hugh Sanders is long and significant. He conducted all-state choirs all over the country, his choirs sang over and over for choral directors’ conventions, and he was constantly in demand to do workshops and clinics for both school and church musicians. But the legacy that meant the most to him was the one he left with the people he would call himself privileged to have known, especially his former students. He left with them a legacy of excellence, kindness, beauty, and faith that he would have them give to their choristers to pass on to later generations, just like he passed it to them from his mentor, Euell Porter.

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TEXAS CHOIRMASTER AWARD The following is a speech given by Randy Talley, President of the Texas Choral Directors Association at the 1997 TCDA Convention.

Today, it is my distinct honor and privilege to present the prestigious Texas Choirmaster Award to a legendary choral director who has spent his entire career teaching here in Texas.

If you know this individual at all, you would assume that he was raised in a home where education was a top priority. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was raised in a dugout with a dirt floor, his mother washed dishes in a café, and his hardworking father could neither read nor write.

After he graduated from high school, this tall, skinny kid from Portales, New Mexico received a college scholarship to Hardin-Simmons University, not as a music student, but as a basketball player. However, soon after he arrived in Abilene, he met a man who would change his life forever, Dr. Euell Porter. Dr. Porter convinced this young man that his future was not in basketball, but in choral music education. When Dr. Porter moved to Baylor University, he made it possible for his promising young protégé to go with him to Waco. Today, forty years later, Dr. Porter’s most successful student is also his best friend, the man we honor today – Dr. Hugh Sanders.

Hugh Sanders first made his mark in choral music at Pampa High School. After eight years in Pampa, he moved to Canyon, Texas where he became the Assistant Choral Director at West Texas State University with Houston Bright. In 1970 he completed his doctorate at the University of Colorado and returned to WTSU. After the death of Houston Bright, Dr. Sanders became the Director of Choral Activities. His choirs in the 1970’s at West Texas State are legendary. Dr. Sanders left WT in 1982 to become the Choral Director at Baylor University.

Dr. Sanders has served Texas as Vocal Chairman and President of TMEA. He was Southwestern Division President of ACDA, and in 1984 he was President of the American Choral Directors Association. He has received many awards and honors, far too many to mention, and he has conducted 35 all-state choirs. In 1958 Dr. Sanders married a young, bashful girl from Phillips, Texas who became his closest friend and

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strongest advocate. All of you know her as Rinky. They have two children, Stan and Stacie, and two grandchildren, Holly and Hunter, who are all with us today.

Dr. Sanders has had a profound influence in the lives of his students. I would like to read a few excerpts from letters written to Dr. Sanders: “Thank you for making music come alive. I am learning to appreciate it and love it more every day because of you.”

“Of course there were many other trips and performances during my undergraduate years. Each was special. But what I will remember most is rehearsing. The 11:00 hour was the highlight of my day. Many rehearsals moved me. Thank you for challenging me.”

“You have put an indelible influence on me that has helped me make some very important decisions in my life.”

“I just can’t tell you how much we enjoyed the performance the other night.

When the choir began to sing, I immediately began to cry. Hearing that first note brought back such wonderful memories. I could feel the excitement and energy. I could feel the oneness of the singers. My mind flashed back to MENC where we were singing Jesu Meine Freude. I remember you looked scared to death when we started.

I saw the twinkle in your eye, and then we all knew we were at the right place at the right time. When the last cut-off swept the crowd to its feet, no one in the choir had a dry eye. I could say that I personally had my most profound religious experience.”

And finally, “I am so grateful to God that my brothers and I came to WT. What you taught us about directing a choir has been the foundation for everything we do in the classroom. Any success that we have achieved had its beginnings in what we learned singing in your choir.”

Hugh Sanders has achieved great things in his life. I have had the honor of know-

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ing him as a teacher and as a friend. The following observations are what I admire most about him: • He has achieved greatness without ego.

• He shows genuine love and concern for others. He is always the first to greet conductors following a concert, sharing a word of praise.

• And finally, he lives in the present, he doesn’t dwell on the past.

Dr. Sanders, I would not be here today without your support and encouragement when I was a member of your choir. It is my great honor to present to you the Texas Choirmaster Award.

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Hugh Sanders Music Professor Knows Life’s Extremes

By Linda Lawson, Baptist Press

Hugh Sanders spent the first three years of his life residing in eastern New Mexico in a home dug out of the sand. At age three, he recalls his mother shooting a rattlesnake trying to come into the coolness of the dugout.

Now, Sanders is the Ben H. Williams Professor of Music, director of choral activities and director of the Institute for Church Music Studies at Baylor. He also serves as minister of music at Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco and recently completed a term as president of the American Choral Directors Association one of the most prestigious posts in the field of music.

Sanders’ life between two extremes bears testimony to the willingness of Christians to invest in a person in whom they saw potential.

“My dad never went to school. He couldn’t read or write,” said Sanders, who earned bachelors and master’s degrees from Baylor and a Ph.D. in music from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

At age three, Sanders’ father traded his land for a two-room shotgun house and two city lots in Portales, NM. While their financial situation did not improve, Portales is a college town (Eastern New Mexico University) and his childhood included excellent teachers and friends whose parents were college professors.

“The thought to quit school never crossed my mind,” he said.

While living in Portales, Sanders frequented the home of the Portales school superintendent who had a son his age.

“They subscribed to Life magazine and the Amarillo paper. I was never in their way. I was in the corner, reading,” he recalled. This family, the Hunts, discussed politics and other issues at the dinner table, something Sanders had never experienced.

They also bought Community Concert tickets for him during his junior and senior years. Through their investment in him, he saw some of the finest performing artists of the time.

While Sanders was more interested in sports than music during his high school years, he did play the tenor lead in HMS Pinafore his junior year and then joined the

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choir for his senior year.

Sanders then attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he met Euell Porter, a professor of music who became his mentor. When he learned his scholarship would not be renewed his sophomore year, Sanders told Porter he would not be returning to Hardin-Simmons. Porter urged him to come back as a music major and pledged to help him get a music scholarship.

Sanders, who prided him on being an athlete, had real doubts about the wisdom of a male majoring in music, but Porter told him the responsibility would be on him to make of a profession what he wanted it to be.

“I’ve never been that aggressive to tell a student he ought to major in music,” Sanders said.

When Porter accepted a faculty position at Baylor, Sanders went with him.

Three times during Sanders’ time at Baylor, he lacked the funds for a down payment for a semester – times when Porter helped him with a loan.

“He’d reach in his billfold and hand it to me,” Sanders recalled.

He also got his first job as a minister of music in Smithville, Texas, a job that required a weekly round-trip bus ride in which he would arrive back on the Waco campus at 2 am Monday morning, four hours before he had to report for work in the cafeteria.

“The church was an opportunity to become a practitioner of what I learned in class,” said Sanders.

Throughout his career while teaching high school, at West Texas State University in Canyon and at Baylor, Sanders has served as a minister of music in churches.

“When you face your church choir on Wednesday night, they couldn’t care less how many degrees you have,” Sanders said. “They want to know how to sound as good as we can sound for Sunday morning. I’ve benefited a great deal from that.”

In addition to teaching and directing choirs, Sanders has given priority to seeing that his choirs experience the discipline of performing before organizations of choral directors.

“I love competition,” he said. “I’ve found this can be healthy in helping students see what their potential is.”

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Looking back, Sanders said, “I never considered myself an underdog. Working with limitations I had to overcome has been good. God knew how to deal with me. I really enjoy my life.�

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REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Erwin DeBord WTSU (now A&M) Class of 1984 My experience with Dr. Hugh Sanders was as a member of the WTSU Chorale in 1983. I was from a very small town in the Panhandle of Texas that had no school choir program. Fortunately, I was allowed the opportunity to sing solos at my church and other community events that allowed me to express my love for vocal music.

I was a student at WTSU in the early 80’s as a business major. A goal of mine was to eventually be a part of the Chorale there because of their incredible sound and sterling reputation. It was my thought that as a non-music major, it would be a challenge to get accepted. So I decided I needed to establish credibility for myself and joined the Collegiate Choir in 1982. Auditions for the Chorale were at the end of the semester and I knew this was my one chance to get in. I auditioned once and called Dr. Sanders to see if he would allow me to audition for a second time. It was important for me to let him know how seriously I wanted to be a member of the WTSU Chorale.

To my delight, I was accepted. It was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. Dr. Sanders was such a gracious and gentle teacher and leader. Under his direction, I felt like I was learning and expanding my musical knowledge and understanding without really even being aware of it. I can honestly say that Dr. Sanders was the person who introduced me to the great music of the world.

The penultimate experience of that year was the WTSU Chorale being the featured choir of the closing ceremonies of the ACDA convention. For one of our selections, the baton was turned over to the legendary Robert Shaw. As a strictly amateur singer and business major, all of this was a very heady experience. And for the final musical selection of that event, hearing the unison audience of great singers performing together was a sound I will always remember.

Dr. Hugh Sanders is a man who made a very big impression on me and contributed to an incredibly memorable year of my life.

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By Dr. Gerry Lewis Senior Pastor, Eagle Mountain Baptist Church

Dr. Hugh Sanders was – for me – a teacher, a mentor, and a friend.

As my teacher, he allowed me the opportunity to benefit from his skill and wisdom and, as a result, to develop and sharpen my own skills. He was instrumental in developing in me the skill of conducting a choir with clarity and creativity so that they are not just a group of individual singers, but also a choir making music as with one voice. From his teaching I also grew in my ability to sing as part of a choir, blending my voice with those around me – sometimes in unison, sometimes in harmony, but always with an ear for the choir.

As my mentor, he allowed me the opportunity to benefit from his character and integrity. He invested time in me beyond the rehearsal time. Whether conversations occurred across is desk in his office or across his dining table in his home, he showed me how Dr. Hugh Sanders the esteemed choral conductor was simply one expression of Hugh Sanders the man. Those more personal experiences allowed me to see how the lessons learned in the rehearsal hall could transcend a choral performance and apply to life. He was both a member and conductor of the choir of community. The university community, the neighborhood community, the church community – in all these, he lived his life with an ear for those around him. And when he had opportunity to conduct, he did so with clarity and creativity that inspired the entire community. I no longer make my primary living through music, but his mentoring has allowed me to put the lessons learned into practice as a pastor and community leader.

As my friend, he cared about my life. He encouraged and supported a blossoming romance that led to my marriage that is now twenty years and still going. He prayed with me about life changing decisions. He celebrated my achievements through encouraging notes when miles and years separated our paths. He showed up unexpectedly when I was ordained to the ministry. He encouraged me with a smile and the embrace of a friend when disease had robbed him of his ability to put together the words of encouragement that he was always eager to share.

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If I could influence and bless one fraction of the lives that were influenced and blessed by this one extraordinary man, I would consider my life to be well lived indeed.

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By Kim Word Miller WTSU Chorale 1979-1982 (Presently teaching Elementary Music at Bushland ISD west of Amarillo, Texas)

The first time I ever met Dr. Hugh Sanders, I was a primary school student in Canyon, Texas. His son, Stan, and I were the same age, and they lived just a street or two over. As I recall, the main significance of the Sanders’ living in Canyon was that I had another neighbor to play with during the carefree months of summer! Little did I realize, as a child, what an impact Dr. Hugh Sanders and his family would have on my life as the years passed and I grew into adulthood.

One of my very favorite things about Dr. Sanders was his unassuming nature.

Although he started out with such modest beginnings, once he reached the pinnacle of his success – he was never boastful or prideful, as some tend to become. He remained caring and gentle in his approach to life, and that meekness brought an unbelievable array of energy and focus to his conducting. He was able to evoke tender pianissimos, “playful” expressive phrases, or the most intense fortes from his choirs with such minimal effort – simply because of the qualities that were inherently Hugh Sanders. Singing in his choirs was truly an honor, and gave such fulfillment and joy beyond what words on a page could possibly convey. We were like family… and the music made us one.

My favorite memories of Dr. Sanders include the many times we all experienced together on tours. You could always bank on laughing hard, working hard and playing hard when you stepped on the charter bus! But, more than anything, you knew that you would experience the complete joy of music every time you shared a stage with Dr. Sanders. My greatest singing memory is when we all sang, “Give me Jesus” a cappella under the dome of our state capital on one of our tours. Truly, that’s got to be what angel choirs will sound like in Heaven! It was unexpected, spontaneous… and beautiful beyond description. I treasure that memory forever.

Dr. Sanders left a huge legacy – musically as well as spiritually, for the betterment

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of mankind. I consider myself very blessed to have known him from childhood on through the years. The last time I saw him was when we gathered for his tribute at West Texas State University. What a wondrous event for everyone. To be able to give back to him the gift of music that evening was an indescribable experience. May it be that we all keep giving that very gift to others as freely and unselfishly as Dr. Sanders did. In so doing, his gift will be ongoing for generations to come.

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By Charles C. Hirt, Chairman - Choral Organizations

I am pleased to make a statement concerning the qualifications of Mr. Hugh D. Sanders to receive a Kent Fellowship, for I know the qualities that you seek in a recipient, and I feel confident that Mr. Sanders possesses them to a remarkable degree.

For many years I have been aware of the splendid contribution Mr. Sanders has been making to his chosen profession, not only in Texas, but also throughout the nation. I first came to know him when he was organizing chairman for the Texas AllState High School Chorus six years ago. I had been asked to serve as guest conductor of this chorus, in which capacity I worked closely with Mr. Sanders, and was able to observe the highly efficient way he handled the responsibilities of his office. During this time, several other qualities were conspicuously evident, e.g. his ability to evoke from students and faculty alike both respect and cooperation, his remarkably fine judgment in solving the inevitable problems that arose, and most of all his uncompromising dedication to music and to the teaching profession.

Subsequently, I have been privileged to observe Mr. Sanders in other activities where other qualities were demonstrated. For instance, in 1966 his choir was chosen both to perform and to serve as a demonstration group during one of my choral sessions at the Music Educators National Conference in Kansas City. His singers received the highest praise from the musicians present; not only for their technical excellence but also for the movingly sincere and artistic way they interpreted music from many stylistic periods.

Time and time again since then, Mr. Sanders has reconfirmed his creative musical ability and his desire to serve his profession. He is currently President of the Texas Music Educators Association, which is a great tribute to his leadership abilities. He is in constant demand as a clinician and guest conductor of festivals. He is generous with his fine talent, serving both his church as well as Music Education. Indeed, as President-Elect of the American Choral Directors Association, I plan to lean heavily on Mr. Sanders for future planning ass we look toward the 1970 convention in

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Chicago. I predict that Mr. Sanders is going to make an increasingly important contribution to music on the national scene and will himself take leadership within the framework of professional organizations at the national level. I am confident too that this service will be greatly enhanced if he can be given the financial assistance through this fellowship to complete his doctorate at the University of Colorado. He has already been accepted into candidacy at that institution which confirms his capability to do graduate research of a high order.

I, therefore, commend Mr. Sanders to you with considerable enthusiasm and with no reservations whatsoever.

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By Kerry Huffer Director of Music Boulevard Christian Church

Dr. Hugh Sanders was my choir director for the entire time I was in college at West Texas State University. I still remember him telling us we were “just sanging”, as opposed to really “singing”. Since we were in West Texas, I’m sure we often forgot to sing properly and fell back to “just sanging”. I still use that phrase with my choir at times even now. I am in Oklahoma, so it is still very appropriate.

I saw Dr. Sanders a few times after I graduated; we were both at a Christian Music conference in Colorado. He still remembered who I was and was very interested in what I was doing with my life and my music. I know I wasn’t a real standout in his choir, so I was impressed that he knew who I was. I greatly appreciated his interest and his encouragement.

Dr. Sanders had a passion for good music as well as for his students and his God. He was a man it would be worthy to emulate. I was glad I had the opportunity to learn from him. He is definitely someone worthy of recognition and honor.

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REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Charles L. Fuller He was a person who had a genuine faith. He never had to say much about what he believed. He understood that if your life didn’t reflect your values, nothing you could say could make up for it. He taught us by example that mere words are redundant to the volumes spoken by one’s actions and lifestyle. Christ was the center of his life and too important to be trivialized by empty phraseology and meaningless verbiage.

I tell my students that there are two kinds of conductors. There are conductors who use people to make music and there are conductors who use music to make people. There’s no doubt that Hugh Sanders, the master teacher, used music to make people and taught us to try to do the same.

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By Barry Talley Director of Fine Arts Deer Park ISD

It is with great honor that I write to you on behalf of Hugh Sanders. I first met Dr. Sanders when I was in junior high as my brother Randy attended West Texas State University. It was more or less predetermined that I would one day be attending WTSU following in both my brothers’ footsteps. I never regretted that taking place.

As a choral director, there is not a day that goes by that I do not realize that I had just used something that I learned from Dr. Sanders. My concept of choral tone, my attention to rhythmic accuracy (keeping that 8th note pulse), my attempts to always include everyone in the group and my careful approach to programming – all can be attributed to skills learned from Dr. Sanders.

While at WT, I was fortunate to sing at numerous conventions. Those performances are still vivid in my mind to this day. I have patterned my choral program at Deer Park to set similar goals. We have been fortunate to sing at several TMEA and ACDA conventions. Again, the influence of Hugh Sanders is present at every performance.

Dr. Sanders always savored the rehearsal. It was in rehearsal that magical moments often occurred – not the actual performance. I have told my choirs many times that what we do in rehearsal is what they’ll recall years down the road. He believed that was true. We learned to listen to each other while we sang. I can remember a couple of his comments regarding that very thing. “Don’t sing past your ears!”

That is such a simple concept but so important. The other comment he made to me once as we were listening to a choir rehearsing before a national convention. He leaned over as they were “hollering” through one of their songs and whispered, “It sounds as if the conductor has never listened to them in rehearsal.” Those two statements sum up his simple but successful approach to choral tone – blend, balance, section sound, tuning, control of tone – all vital to the sound he wanted from our choirs and certainly a part of any recipe for choral success today.

Dr. Sanders personified the word gentleman. He was not an ego-centered man.

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I do not believe anyone who ever met him felt insignificant around him. He made you feel important. Once he met you he was always able to find something to inquire about you personally. He was a great recruiter at the university level and it seemed as if everyone he met he was still recruiting – even after he finished conducting. He recruited good people to be his friends and colleagues.

I am proud to say he was my college conductor and mentor. I view him as a model example to live up to. He was such an important person in the life of choral music in Texas and in the US. His legacy will live for many years through the students he taught and the students of those students.

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By Rebecca Dawson, M.M., Choral Conducting, WTSU I first met Hugh Sanders in the home of Euell Porter in Waco in 1979. I was serving as secretary to the A Cappella Choir and had stopped by the choir room, along with my parents, to pay a visit to Dr. Porter one Friday afternoon. Dr. Porter appeared very ill and described symptoms related to a gall bladder attack. My father, a physician, offered to treat Dr. Porter’s nausea and pain as he always traveled with his “black bag”. Whatever Daddy gave Dr. Porter made it impossible for Dr. Porter to drive himself home, so we took him. Once there, we met Dr. Sanders who was waiting to take Dr. Porter to dinner.

My next visit with Dr. Sanders would be at my audition for the graduate program at West Texas State in the spring of 1982. Dr. Porter had learned of my plans to attend another state university and firmly recommended that I give WTSU and Dr. Sanders my consideration before making a final decision. Upon his recommendation, I flew to Amarillo, stayed with Charlie and Cindy Fuller, and auditioned for Dr. Sanders.

Within six weeks of graduation from Baylor, I changed my plans for graduate school and made arrangements to attend WTSU and work with Dr. Sanders.

This decision was affirmed beyond my wildest expectations. Dr. Sanders had secured an endowed lecture series in choral conducting from Amarillo’s Harrington family. During the two years I attended WTSU, key scholars led choral conducting master classes with the graduate students and conducted major works prepared by Dr. Sanders. We were so blessed to have worked with Donald Neuen, Paul Salomunovich, Charles Hirt, Weston Noble, David Thorsen, Charlene Archibeque, Howard Swann, and Lynn Whitten.

I was also so thrilled to be part of the WTSU Chorale that was selected to be the Honor Choir for the final concert at the 1983 ACDA Convention in Nashville. The proverbial icing on the cake was that Robert Shaw was the guest conductor. In rehearsals, Mr. Shaw sensed our initial nervousness and remarked that he would put down his baton if we’d relax and sing as Dr. Sanders had trained us. Needless to say, that concert went exceedingly well.

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As I prepared to graduate in the spring of 1984, the WTSU family learned of Dr. Sander’s opportunity to serve as Baylor’s Director of Choral Activities. While many were saddened by this prospect, I was delighted that Dr. Sanders would be returning to his choral “roots” to carry on the tradition established by his mentor Euell Porter.

Selfishly, I was glad that he would be working in Waco so I could visit with him more frequently upon my travels through central Texas. I especially enjoyed singing under his leadership on Sunday mornings as I paid return visits to my college home church of Seventh and James.

From 1984 to his passing, I enjoyed staying in touch with Dr. Sanders. I appreciated not only the standard of choral musicianship but also the sincere friendship maintained by Dr. Sanders and his lovely wife Rinky. Both of them nurtured students in whatever way was needed to help us be our best. Today, I consider each of them “family”.

I think of Dr. Sanders frequently – as I actively teach, listen, analyze and ponder the beauties of choral music. I hope to modestly honor his memory in my own teaching, conducting and music making

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Hugh Sanders REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS By the Dean at Ouachita Baptist University Division of Music, Bernice Young Jones School of Fine Arts

Excellence. Devotion. Commitment. Involvement. Faith. Integrity. These are all terms we use often when a special mentor passes from the scene. When we use them to describe Hugh Sanders they are used without the least hint of exaggeration. While his later years were marked by the onslaught of unfortunate illness come too soon, he still stood for these ideals e all share as choral conductors.

In 1980 I went to West Texas State to be Dr. Sander’ graduate assistant and then Associate Choral Director. He was always both mentor and friend and I never knew which I treasured more.

After my roles as husband and father, the highest and most undeserved privilege of my life has been to be mentored and befriended by both Euell Porter and Hugh Sanders. My wife, Cindy, and I first met singing in one of Dr. Porter’s choirs and we spent our first two years of married life in Canyon as I did graduate work at West Texas State. Our lives are forever entwined with the Sanders family because of those days of support, encouragement, and Christian example lived out before us as a young couple.

To say that Dr. Sanders was a great conductor is simply redundant. The honors, accolades, and awards came to him before and after each of us studied with him. The world already knows that he was a great conductor. But he was so much more. Hugh Sanders attracted students to choral music in Pampa, at West Texas State, and at Baylor with his unwavering commitment to excellence. But he captured our hearts and our loyalties forever with his person.

Some of the personal traits that Hugh Sanders cultivated which helped him to become involved with the singers in his chorus were: professional integrity, unassuming humility, personal commitment, gentle courage, boundless grace, genuine compassion, subtle but irrepressible humor, limitless persistence, and – may we call “feeling the eighth note” a personality trait?

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A special type of communication and involvement occurred in Hugh Sanders’ choirs. And the exciting communication was not just musically expressive and not just between conductor and singer or between singers and audience, but it occurred deeply between singers. The power of his influence even transcended student generations. Some of my most treasured friends and colleagues are people with whom I never sang a note, but with whom I share the influence of Dr. Sanders’ mentorship.

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Dear Hugh: Until I saw your name in the current issue of the ACDA Journal I had not realized that you were now at the head of the Southwest Division. Congratulations on this latest honor! I am sure that you are finding much to do – and I’m equally sure that you are doing it well.

I hope that all is going nicely with your schoolwork and with each member of the Sanders family. Perhaps our paths will cross one of these days; certainly, I will expect to see you in Dallas at the time of the ACDA convention.

Please remember me to your family and friends on the faculty at West Texas. Best wishes for a fine year.

Sincerely, Howard Swan

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REMEMBERING

By Royal R. Brantley Professor of Theatre West Texas A&M University Please allow me to offer this letter of support and testimony as TCDA works towards honoring the late Dr. Hugh Sanders.

First, Dr. Sanders was a strong recruiter. I’ll never forget the WT Chorale coming to Canyon High School to sing for us. After their concert, Dr. Sanders approached me and asked me to come to WT. Not even my dad, the late Royal L. Brantley, had attempted to recruit me. Dr. Sanders was the only WT faculty member to make this invitation. I was honored. As I recall the conversation, it is a strong reminder that young people want to be noticed and invited. Dr. Sanders knew this and he invited and encouraged many young people to attend WT. Second, though I was only a music major for a semester, I remained in the WT Chorale during all my student years at WT. This is a tribute to the quality of instruction and leadership that Dr. Sanders brought to the Chorale. Yes the fun and fellowship were remarkable but who can forget the sounds that were made and the lives that were touched with our performances. We practiced and practiced and Dr. Sanders required our focus and effort every second of the process.

Finally, towards the end of Dr. Sander’s tenure at WT he was appointed dean of the college. Despite this heavy administrative load, he continued to lead the Chorale.

And, amongst controversies and questions (the life of an administrator) he was still able to seek students out and talk to them one on one. In fact, towards the end of my senior year, Dr. Sanders took me to the “V” for a coke. Yes, we were discussing a university issue; however, his regard for my well-being and his consideration for my family were memorable and touching.

As time goes on, I’m more and more aware of Dr. Sander’s impact on my life. As educators, we must realize that this should be our mission. Yes, our students need knowledge and artistry; however, to survive in today’s world, they need character. Dr. Sanders offered all of this to his students and I consider myself lucky to have been a part of his academic and musical efforts.

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Hugh Sanders REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Gene Brooks Executive Director – American Choral Director’s Association

Hugh Sanders was a legend in the American choral-directing world. Many felt his positive influence as a musician, educator and friend and I consider myself very fortunate to be one who knew and worked with Hugh Sanders.

Many remember the long series of very successful choirs that Hugh developed at each school or university where he served. I remember most his friendship and guidance which he provided to the American Choral Directors Association and to me personally. Hugh Sanders served his profession in long series of leadership positions in the Texas organizations, as President of the ACDA Southwestern Division and as the President of American Choral Directors Association during the period 1985-1987.

Under his strong personal leadership, ACDA experienced a period of tremendous growth. Hugh was very instrumental in the growth of our international membership.

His leadership skills also contributed to the successful building of an addition to the ACDA headquarters. At every step in the progress of the organization, Hugh’s leadership could be recognized. Most important was the strong belief in the organization and the benefits it would provide to its members throughout the choral music community.

Hugh Sanders was a true leader in our art, not just by the positions and the great choirs that he developed, but by the positive attitude and spirit which he managed to pass on to so many in the world of choral music.

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Dear Dr. Sanders, I am deeply honored and very pleased for this opportunity to express to you my profound gratitude for all you have done for God’s Kingdom through the art, education, and ministry of choral music. Your influence on my life, my profession, and my faith is a lasting treasure. The years I was privileged to walk with you as a student were filled with life-long memories and eternal moments, such as the Music Educators National Convention concert in Anaheim, California, and my personal favorite, a church concert at Hyde Park when I was privileged to sing the “Sanctus” tenor solo. I will remember as well an A Cappella Alumni Concert at a homecoming when we sang Randall Thompson’s “Peaceable Kingdom”. The “Alleluias” still resound in my heart and soul.

Thank you, Dr. Sanders, for being the consummate Christian gentleman, while possessing the acclaimed musicianship, which caused you to stand tall and, likewise, become revered worldwide. Your investment into the church, the Body of Christ, will always be dear to my heart. Like Euell Porter, you know the value in embracing the local church and seeking out young men and women to encourage and equip. I pray that your legacy will continue at our beloved Baylor School of Music as the necessity and unswerving efforts to reach Godly, committed young musicians must always be a pursuit.

I do thank God in all my remembrances of you and Rinky. May God in His divine and merciful nature grant to you and return to you in full measure that which you gave so unselfishly to your students, your churches, and schools of music.

With sincerest gratitude and admiration, Stephen T. Carrell Minister of Music, First Baptist Church in San Antonio

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Dear Dr. Sanders, It was good to see you and Rinky at TCDA. It seems like there is never enough time to sit down and catch up on all the news at convention. I did get to talk with Rinky for a while, so I am caught up on the grandkids! I told her that I would send you a CD of the Talley’s convention performances of last year. I hope you enjoy it. Mar Records was awfully nice to put all three choirs together for us.

As I get older (I turned 40 this past year!), I find that I spend more time thinking back over the good times I’ve had. So many of those great memories involve the WTSU Chorale and my choir director for six years, Dr. Hugh Sanders. I am so grateful to God that my brothers and I came to WT. What you taught us about directing a choir has been the foundation for everything we do in the classroom. Any success that we have achieved had its beginnings in what we learned singing in your choir. I am forever in your debt for the education I received just by being a part of the Chorale.

I guess the highlights of my college experience would include the TMEA and ACDA performances, the England trip in ’76, the Diemer recording, and the retreat to the Baptist campground my first year in Chorale (there were two freshman girls that made the retreat interesting!). I looked forward to choir every day. I missed it terribly when I left WT. In my own teaching, I try to recreate for my students the same positive experience I had singing for you.

Personally, you filled a void in my life at a time when my own father was not involved. You and Rinky will always be very special to me. Thank you for all you did for me.

With deepest respect, Billy Talley Choir Director, Tascosa High School

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REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Karen (Skinner) Smith As a pastor’s wife who is involved in different areas of church music, I am one of many who feel music more deeply because of Dr. Hugh Sanders. Whether with a children’s choir, or with a contemporary worship song or choral piece, his influence is felt in the way that music is communicated – with deep purpose, integrity, and excellence.

Dr. Sanders influenced the level of my musicianship profoundly, but more than that, his influence challenges me as a person to continue to reach for excellence in every area of life.

I look forward to one day singing beside him in heaven’s chorus, perhaps even under his direction again!

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Hugh Sanders REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Eileene Moss Director of Choirs at Crockett Middle School Director of Panhandle Singing Women

Without the friendship, encouragement and musical direction of Dr. Hugh Sanders, I probably would never have pursued a career in music. I first met him when I was an eighth grade student at Robert E. Lee Junior High School in Pampa, Texas.

He and his wife Rinky and their son Stan moved into the house across the street from us. Their daughter Stacie was born the next year. Over the next four years I served as his accompanist for the Pampa High School A Cappella Choir and church youth choir. The impression that most stands out in my mind was that he taught us to love music through the pursuit of excellence in performance. He took us to SWACDA my junior year and then to MENC my senior year, two phenomenal accomplishments even by today’s standards.

One funny incident, which I shall never forget, was when we were rehearsing “Bill Bailey” for Spring Festival. I had missed the introduction two or three times, probably because I hadn’t practiced it. He made me play it fifteen times in front of the whole choir. Humiliating? Not at all! We respected him so much we would have gone through fire for him because we knew he loved us and demanded the best we could produce.

Mostly because of his and Rinky’s encouragement, I entered WTSU as a music major in the fall after my graduation. The next year he came to WT as assistant director of choirs. I was elated. He stayed one year and then took a sabbatical to do doctoral work in Colorado. He and Rinky came back to Canyon just in time to sing and play for my wedding.

When I returned to graduate school, Hugh encouraged me and mentored me to pursue my master’s degree in choral conducting, something I had always wanted to do but wasn’t sure I could as a piano major. He believed in me and taught me to believe that with God’s help I could do anything.

Now, some thirty years later, I’m still directing choirs and loving my teaching so

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much that I refused to retire when most of my colleagues have left teaching. My life would have been much different and not nearly as rewarding had it not been for the leadership and mentoring of my dear friend Hugh Sanders. Hugh and Rinky will always have a very special place in my heart.

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By Charles Nelson

How is influence measured? Who has the greatest influence and why? There are those who, because of a dominant physique, or resonant voice, or an overpowering presence, stand out in a crowd. There are conductors who, with a flashy baton technique or caustic tongue “whip” choirs and orchestras and bands into “shape”. I believe that influence is best measured by the result of that influence.

From the time he began his choir-directing career in West Texas, Hugh Sanders exhibited an insatiable desire to learn. He attended clinics, he quizzed more experienced teachers about vocal and choral techniques, he took every opportunity to learn.

His choirs improved as he grew. His work was recognized and he soon found himself head of choral activities at West Texas State University in Canyon. Not only was he recognized as an outstanding choir director, but he became an outstanding administrator (the two are not necessarily compatible). Following his tenure at WTSU he went to Baylor University in Waco, where he remained until his untimely death.

He served all his professional music organizations with the same fidelity he served his students. He was well known and well respected by his colleagues across the country. Beyond the state level he served as President of the American Choral Directors Association.

His love for choral music was infectious. It is well established that he was unusually successful in developing young men and women who went into the field of choral music and distinguished themselves with the excellence of their work.

It was not only his devotion to music that attracted and inspired his students, but his dedication to the highest principles and moral and ethical standards. We are grateful for all Hugh Sanders contributed to choral music in Texas.

Hugh Sanders

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By Kenneth Shore 6th Grade Choir Director – Dumas Junior High School Dr. Hugh Sanders is one of the greatest choral directors who ever lived. I was fortunate to study with him while attending West Texas State University. His work ethic was above reproach. Rehearsals were energized and well planned. He really took the time to get to know all of his students. I truly believe that his influence in my life led me to the classroom. I would highly recommend him for the “Heritage Project” in which the Texas Choral Directors Association would honor him for being an outstanding choral director of Texas’ past.

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REMEMBERING HUGH SANDERS

By Vicki McFarlin Gibbs, Associate Choral Director Plainview High School It is an honor to be able to add my name to those students who sang and studied with Dr. Hugh Sanders. I attended West Texas State University during the early years of Dr. Sanders’ tenure there. I was privileged to be a member of Dr. Sanders’ first West Texas State TMEA Honor Choir. What an experience! It is a memory I cherish and relive to this day. We didn’t just sing – we soared. It is a sound and an experience I listen for and strive for when I stand before a choir. That is part of the artistry that was Hugh Sanders. To sing for Dr. Sanders was to experience choral music at its best.

He taught us to accept no less than the best from ourselves and from any choir we would be responsible for in the future. And he gave us the tools to reach for that high goal.

I learned many lessons from Dr. Sanders just by his example. He was a life long learner. He never stopped striving to be better. That made a huge impression on this very young university student. And, because of having seen that trait in Dr. Sanders, I try to apply it to my own life personally and as a teacher. Dr. Sanders demanded much from his choirs, but he gave much. He cared about his students and helped many beginning choir directors in new careers. I count myself in that number. The term mentor truly applies to this man. He was teacher and friend.

Through the years I was privileged to be able to stay in contact with Dr. Sanders and even now I cherish the friendship of his wife Rinky. It is always a joyous occasion when some of his former students gather and reminisce. We laugh much and sometimes become quiet and reflective. And we count ourselves blessed to have known and studied with this quiet, unassuming giant among Texas Choral Directors.

Hugh Sanders

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REMEMBERING

By Gerald Langner, D.M.A. Associate Professor of Choral/Music Education University of Saskatchewan It is my honor to share my thoughts about Dr. Hugh D. Sanders because he had a profound effect on my life that reaches past the limit of his life and still impacts me presently.

Dr. Sanders was full of focus and energy. He was strong of character and was a leader who commanded respect by his presence and example without ever having to demand it. He was never willing to settle for less than the best effort and he was a master at drawing a high level of commitment and personal performance from within groups of singers – some of them soloists whom he had to teach to listen and blend; some of whom were average singers who under his direction could cooperate chorally to make a musical choral line that would move all who heard.

He was passionate about life and about his deep faith in God, and that flowed through him most noticeably in the way he conducted choirs. Dr. Sanders had a quick dry wit and a twinkle in his eye. He could have a choir laughing out loud and then draw them back to intense focus in a second.

Dr. Sanders had an approachable humility that drew students to him personally, too. He always made time for people and treated individuals with respect.

I was blessed with the opportunity to sing under his direction not only at the then named, West Texas State University, but also in his church choir and college ensemble at First Baptist Church of Canyon, TX. Dr. Sanders and Rinky complemented one another and made preparing for worship fun, serous, and soul moving, all packed in a Wednesday night rehearsal.

Some things that I’ve taken away from Hugh Sanders: • His sense of musicianship and basic honesty to the music.

• His way of energizing rehearsals and making them always seem exciting.

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• His sense of adventure: some of the pieces he “took on” are still very much daunting to me today.

• His way of making his singers feel “worthy” and giving them a sense of belonging to something much greater and more noble.

• His way of making us use our intelligence when rehearsing and singing.

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Dear Hugh: Congratulations, regarding your receipt of the Texas Choirmaster Award… what an honor! I read a copy of the speech given by Randy Talley and it helped fill my gap of information regarding your career path and many successes achieved since you directed me in choir (Pampa High School – Class of ’61). I have enclosed copies of pictures (’61) that you possibly will recall of my twin brother (Jack), my wife-to-be (Sue Barnett) and myself. Sue and I have been married now for 34 years and have 3 children and 8 grandchildren.

I consider your leadership and coaching to be a significant influence in my life as I left Pampa High School to prepare for my life’s work. I completed a BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech in 1965 and joined TU Electric upon graduation. I have had a very rewarding career in the electric power generation and lignite mining business… 32 years… all with TU Electric.

Sue and I have lived in Colorado City, Monahans, Fort Worth, Fairfield, Henderson, and now in Duncanville where I office in downtown Dallas. I have been an officer of our company for the last 10 years and currently am Sr. Vice President of Fossil Generation (responsible for our gas and lignite-fueled power plants). Now you know who is at the other end of your electric service wire coming to your home in Waco! Thanks, for your electric service business over the years.

Twin brother, Jack, also earned a BSME degree at Texas Tech and has a great career as a corporate officer of SYSCO, a nationwide food system distributor headquartered in Houston.

I realize you have taught thousands of students since our paths crossed many years ago and it’s likely you won’t recall me and that’s not important now. What is important is that I take an opportunity to say “THANK YOU!” for the exemplary leadership you gave that made a difference in my life over the last 37 years. The “core values” that were a part of your choir lesson plans at Pampa High have obviously served you and those you taught very well over the years. Our company’s stated core values now are as follows: EXCELLENCE / INTENSITY / ETHICAL CONDUCT / INNOVATION /

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RESPECT‌ these have most certainly been on your list all along!

Hugh, thanks again for all you have done to spur your choir students on to achieving their maximum potential in life!

Sincerely, John H. Carlson

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Dear President Reynolds: I have just returned from San Antonio where I attended the Annual Convention of the Texas Music Educators Association.

I had the pleasure of attending the concert presented by the Baylor A Cappella Choir, conducted by Dr. Hugh Sanders, and joined the hundreds of music teachers who applauded this outstanding concert.

In the past 500 years the choral art has been a significant part of the cultural development of the western world. I know you are pleased to have on your faculty Dr. Sanders who is doing so much to see that this tradition is not lost. His work in Texas schools has been so outstanding that his influence has grown beyond our borders and extends throughout the United States.

Congratulations upon your success in the continued quest for excellence.

Sincerely yours, Charles Nelson

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Dear Dr. Sanders: I cannot tell you and the choir what a thrill it was for me to be able to hear your performance at TMEA in San Antonio last week! It was particularly impressive knowing the kind of audience you had – choral directors are generally so critical because they are so well acquainted with the abilities of the students and with the music. There was absolute silence during your performance – it was as if people were afraid to breathe for fear of missing one single note!

The wonderful blend, the distinct enunciation, the variety of dynamic levels, excellent soloists and a most interesting program selection combined to produce a time that was absolutely magic! Having the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the students later as they sang for Trinity Baptist Church was just icing on an already wonderful cake!

Thank you for using the great gift that God has given you to inspire and educate and encourage our future musicians. That is what Baylor is all about!

Sincerely, Babs Morrison The Independent Traveler

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Dear Hugh: Please convey my congratulations to the Baylor Choir for their excellent performance at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention. Your programming was superb as always. The choir sang in a most engaging and expressive manner.

If you plan to come to Lubbock in the future, please let us know. We would be pleased to have the choir sing during the 12:30 – 1:30 time for the Texas Tech University Choir.

Best wishes to you and your continued success at Baylor University.

Cordially, Donald Bailey, Director of Choral Activities

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Dr. Sanders: I just wanted to write to tell you again how very much I enjoyed your performance at TMEA. Your example of excellence through the past years has given myself and other directors a goal to work toward. Your concert came during a time in the school year that is conducive to burnout and depression and I know you understand these feelings. The genuine communication of music that Baylor achieved was just the lift I needed and I know I speak for many others. If at any time your choir will be in our area or anywhere near us please let me know so that if at all possible my choir and I and other school choirs could have the joy of hearing your group. I feel junior high and high school choirs could benefit so much if they were able to hear other choirs more. This seems less and less possible as time and reforms go by. I do not know in exactly what way TCDA members are needed to work at ACDA but I do know there was a request made at TMEA about this. If I could help in any way at the convention in March I would count it an honor to be able to do so. I know this letter arrives at a very busy time for you but I needed to say thanks for all you’ve given to music and music education especially in Texas. You will always have a standing invitation at Lincoln Jr. High, San Angelo, Texas.

Respectfully, Candis Rodgers Lincoln Jr. High Choral Director

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Dear Baylor Choir: Just a note to tell you how much we enjoyed your music during church at Trinity last Sunday. You were magnificent and added so much to our worship service.

Every time we get around young people (and Brett & Mike stayed with us) we are encouraged about the future. If you are the hope of our tomorrow, the United States will be in good hands!

Continue to share your music and go out and be leaders in your world. God bless you all – and come back!

Sincerely, Harry & Edith Garwood

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Dear Dr. Sanders and Choir, I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated your concert last Friday at our TMEA convention. Your choice of literature and execution of style and musicality was tastefully performed. I especially enjoyed hearing and seeing “Come Soothing Death�, as my A Cappella Choir performed that work, with your help, last year.

I was glad to see two former students, Jeanie McCray and Scott Montgomery, in the choir. It is good to see this type of people continuing quality choral music.

Thank you again for such a superior quality performance. Good luck as you continue this year.

Sincerely, Stan McGill Garland ISD

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Dear Hugh: Congratulations to you and your students for a very beautiful performance at TMEA this past week. I must admit to you that knowing so many of your choir members as I do I had an added measure of interest and pride in them as they sang. Please convey my thanks to them for a job well done.

I have to feel some degree of pride and pleasure that our Baptist Universities and the commitment to musical excellence were so fully represented in this past convention. I am pleased that Joe Irwin gave us all the opportunity to appear before the Vocal Division of TMEA. I would like to see a time in the future when we could pool the musical resources of all our Baptist schools. I discussed this briefly with Bob Blocker and would love to share some thoughts about it with you at a future time.

I will look forward to seeing you at ACDA in a few short weeks. Congratulations once again for a beautiful performance.

Sincerely, Lloyd F. Hawthorne Hardin-Simmons University

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Dear Hugh, Just a short, informed note to thank you and your ensemble for your great contribution to our convention. Attached, you will find a copy of a letter from Sir Daniel. He was most impressed by your work! Of course, it was no great surprise for us Texans – who have appreciated your artistry for so many years. Thanks again for your fine efforts.

Sincerely, Joe Irwin Vocal Chairman, TMEA

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Dear Hugh: I want to thank you for bringing the A Cappella Choir to Hyde Park Baptist Church. I had the joy of hearing nearly all of your concert Wednesday evening.

Unfortunately, I had to leave at the very end to meet a city council member downtown in his office.

I am so proud of Baylor and the great work you and many others do. God bless you in your ministry and service. If ever we can help you, please let us know.

Sincerely yours and His, Ralph Smith Pastor – Hyde Park Baptist Church

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Dr. Sanders, It was so nice to see you while I was in Waco taking my technology courses. I also enjoyed singing with the choir. I wish I could have spent more time with you and Rinky. You are two of my most favorite people. You had such an impact on my life and the direction I took after high school. I will never forget the day you asked me what I was going to do after high school. When I said I did not know, you responded with, “Why don’t you teach?” I remember laughing because I had never seen myself teaching. Then you told me that I had more knowledge now than when you entered Baylor as a music major. Because you took five minutes to talk to me I chose teaching.

You will always have a special place in my mind and my heart. You have been such a huge influence on so many lives! There is no way to calculate the number of people who have been directly and indirectly touched by your word or work. I just want to thank you and let you know how much I appreciate what you did for me in high school as well as after college. I shall never forget yours and Rinky’s impact on my life.

Well, I have to go for now. I guess I’ll see you in San Antonio next week. I hope you and Rinky are there. I always look forward to see the both of you.

Love, Jerry Baxter

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Dear Dr. Sanders: Greetings! I hope your recent trip to Korea was successful, as I’m sure it was. I know that success must have helped this semester get off to a better start than ever.

My work has been successful so far. My students are great, and they continue to improve (my mother warns me that pride goeth before a fall).

Something I have come to realize is that often as students, we thrive upon the praise and compliments we hope to receive from our teachers. Sometimes it seems our only purpose for survival is to receive that pat on the back, that smile of confidence, or a “job well done.”

As a teacher, I realize now how much time I spend giving praise to my students, and how little praise I get in return – except for the fact that they continue to improve.

This made me realizes how much I coveted your compliments (which I received), and how little I acknowledged what you gave me. Now is the time.

I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you did for me. First, you gave me responsibilities. You trusted me. That meant more to me than any other single contribution anyone has ever made. It was through this trust that I learned to respect you and learn from you.

You offered me and the other Baylor students such incredible advice on choral music, and set good examples on how to deal with students and other musicians. I hope some of these qualities have been engrained into my mind so that I will deal with my students and colleagues in a positive manner.

I would be remiss if I did not say my two years at Baylor were by far the best two years of my life.

Besides the vast knowledge I gained from you about choral music, I also gained the experience and confidence necessary to become a successful choral director.

You also gave me the opportunity to be on stage a great deal as your accompanist.

You gave me the opportunity to be the accompanist for Baptist All-State, and at Glorieta, and Europe, and… the list seems endless. What I am trying to say is, I owe this all to you and your willingness to share your musical world with me, and for that, I thank you.

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Before I close, I simply want you to know I truly appreciate you and the guidance you gave me. You have been instrumental in my success as a musician.

Gratefully your student, colleague and friend, David L. Means Choral Director Carroll High School P.S. Give my regards to Broadway (I mean Rinky).

Hugh Sanders

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Dear Hugh and Rinky: Joy and I very much regretted that we were unable to join you for your Retirement Reception last Friday afternoon at the Armstrong Browning Library. Unfortunately, we had “fourteen things” already scheduled that took us on through the Bonfire/Pep Rally at 10:00 pm that evening.

I hope that the two of you know how much we have admired and appreciated you during your tenure at Baylor. Hugh, you have made a decided difference in our Choral program, and more particularly, our Church Music program. And, the two of you have always been willing to participate and to assist in any way to further Baylor’s purposes and goals – with your perennial leadership during our Christmas Dinner, always a particular highlight for us and for everyone present.

Thank you for your friendship, for your dedicated services, for your love for others (particularly Euell Porter) and for those things that matter most to followers of Christ.

Most cordially yours, Herbert H. Reynolds Chancellor Baylor University

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Dear Hugh: A few days ago I viewed the video of the wonderful Canyon celebration of your ministry there. Some people long to have buildings named for them or statues as stone shrines but the most important legacy a person can leave is a human one. Jesus never gave his energy to institutions or buildings. He touched the lives of people who carried on his work. You have followed well the example of the Lord you serve so well.

One of those who directed the choir at the West Texas State celebration commented that as a director you were known for the “blend, balance and tuning” you achieved with your choirs. It struck me that that is an apt description of your life; the blend of all of life into a sacred fabric, balance between work, family and ministry and living in tune with the Spirit of God. I am confident that the experience at West Texas could be repeated everywhere you have served. Every testimony, public and private, that I hear about Hugh Sanders stresses extraordinary musicianship but even more, Christian compassion. Hardly a week goes by that someone at church does not ask about you or speak warmly of your ministry here.

Most of us never think about you without thinking about Rinky; it is as if in the best Christian sense the two are one – Hugh and Rinky. She has the marvelous gift of compassionate empathy. She is not only a master cook but is also a master counselor who brings one into the presence of God with her comfort. She has touched many in her own right.

I count it one of the high privileges of my own career that I served with Hugh and Rinky. I often worried about the quality of a sermon on a given Sunday but I never worried about the music under your direction. I am fully aware of the fact that many of those who came to Seventh came because of your musical offering to the glory of God. I love your music, I love your ministry and I love you.

I continue to remember you in my prayers. May your experience each day be tender mercies of God. Sincerely, Raymond Bailey - Seventh & James Baptist Church

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Dear Rinky and Hugh, Receiving your picture of our time together in May at WT was such a treat! I don’t have words to express how special this picture will be. It prompted me to finally write this letter that I have been intending to write since that may weekend.

Words are inadequate for describing what you mean to me. I’ll never forget the both of you inviting the Odessa boys to go home with you after church that first Sunday evening we were in Canyon in the fall of 1972. You established in our minds very quickly what was most important to your family as we sang the Doxology while standing around the table and holding hands. Your feeding us and teaching us to play racquetball made those first days away from home so much easier. Rinky, through the years you always made it so fun to be wherever you were. It was such a joy in later years to get to share church life with your parents. They, too, were always so encouraging and good to me.

Dr. Sanders, there is no man for whom I have more respect, especially as a Christian and as a musician, than I have for you. The choral experiences we shared forever spoiled me. Anything short of excellence is unsatisfying. You took us chorally to a level higher than most people even know is possible. The musical memories will never be replaced or forgotten. I often wish it were possible to recreate those days and again experience those magical musical moments. You have left behind an incredible choral heritage. That heritage is seen in the number of men and women now standing in front of their own school and church choirs, trying to motivate those choirs to emulate the excellence to which we all became accustomed. Many of the choir directors in Texas who are the most highly regarded name you as the greatest choral influence in their lives.

I think, however, that you have established an even greater spiritual heritage. You lived your faith before us consistently and unashamedly. You were a quiet but steady influence on all who sang in your choirs. I couldn’t help but notice during that weekend in May how many of those present were now pastors or ministers of music or were married to someone in the ministry. It seemed like everyone mentioned at least being involved in his or her local church. This, too, is part of your legacy. You have made a profound impact eternally!

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As the two of you come to mind in the days ahead, I will pray for you, using Philippians 1:3-4 as a starting place. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy…”

I love both of you dearly!

Kim Broadstreet First Baptist Church Ponder, Texas

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Western Union Telegram Congratulations on being selected President of Texas Music Educators. I am proud of you and know things will go well for you. Send one copy of the double choir number you spoke of by Bruckner.

Euell Porter

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Dear Dr. Sanders and Rinky: Wasn’t last Friday’s recognition of you by TCDA a special event as well as a very special time for many reunions? I was so grateful to have been there. I had an experience that prompted a focused reflection over many of my thoughts of our years knowing you, and I wanted to share some of those thoughts by way of expressing my personal appreciation for both of you and the impact you have had not only on my life and musical career, but also on Jay and, consequently, on Neil.

LaDawn West Weeks said to me, “Where do you fit in all of this; WT or Baylor?”

My answer, after a couple of seconds of thought, was, “Both and neither.” My relationship with you spans both places, true, but I was never an official student of yours either in the classroom or in a university choir. Regardless of that fact, you have been my teacher. Every time I have watched you rehearse a choir or sung for you in other settings I learned something that made me a better choral musician and conductor. I have watched you with people, both in collective (choir) settings and individually and I have learned about communicating well, both on a musical and a personal level. You have indeed been my teacher, and I thank you for so many valuable lessons well taught.

I have observed and worked with many of your graduates who are in choral music careers, and I see your image before choirs. You have had such an impact on the world of choral music, not just through your great career but also through your students being such an extension of you in so many ways. Wow! That is only one of the many reasons why the TCDA tribute to you was so well deserved.

I wish I could make a list of the many memories that come to mind. The list began when Jay first came to your camp at WT as a 7th grader, and that was a long time ago.

I was really just beginning my work in choral music. The road from there to here is long and has many markers. Up to that point in time, “Hugh Sanders” was just a name that passed Dr. Porter’s lips rather frequently in my choral conducting class! Thank you for your interest in Jay and for the impact you had on him and his music. He carries you in his heart to this day. As a parent it is gratifying to see a teacher take the interest in your child that YOU feel he deserves, biased though that perspective may be. You looked past Jay’s quiet demeanor, drew him out, encouraged and mentored – and cared. Thank you. `And then there are the times with Vicki: Working with her I saw daily your conduct-

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ing mannerisms. We have shared lots of fun times when Vicki and I have been in the same place as the two of you. It’s been fun, huh?

Somehow the crossed paths over the years have phased us into a relationship of our own, and I’m glad for that. You have given me so many opportunities in working choir camps both at WT and Baylor, where, hopefully I have been able to do a good job for you, but where I have learned and grown and expanded my musical horizons and experiences. It was exciting to me to be invited, along with Kyle, to be on program for the Church Music Institute. Serving on the strategic planning committee for the Institute placed me as a peer in the company of so many “giants” in choral and church music that I was truly overwhelmed every time I looked at the faces around the table. My feelings are best described as awe, wonder, excitement, and a tremendous sense of inadequacy. I am deeply grateful for the experience. See, you are still teaching me!

I am saddened by the health problems you are experiencing, but I am buoyed by the depth of your faith. God has used you in so many ways to touch countless lives for Him, and your contributions to the Kingdom cannot be measured. I acknowledge, also, that in your quiet and humble way you would never, ever consider that as a hallmark of your life. Nevertheless it is in a scope that is far broader than music. I am so glad I know both of you and that we are truly friends. That is a great blessing to my life for which I am eternally grateful. That has happened in spite of the fact that I am not “one of your kids” from either university (ha!).

I must not overlook the joy of knowing your family. I finally met Stan face-toface at the reception. He is a delightful gentleman, and they are a sweet couple.

Knowing Stacie has always been a delight, and I understand with the heart of a “grand” how Holly and Hunter light up your lives, not forgetting to mention that Cary fits right into your precious family.

May God continue to light your path every day and give you the special grace of His presence and strength in all situations.

I love you both.

Carol Pack Minister of Music – First Baptist Church, Spearman

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Dear Hugh: I’m so sorry that this letter will not arrive in time to be bound into your commemorative letter book. I have been out of town for most of the last two months and have just now found Donald Bailey’s letter on my desk.

However, how could I let you “celebrate” your rich career without putting in my two cents worth? My first memory of you was, of course, in the infamous “Four Flushers.” I never knew you or even which one was you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show as a freshman at Baylor. When I heard that you had been chosen for the choral position at Baylor, I asked, “Who is that?” and the answer was, “Remember, he was one of the Four Flushers.” Well, that was good enough for me.

How was I to know then the pure joy you brought to music and the graceful and fluid movements that communicated every nuance of the music to the choir. I enjoyed the results each time your Baylor choirs performed, but I enjoyed most the work of becoming the choir at Seventh and James. Your Christian testimony was clearly pronounced in your interpretation of the music. You turned “sangers” into choirs and never made us feel that we were anything but glorious. We sang our hearts out for you and the glory of God – I’m not sure which came first!

Of course we can’t even mention your career without mentioning Rinky as well.

You are a partnership in every sense of the word. Your friendship is one of the richest blessings Gwin and I have enjoyed. Our prayer is that you will have the health to reap the well deserved freedom retirement brings. Your work and influence continue through all the lives you’ve touched. I’m glad mine was one of them.

With much love and best wishes, Brenda Morris

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Dear Hugh: It is impossible to write a letter that properly gives the due honor for all of the accomplishments of your illustrious career. My first memory of meeting you was when you were the choral director at Pampa High School. Three years in a row you brought your fine choir to the High School Choral Festival at ENMU. I remember your choir being one of the finest choral ensembles I had ever heard. Even your repertoire stands out: Four Choruses from Catulli Carmina (Orff), Mary Wore Three Links of Chair (Clokey), Choose Something Like A Star (Thompson). Your choirs were hallmarks of excellence. Later, your choirs at West Texas State University were certainly nationally recognized at TMEA and ACDA for their model performance. Your work at Baylor continued to bring honor and prestige to your alma mater.

You have long been a role model and inspiration for my work in choral music.

The standards of excellence in performance and repertoire have been a guiding light for many choral directors across the nation. I want to thank you for the outstanding example of your life, your commitment to choral music, the church, and to Baylor University. We shall forever be in your debt.

I pray that you will have God’s richest blessings as you enter a new phase of your life. We shall all miss your work at Baylor.

With deepest admiration, Donald Bailey Acting Dean, Baylor University

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Dear Hugh, Congratulations on all of the successes you have had leading to your retirement at Baylor.

Your career has run a wide gamut – from high school choral director to an overseas sabbatical to interview Europe’s most successful choral composers, from being Dean of a School of Music to Director of Choral Activities at Baylor, then next the Director of the Church Music Institute. All of this plus holding an endowed professorship – wow!

And now as you retire from teaching, my hope is that your wide host of friends will keep you busy with your new music-publishing endeavor. That your health will improve so that you can enjoy these friendships is my prayer.

Sincerely, Herbert Colvin

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Dear Hugh, Congratulations on the completion of your teaching career at Baylor. I still remember when we came to Baylor in 1984; I believe that we, along with the others who came that year (Theresa Ford, Steve Heyde, Mike Jacobson, and Scott Herrington), went with our spouses to Robert Blocker’s house for a welcoming dessert early in the fall. Dori, who had done some choral conducting work, got into a conversation with you, and was very pleased and impressed with your thoughtful comments, observations, and interest in her.

That was the first of many encounters that I had with you, and it was typical – you have been unfailingly courteous and generous with your thoughts and time. You’ve always seemed to me to be a true southern gentleman, and it has always been a delight for me to spend time with you.

Thank you for your collegiality, and please accept my very best wishes for the future.

Sincerely, Jim Bennighof

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Dear Dr. Sanders: I would like to offer my congratulations and best wishes on your retirement. Your warm smile and soft voice always brightened the hallways as well as my day each and every time we spoke. I’ve always admired and respected your gentle way of getting the job done. Whenever I hear the choirs sing, I will remember your part in building the vocal program at Baylor.

You are a wonderful person and a good man on both a professional level and a personal level. I wish you warm and beautiful days ahead, with lots of quality time spent surrounded by the love of your wonderful family!

With loving respect, Betty Bradford

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Dear Dr. Sanders: I have truly enjoyed working with you over these many years, and you have my utmost respect and admiration. Your wonderful, sterling qualities are equaled by your professional strengths and career.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit with you and keep up with how your children and grandchildren are doing. I also enjoyed hearing about the family gatherings and all the delicious food. I still remember lunch at your home and the wonderful rolls.

Best wishes to you as you enter this new phase. You will be missed so much, but we will look forward to your friendly visits from time to time.

Fondly, Sarah Brewton

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Dear Hugh, I am pleased to write on behalf of the Ensemble Division on this, the occasion of your retirement. It is an occasion for mixed emotions as we joyfully wish you the best in your future endeavors and reflect back with admiration on your accomplishments and anticipate the void that your absence will leave.

For sixteen years, as the Ben H. Williams Professor of Music, you brought a national reputation and the highest degree of excellence to the choral program at Baylor. Your dedication and selfless commitment to music have served to enrich our community and have been a source of inspiration for students and faculty alike. Now, largely due to your efforts, the program continues to grow and flourish.

As you look forward to this next stage of your life journey, we gratefully acknowledge all that you have meant to Baylor, to your students, and to your colleagues. We are deeply honored that you have shared your life with us and we wish you happiness in your retirement.

With deepest regards, J. Christopher Buddo

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Dear Hugh, It seems like September of 1955, when we arrived at Baylor, was just yesterday.

Those years at Baylor were very special. I congratulate you on your 16 years of service to Baylor and on your retirement. Enjoy!

Hugh, you have been a good steward to the talents God has given you. You have held the standard high for your fellow classmates and your students. We are better because you have shared your pilgrimage with us.

Thank you for your care of and attention to Dr. Porter through the years. Your care of his needs is a worthy example of humility and love.

Thank you for your contribution to church music. You are an honor to our God-called profession. And most of all, thank you for your friendship.

Most sincerely, Kenneth Coates

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Dear Dr. Sanders, My choral experience began with Pop Hopkins, Miss Barkema, and Dr. Sternberg (Mozart: “Marriage of Figaro”). It continued with Dr. Porter, who took me to Westminster Choir College and Dr. Williamson. Then at Columbia University was Harry Robert Wilson. My many years with Robert Shaw in the ASO Chorus and Ensemble was the equivalent of my “doctorate”.

As a life-long choral music fan, congratulations on a brilliant career – both at Baylor and before. You have set a high standard of excellence for us all.

All the best, Frank Boggs, Director The Georgia Festival Chorus

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Dear Hugh: Although at the time of retirement colleagues are reluctant to say goodbye, it is with a sense of appreciation and respect that I honor your contributions to Baylor University and particularly to the School of Music with a few words.

Your contribution to your profession has been long and fruitful. You have brought the joy of singing into the lives of thousands of people and you have been a caring mentor to countless students.

We in the School of Music are most grateful that you came to us when you did and that you chose to finish your distinguished career at Baylor. Many are the performances remembered that introduced new comparisons and old, new sounds and old and always with thoughtful preparation. One of your most memorable characteristics that was always a part of your professionalism was your humility. You have developed excellence in your choirs with a big heart and a love of the singers’ art.

The future holds promise as the past holds fond memories. Best wishes to you, Rinky and your family as you go forward with your plans. We will miss your smile and certainly your sense of humor that in times of joy and stress have meant so much to us.

Sincerely, Michael Ard

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Dear Hugh, It seems just yesterday that you returned to lead the choral program. I want to thank you for your fine support of the Vocal Division and your careful nurturing of our young singers. You have really made a difference in our music program.

The Church Music Institute has flourished under your leadership and Baylor 21 has fulfilled a need of our constituency. I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication.

You and Rinky mean a great deal to us and I hope that you sense our love for you.

Sincerely, Carolyn Baden

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Dear Hugh, Although my time at Baylor has been relatively short I wish to add my congratulations and best wishes to those of your host of other friends on your upcoming retirement.

You have served long and well as a faculty member in the School of Music and your presence will be missed.

I have enjoyed getting to know you and working with you here at Baylor. I appreciate your confidence in me as we chose students to sing at graduation and other special events.

Thank you for your good spirit and for your dedication to good teaching and good music making. Best wishes for a happy retirement.

Sincerely, Jack H. Colderon

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Dear Hugh – Several decades after our classes with “El” and your performance in Bartered Bride (remember, “Save our Souls!! The beat is loose!”) I’m writing to wish a pleasant retirement for you.

You’ve been in my thoughts with Milburn Price, Bob Wortman, Leland Fox, Joe Scancello and Mary Joliff since then. I even knew you were in Canyon for a time. I also remember your flute-playing wife, Rinky.

I’ve been involved in college teaching and administration most of the time and much time in travel. Miriam and I went separate ways in ’67. Our son Philip is with a law firm in mid-town Houston with a home near NASA and three young sons.

I’ve been fortunate to perform in many groups including the Austin, Denver, and Henri Mancini orchestra – even owned a solid gold flute for many years.

Best wishes for your retirement.

Don Griffis

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Dear Hugh, It is a pleasure to express my deep appreciation for your remarkable career in choral music. Your impact on many, many lives, and on music education in Texas is significant. I am proud you are part of the Baylor family. I wish you and your family the very best.

Sincerely, Leta Horan

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Dear Dr. Sanders, I have many wonderful memories of my years singing with Baylor A Cappella Choir. I can never enumerate or thank you for them all, but be assured that each of them helped to shape me into the musician that I am today. The tours and concerts were great experiences, but all paled in comparison to the intimacy of our rehearsals.

Mostly, I would like to thank you for the literature. It was the music and your commitment to its excellence that I will most remember. Below, I’ve highlighted some of my favorite moments singing with you at Baylor: 1. The Combined Men’s Chorus at TMEA – I never experienced a greater feeling of pride than I did following that performance.

2. The Chichester Psalms – That was and still is the most worshipful music experience of my life. I was so thankful that we toured this piece – it was a great privilege to sing it so many times. I also appreciated your patience with us as we learned the piece. It was difficult, and we complained endlessly at the beginning of the process. You knew that the piece was special and kindly encouraged us to stay with it! Thank you for pushing me and never accepting any less than my very best.

3. The Visions of Saint John – Still my favorite of all time!!!! My all time GREATEST musical experience. I can still hear David Means playing it on the piano. I never sang with greater passion or emotion. You wrote a note on my program that said, “I will always remember ‘Visions’ the way you sang it, Pat.” I still have this in a scrapbook and will keep it forever. I am still impressed that you took the time to write each of us a personal note, and even knew which was my favorite piece. Thank you.

4. The Paper Reeds By the Brook – Even several years after I graduated, you gave me the gift of one of the great musical experiences of my career with this piece – in rehearsal no less! I will never forget the rehearsal of the alumni choir for your retirement. After a brief warm-up, you started with this piece in its entirety – there were tears everywhere. No one spoke, and you said something simple and appropriate for

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us all. I did not get to sing The Peaceable Kingdom with the A Cappella Choir, but its performance at TMEA in 1987 was the inspiring factor that led me to transfer to Baylor the very next fall.

I am so very blessed to have been in your choir at Baylor. I wish you and Rinky all the best in your retirement. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Pat Antinone (’91)

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Dear Dr. Sanders, It is with great joy and happiness that I remember my years under your directorship in the Baylor A Cappella Choir. I was privileged to be a member of A Cappella from the years of 1985 to 1988 and count these years among my finest of choral experiences.

I still remember the day I first came to know you. As a transfer student, I was a little nervous about coming to Baylor and I didn’t know anyone in the music school.

You met me out in the hallway and were so very kind and welcoming. I auditioned and was placed in A Cappella. You had a gift for making me feel welcome to Baylor.

There are too many memories to list but a few highlights from my years in A Cappella are: “Sanctus” with Steven Carroll as soloist, “Trois Chanson,” Mozart’s “Vespers”, “Best of Rooms”, enjoyable rehearsals in Roxy Grove, Mass choir Christmas performances, and especially singing to “In This Very Room.”

I will never forget some of my travels with you as well. Disneyland, San Antonio, and of course the sensational tour of England and Wales. I will always remember our marvelous meeting with John Rutter. What a joy to sing, “For the Beauty of the Earth” in his presence sitting in the hotel hallway!

Thank you so very much for your wonderful Christian leadership. I will always be grateful for the knowledge I gained of choral music and will always hold you in the highest regard as a director, a teacher, and a friend.

With much appreciation, Allison Ercholz Lehr BME 1988

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Dear Hugh and Rinky: Bill and I would like to extend to both of you our best wishes on this momentous date of your retirement, Hugh, from the daily involvement in the affairs of Baylor University. I know that for creative people such as you, "retirement" only means that now you may have more time to devote to other endeavors and activities which are close to your hem1 (perhaps a little more time for grandchildren, etc.).

It has been a privilege to have been part of your lives both at school and at church.

Your caring, committed pursuit of excellence as musicians and the enormous affection you pour out on those around you are a inspiration to us all. Thank you for your music, your friendship, and the gift you have brought to us all.

Your contribution to Baylor University and the loyal and tireless years of excellent teaching has been greatly appreciated by us all.

Our very best wishes to you.

Fondly, Thelma Cooper

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Dear Hugh, As junior faculty members at Baylor, we have been very gratified to be a small part of the legacy you have created. Your reputation as a leading choral director has been inextricably linked with the pursuit of excellence in music at Baylor.

Wherever we go, to TMEA conferences or ACDA gatherings, your name is mentioned as one of the leaders in Texas choral music. In the Baptist community, we hear you named as a representative of the highest level of music offered in the church. Your founding and leadership of the Church Music Institute at Baylor proved your dedication to that purpose.

As a Minister of Music you have been a source of inspiration to countless numbers of people. Students and families have been called to take part in your work, and certainly the power of the Christian message has been conveyed through your stewardship. Thank you for all you have done in the name of our school, for excellence in choral music and in service to God. It has been a privilege to be counted among your colleagues.

Sincerely yours, Robin Fisher, Assistant Professor of Voice John Cozza, Director of Accompanying

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Dear Dr. Sanders, It is with great fondness that I write this letter for your retirement celebration. As best as I can remember, it has been 21 years since we met at Dr. Porter's house one afternoon as my dad and I brought him home because of a bout with his gall bladder.

Dr. Porter recovered from that flare-up, but he had another fit when he found out I had been accepted for graduate work at Sam Houston State; he pulled me into his office and said that I didn't need to go study with Bev Henson; I needed to go to WT to study with you. So, I hopped on a plane, flew to Canyon, bunked with Charlie and Cindy Fujer, and auditioned for you. Then, I had the privilege of working with you and all the Meadows professors (Paul Salomunovich, Don Neuen, Weston Noble, Charles Hirt, Howard Swan, et al), performing with Robert Shaw at the Nashville ACDA, and touring Austria and Hungary. What a great two years!

I was so proud when Baylor pursued you as tl1eir candidate for the choir program. It just felt right for you to step in to fill Dr. Porter's shoes at both the university and Seventh and James. I especially liked it because all my "choral family" now was linked to the school and church and loved so much.

We had another great trip to Europe when you invited me to travel with a pickup choir from Baylor the summer Stacy married. I also recall a wonderful workshop you did with my choirs while I was teaching at Lon Morris in Jacksonville. Being in Waco certainly facilitated travel to East Texas!

Years past while I taught in Illinois, Mississippi, Michigan and Ohio, so our next visit would have been when you and Rinky attended our wedding in 1992. We appreciated your presence there so much. Since being back in Texas these past four years, I've enjoyed our "catch-up" visits at TCDA and TMEA. You and Rinky are the first folks I always look for at registration.

I have a lump in my throat as I write this part. So much of who I am as a conductor, teacher, and musician is directly linked to you. I'm very proud to have been one of your many students. I try every day to teach with the integrity you showed us on a daily basis. Thank you for all the wonderful learning opportunities, for the numer-

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ous "magic moments", for the day-to-day nurturing, and for the long-term friendship. I hold you dearly in my heart. Best wishes for the future and I'll see you soon at TCDA! With great love and affection, Rebecca Reese Dawson

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Dear Hugh: In thinking about the past sixteen years, we must express our deep appreciation for all that you and Rinky have meant to this community, whether it be in Waco, at Baylor or at Seventh and James Baptist Church.

Your leadership and presence have contributed greatly to improving all the areas in which you have been involved. We thank you for that.

On a more personal level, we will never forget our wonderful trip to England and Wales with your choral group from Baylor when we got to know you and Rinky more closely.

And finally, you have our lasting respect for the manner in which you have faced adversity in these last several years. We know that you did all you could for as long as you could, and nobody can be asked to do more than that.

We love you.

Doris and David DeLoach

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Dear Hugh, Having just announced my own retirement from Baylor, I can sympathize with the emotions you are experiencing - some sadness at giving up a long association with your work at Baylor, but joy at the thought of being free to set you OWN schedule!

You have done an incredibly effective job. Baylor and Baptists all across the state have been enriched by the unselfish way you have shared your considerable talents in the work of our Lord.

I especially appreciate the occasions when you shared with my preaching students at Truett. You are leaving your mark on scores of people - including me. Thanks. I and all your colleagues and friends are looking forward to the ceremonies honoring you this month. God Bless.

Cordially, Russell H. Dilday

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Dear Hugh: It's been a long time since 1956 when I first entered Baylor as a freshman. Boy, was I a freshman - I was so excited to learn that I had been accepted into the A cappella choir with Dr. Porter. You were in the choir as an upperclassman along with Ralph and a few others. I looked up to you, especially, because Dr. Porter let you conduct the choir on many occasions. It was there that I decided to go into the music business.

Even though I was a lowly "slime" freshman, you and Ralph took pity on me and helped me through those tentative years and made me feel at home. The ultimate thrill was when you asked me to become a member of the THREE FLUSHERS. Singing with you guys was a thrill beyond expectation. Two of the funniest stories of that era were when we would entertain on choir tour and would sing "Tammy".

Remember when Broadman "Broadie" Ware would make 1ike he was so touched and moved by the song that he would fake a very audible sob session. It would make us so mad since Tammy was the only serious song that we had. Again, when Baylor ask the Flushers back to sing for homecoming and you and I were very dubious about coming and no one knowing us and thinking that we were silly old men. Ralph on the other hand was very excited and was very posi-tive that the audience would love us. Of course Ralph was right and we were a smash, especially with "Earth Angel".

Hugh, Baylor is a much better place having had you on the faculty for the past 16 years. I am so proud to be a graduate and to see the wonderful, positive changes that have been made there. Your commitment to excellence in everything that you have done in your life is certainly a credit to you and to Baylor.

I hope that you and Rinky have the happiest of retirements. Let’s get together on a more regular basis.

Love to you and to Rinky, Cody Garner Professor of Voice

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Dear Hugh, Thank you for the contributions you have made to the Baylor University School of Music and to the lives of the many students, colleagues, and friends who have been privileged to share in your work. I am grateful to be one of those people. I remember as a new faculty member at Baylor your warmth and friendliness to me, and how lucky I felt to be able to work with you and learn from you.

During the years that we worked together here and at Seventh and James, I developed a deep and abiding respect for you as a person, a musician, and a teacher. I will cherish those years of working together, and the influences that you have had on my professional life.

I wish for you the very best in the years ahead. I hope that you will take great pride in your accomplishments throughout a remarkable and outstanding career. Your work will live on in the lives of many very fortunate people. Best wishes always.

Sincerely, Georgia A. Green

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Dear Hugh, It is a pleasure to join the hosts of friends and colleagues in writing a greeting to be included in a book of commemorative letters. As a graduate of the Baylor University School of Music I have followed your tenure at Baylor with a great deal of interest and pride. Those of us who hold choral singing and church music dear to our hearts are indebted to you for your significant contribution to our profession.

I am confident that to make reference to your "retirement" would be a misnomer. It might be better said "God bless you in this new direction", for you will surely continue to enlighten our understanding of church music and the choral art through your activities by your vast knowledge, understanding, and experience.

Congratulations on your sixteen fruitful years at Baylor University.

With warm regards, Hal H. Hopson Composer (’54 Baylor graduate)

494

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh: It has been a pleasure serving with you for the past sixteen years. I remember clearly the reception for new faculty that Robert Blocker had at his home shortly after our first semester at Baylor began. You, Jim Bennighof, Steve Hyde, and myself along with all our wives - were there. I think it's remarkable that we have all made it through these many years in the same place. This fact speaks highly of Baylor and of the camaraderie amongst the faculty in the Music School. You will surely be missed.

Best Wishes to your and your family in your retirement.

Sincerely, Michael N. Jacobson

Hugh Sanders

495

Dear Dr. Sanders, This is to congratulate you on your plans to retire. This has to be an exciting time in your life, remember t his is the first day of the rest of your life so make the most of each day.

I have enjoyed knowing you the last four years; you are always so kind and polite.

It is a joy to talk with you in the hall. Please come by and visit me if you are on campus. I know you will enjoy having time to spend with your family. I wish you happiness today and always.

You have made such an impact on so many students’ lives; this should be a very rewarding feeling to know you have inspired so many students and colleagues.

I wish you and your family good fortune and good health in the future, and may God bless you all.

Sincerely, Karen Johnson

496

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh, What a pleasure it has been to serve on the Baylor University music faculty with you these past years. A double pleasure was the added bonus of your ministry through music at Seventh and James Baptist Church. Each Sunday we looked forward to the beautiful music ' which is such an essential part of worship there.

It has also been a great joy to know you and Rinky and to count you both as friends.

Your abiding care, friendship, and love for our neighbor Dr. Euell Porter meant so much to him and to all who knew him. This was only one manifestation of your thoughtfulness in so many areas.

Bob joins me in sending love and best wishes to you for many years of welldeserved retirement. He says that you're never as busy as when you retire. We both hope that you and Rinky will have the time to stop and smell the roses and the time to do together many things that you will enjoy. (We both recommend a relaxing cruise out of Houston or to Alaska.)

May God continue to watch over you in all you do.

Joyce Jones

Hugh Sanders

497

Dear Hugh, Congratulations on your retirement after an outstanding career as conductor and professor!

For over 45 years, I have admired and respected you. I have been privileged to be able to call you my friend. I have enjoyed the opportunities we have had to sing together and to visit. You and Rinky have been special friends.

Actually, beginning with days in Abilene as you began your student days at Hardin-Simmons, I have looked up to you. Of course, when the several of us “defected” to Baylor with Dr. Porter, I, as a freshman, was pleased to already know some of you upperclassmen.

Many memories flood my mine: learning that you were from Portales, New Mexico – the “city on the sea”; listening to and enjoying the “Four Flushers” (or “Three Flushers”) singing Earth Angel, and other songs, Chapel Choir and A Cappella Choir with tours and concerts; always knowing you with a special nickname that I had to force myself to quit using. The list could go on and on.

More recently, I am most pleased that our Arlington children – yours and ours – have become friends and now sing in choir together there.

Your career has many high points, and over the years I have come across many of your students who have great respect for you. Several of these are, or have been, in my church choirs.

Whatever lies ahead, you deserve the best. Thanks for your friendship; thanks for your faithfulness; thanks for your commitment to excellence in choral music.

May God bless you and Rinky!

Your friends, Suzie and Theiss L. Jones

498

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh, Gladys and I wish to congratulate you as you retire from office at Baylor University. We also wish you and Rinky a well-deserved time of 'togetherness' in your retirement years. Good health and enjoyment together, in contentment and spiritual nurture in living.

We remember you with much appreciation as the Minister of Music at Seventh & James Baptist church, where we are members. Week after week we were enriched by the excellence of your leadership in our community celebration of faith. The quality of the choir presentation always blended into the theme of worship; never merely stereotyped; ever an admixture of the classical with the pulse of the human heart; full of variation in creating community of faith, and celebration of hope and love. We will always be grateful to you for your enlivening presence in the pervasiveness of the choral contributions in the congregational enjoyment and expectancy of spirited worship. We miss you in your place of music leadership in our church.

Gladys and I also have appreciated your choral leadership among students and aspirant music teachers for the future. We will recall the impressive presentation at a music concert, when your students in movement and song gave a performed interpretation of a Zulu song, which was very impressive. As one who grew up among the Zuluspeaking people in South Africa, I was particularly impressed by your articulate insights into ethnic musicology. You seem to have the heart for the people of the world. Thank you sincerely.

"My dear friend, I hope everything is going happily with you and that you are as well physically as you are spiritually." III John verse 2 (Jerusalem Bible) Gratefully, Professor John N. Johnson World Religions Phenomenology of Religion

Hugh Sanders

499

Dear Hugh: Words cannot adequately express my feelings and my appreciation for you and your contributions to the quality of life at Baylor and the quality of worship at Seventh and James. Certainly I have learned from you, I have been challenged by you, and I have benefited from your expertise and the quality of your leadership.

You and Rinky are dear people to Carolyn and me, and she joins me in wishing for you the very best that life has to offer in these years of retirement.

Sincerely, Naymond H. Keathley

500

Hugh Sanders

Dear Dr. Sanders, When I received the letter about your retirement, I was reminded of so many great memories I had at Baylor because of your leadership with A cappella Choir. Not only did you strive for excellence, but you also put "heart" into your work; and you molded musical leaders for the future. As a result of being under your direction, I was exposed to great music I would have never considered using. Your influence on my musical career. is without question one of the greatest factors in shaping my success.

From John Ness Beck's Visions of St. John, to the Rutter Gloria, to the Brahms Requiem, to the Martin arrangement of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, to I could list many more. I am reminded of the vast repertoire of music we performed.

I will never forget the time A Cappella was on our 1988 tour of Arkansas / Tennessee.

We were singing When I Survey the Wondrous Cross at a Baptist church in Memphis.

Tears were streaming down my face because of the emotion that built up to the last stanza, "Demands my soul, my life, my all. A-men." As a Director of Music Ministries, I find music has little meaning unless we commit our lives with such conviction as that last stanza states. This is something I strive to do every day of my life as I lead people to desire a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Since I graduated Baylor, I have gone on to conduct award winning junior high choirs in Texas public schools and have directed music for several churches. I am currently in my last semester of course-work at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary where I am finishing a Master of Arts in Church Music. I am also the fulltime Director of Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church of Hayward in Castro Valley, California (Bay Area), So far, It has been a full adventure and I am grateful to you and to Baylor University for giving me the tools to give God the best musical offering I can give, Last year, my choir performed the Rutter Gloria for Christmas. I don't think I would have attempted this piece had you not introduced it to me. Thank you Dr. Sanders for changing my life and giving to so many. Many blessings on your retirement.

In Christian Love, John McDaniel

Hugh Sanders

501

Dear Dr. Sanders, Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. Knowing you, I'm certain you will stay immersed in music and missions. May God provide rest and fulfillment for you, despite your always-hectic life.

I was a church music major at Baylor from 1987-91. Although my principle instrument was flute, I was very involved with the choral department. Unfortunately, my flute playing was never good enough to make Wind-Ensemble. One day, I cried out in agony to God, "If I am truly to serve you through music, why can't I play the flute better?"

God, in his infinite wisdom, ignored that question, and instead led me to tryout for a choir. At the bottom of the registration form was a box marked, "Willing go to Korea." I had no idea what this meant, but I checked the box. Imagine my surprise when not only was I accepted to A Cappella, but I was chosen to go to Korea for an International Choral Festival, even over fifth-year senior vocal majors.

That trip was a major turning point in my life. On that trip, you and your wife took the time to mentor me. You encouraged me to continue singing and following God's call.

After Baylor, in great part because of your encouragement and support, I went on to Asbury Theological Seminary to pursue a MA in church music. While there, I married my husband, who is now working on his MDiv in church growth and development. Now, we are a ministry team.

Thank you for your willingness to encourage as well as to teach. You will never know the impact you have had on so many lives.

May God pour His richest blessings on you, Stephanie Batt McMahon, BM '91

502

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh: Congratulations on reaching this milestone in your career. May I take this opportunity to thank you for maintaining the standards for which we can all be proud, during your tenure at our beloved school.

I would also like to thank you for the personal influence that you have had on the lives of our children at various activities during their developmental years and to their musical experiences.

Best wishes for the future and wherever your future endeavors may take you.

Sincerely, Bill McWhorter Bachelor of Music, Class of 1959

Hugh Sanders

503

Dear Hugh: Elizabeth and I have the hope and the prayer that retirement is going to mean time for recovery of health and opportunity to do many of the things you and your lovely wife no doubt have dreamed and planned to do when retirement came. We certainly do want to keep in touch to know that these things are taking place in your lives.

You have "16 years of unselfish service given to Baylor" and before that so many other years given to West Texas State University along with churches and people all over the country. No doubt, there are musically gifted people who have appreciated your music more than those of us who are musically deprived, but none in either category has appreciated more completely your musical ability and spirit than have 1.

There are not many people on this campus who have known you and been privileged to work with you longer than I have. I remember many opportunities to work with you in church revivals as well as in civic organizations, and every memory brings joy and gratitude.

Hugh, you have blessed me and so many others not only by your musical skills and talent but also by being the kind of friend you have always been with a spirit of humility and service in every arena of life. Thank you for what you have meant to me personally, and thank you for your friendship to both Elizabeth and to me. May God continue to watch over you and bless you and your family in the days to come.

Gratefully, Winifred Moore

504

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh: We are elated that you have had such a distinguished and honorable career.

Frankly, the road from "Earth Angel� and the Three Flushers to The Ben H. Williams Professor of Music and Director of The Institute For Church Music and Worship at Baylor University is an incredible turn-around. We always knew you had the determination, but think about it . . ."Earth Angel" and Waco Hall to Mozart and Carnegie Hall! Please release me!!

Seriously, we love you and admire your work and wish we had had more opportunity to associate with you throughout these years.

The road in retirement is a lot of fun and our Silver Serenaders Senior Adult Choir of Texas will have you before long here in Dallas or Waco for our Annual Workshop. You can count on it.

Just remember, you can't turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again. So wind it up and get going. No doubt. . .the best is yet to be.

Cordially, Silver Serenaders of Texas James F. Palmer, Artistic Director Betty L. Palmer, Accompanist

Hugh Sanders

505

Dear Hugh: Congratulations on reaching the ultimate milestone - RETIREMENT. You have made a significant contribution to music in so many areas through the years and have touched the lives of so many students. The awards and credits you have received speak for themselves and stand as a tremendous testimony to your talent and commitment. I particularly appreciate the support and contribution you gave to the work of the Church Music Department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas when I was the Director.

Thanks for your friendship and thoughtfulness to me and I especially want to include Rinky in all of this. She has certainly been a "trouper" all the way. Be assured of my prayers for an enjoyable retirement experience and may the Lord be with you.

Sincerely, S. W. Prestidge

506

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh and Rinky: Well, we have done it again! Joy and I will be in Atlanta, Georgia 24 - 26 April at a Baptist meeting with folks from 14 states and will be unable to join you for the School of Music Annual Honors Convocation where you will be presented with a book of commemorative letters. Therefore, let me repeat what I wrote to you in November 1999 for inclusion in the bound letters from your friends and co-laborers.

I hope that the two of you know how much we have admired and appreciated you during your tenure at Baylor. Hugh, you have made a decided difference in our Choral program and, more particularly, our Church Music program. And, both of you have always been willing to participate in and to assist with any endeavor to further Baylor's purposes and goals. Finally, your perennial leadership during our Christmas Dinners has always been a particular highlight for us and for everyone present.

Thank you for your friendship, for your dedicated service, for your love for others (particularly Euell porter) and for those things which matter most to followers of Christ.

Cordially yours, Herbert H. Reynolds Chancellor

Hugh Sanders

507

Dear Dr. Sanders, Do you remember the trip we made to New York City Cammy's sophomore year at Baylor? What a joy for Rob and me to be watching our daughter perform on the Carnegie Hall stage while sitting in the same box where my mother had sat in 1967 watching me and my brother Bill sing with the first Baylor A Cappella Choir to sing there! Dr. Porter was our director and I cannot tell you how often he told us stories of your days with him! Our goal was to be as good a choir as yours was! Maybe we made it after that night at Carnegie Hall, but I doubt it!

We have many fond memories of that particular trip with your choir, but the most moving experience for me was the morning that you took rehearsal time with the mass choir and shared your Christian testimony and life story with that group of young people. That day I saw first-hand why God has been able to use you as His instrument to touch the lives of thousands of youth throughout the years! Your grateful and humble heart has been a testimony of God's grace and continues to testify of your close walk with Jesus Christ!

As a parent, I thank you for the marvelous opportunities you have given to Cammy to use her talents for the Lord. Her experiences with you and Baylor 21 and Baylor A Cappella Choir were invaluable to her as she prepared to teach and to finish her master's degree in Sacred Music. Your trust in her leadership and musicianship gave her the courage and inspiration to reach for high standards and Godly principles in her personal and professional life.

Personally, I shall ever be grateful for your asking me to serve on the Advisory Council for the Institute in Church Music and Worship at Baylor University! What a privilege for me to meet and get to know the finest worship leaders in our land! That experience has helped me in my work at First United Methodist Church in Gilmer, and has helped to open my ryes to the complexity of true ministry in music.

You have left an eternal mark of excellence and love at Baylor University. Thank you for yours and Rinky's friendship. Thank you for sharing your lives with p thousands of us who love you both.

In Christ's love, Lora Robison

508

Hugh Sanders

Dear Dr. Sanders, I want to thank you for all of your contributions to Baylor and to the community. You may not remember me - I am one of the hundreds of students you worked with over the years. In addition, I was not a music major, and tended to be quite reserved.

Nevertheless, you made quite an impression on me, and I wanted to share my appreciation.

Years ago (in the early 1980's) I was a part of Baylor's Concert Choir which was under your direction. What struck me most about you was your gentle spirit, and your ability to fashion the dynamics of a musical piece in such a way that singing (and hearing) the music was a powerful experience!

A few years later, I was a member of the choir at 7111 and James Baptist Church under your leadership. It was a privilege to work again with such a humble, talented man of faith. Although I no longer attend that church, I think of you often when I hear a choir not pay adequate attention to the dynamics of a piece. (It happens too often in church choirs.) In my mind I think - "Dr. Sanders wouldn't have settled for that!" (Don't worry - I won't say that to the directors!)

Congratulations on your retirement! I hope this new season of life will be very enjoyable for you. You can feel proud of your accomplishments and your influence.

Warmest regards, Diane Sentell Russo

Hugh Sanders

509

Dear Hugh, Congratulations on your remarkable career as a choral music director. Though our time together was relatively short in comparison to your many years and many accomplishments, we feel a special closeness to you and your family. From the beginning of your time at Baylor in the fall of 1984 to the present we have kept up to date on the events of your career and family. In 1984, we were music education students at Baylor and had the privilege of singing in the Baylor A Cappella Choir with you.

We looked forward to your taking over the choral music department at Baylor with great anticipation. You brought with you new life and energy that quickly took hold with the students. As we graduated and went into choral music teaching we felt you had helped prepare us to be better teachers and musicians. As the years have passed and we have become professional choral music educators ourselves, we frequently mention your name as a friend and colleague. We are so proud to have had the opportunity to sing and study under your direction. We will never forget the impact you made on our lives, and therefore on our own students.

Jeff and Jannifer Rice BME 1985

510

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh: Congratulations on a job well done as well as for your retirement. It is truly hard to believe that we are reaching that "AGE". There are many memories that come to mind when your name is mentioned. Of course, choir is the one that comes first. We did have fun on those tours! Dr. Porter was a role model for each of us. It is fun to remember his surprise when he found all of us officers playing cards in the motel room - with the door closed. Heaven forbid! It has to be pleasing and rewarding to realize many young people will have those same memories of you that we have of Dr. P. You have done a mighty work, and I know God looks down with favor and is saying, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

I know you will enjoy your "semi-retirement" because I know you will never fully retire. I would love to hear from you. I am now Guidance Counselor at Hill Country Christian School of Austin. Again-Congratulations and thanks for all the fun memories.

In Him, Adrienne

Hugh Sanders

511

Dear Hugh: It gives me great pleasure to write a letter to you upon the occasion of your retirement as the Ben H. Williams Professor of Music and Director of the Institute for Church Music and Worship, School of Music, in appreciation for your fifteen years of distinctive and effective service. Your dedication and commitment to professional excellence in Christian higher education have personified support for Baylor's mission. You have served Baylor and the School of Music notably as both teacher and mentor to the many students who have come through your classes, providing the strong foundation necessary for them to acquire the skills and knowledge needed for careers and life-long activities. Your personal commitment to the field of music education, demonstrated through professional affiliations, including service as national president of the American Choral Directors Association; regular participation in Baylor's Commencement ceremonies; numerous guest conductor appearances, including choral performances at Carnegie Hall; program development, including your help in initiating a graduate program in choral music; and achievements such as receiving the Texas Distinguished Choirmaster Award, has benefited your colleagues in music education in general and the Baylor community in particular.

Please, then, accept my appreciation for your years of service to Baylor University. You have my best wishes in the years ahead.

Sincerely, Donald D. Schmeltekopf Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

512

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh, Congratulations on your retirement. It has been a pleasure serving with you on the School of Music Faculty. You have had a profound influence on the voices, the minds, and the lives of many, many young people. You can be justly proud of your years of service to Baylor University and the other institutions you have so ably served.

A few years ago, a clergyman of my acquaintance remarked on the occasion of his retirement that he had been advised to retire while he was still able to enjoy it. This he did, and he and his wife are still traveling extensively, and thoroughly enjoying the freedom which his retirement afforded them. I trust that you and Rinky will now spend many years devoting yourselves to the pursuits which most interest you. You have earned your leisure. Enjoy it!

With sincerest best wishes, Daniel E. Scott

Hugh Sanders

513

Dear Hugh, Richard and I wish for you a relaxing and peaceful retirement! We haven't been able to be with you very much as colleagues since we've been working in different areas and have never seemed to be in the same places at the same times; however, we have been confident in the fact that you have always been a constant source of inspiration to your students and a dedicated member of the School of Music.

Your great sense of humor, enthusiasm for teaching and love of music have been a strong influence in the music school! I hope that these things will rub off on all of us so that we are able to continue with your same spirit.

Richard and Helen Ann Shanley

514

Hugh Sanders

Dr. Sanders, As I walked across the stage to be hooded and receive my doctoral diploma last December, visions of the people who helped shape my life filled my mind. The Baylor family of musicians were well represented. I thought of Euell Porter's smiling face and the warmth in his voice as he called my name. I thought of Ray Luper and the many conversations we shared about life and music. I thought of Robert Young and the passion he instilled in my heart for beauty and poetry. I thought about you and your advice - "never underestimate yourself or your gifts." As I was being hooded, I said a prayer to God, "thank you for allowing me to work with your best children."

Dr. Sanders, I am proud to be called one of your students and will never forget the lessons you taught me. Here are just a few of those lessons.

• If you want people to listen, say it softly and be sincere • Always be a student and open your mind to new things • In all things you do, do it with passion and understanding • Sometimes the greatest blessings are found in simplest thoughts and actions. Strive to be your highest self as a disciple of Christ, husband, father, and musician • Never underestimate yourself, your friends, or your singers You are an important part of my development as a person and musician. Thank our Heavenly Lord for the countless lives you touched through your example as a professor, scholar, musician, and friend.

Soli Deo Gloria, Dr, John E. Simons Baylor University, Masters Degree, 1988

Hugh Sanders

515

Dear Dr. Sanders, You probably will not recognize my name as being one you know, but I know yours! I know you from the times you came as a guest conductor of our sanctuary choir at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church. I was Ed Wittner's secretary at Columbus Avenue from 1976-1980. For the past 2-1/2 years 1 have worked for Kathy Hillman in Moody Library Acquisitions at Baylor. (I received a letter about the book of letters being compiled for you because I am a Baylor employee).

I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your retirement, and write to express my appreciation for the way you helped our choir to improve as a result of your time with us. Your expertise in choral music was obvious from the beginning. You worked us hard, yet made it fun and enjoyable.

When I heard you were coming, several years ago, to be a part of the Baylor choral music department, I was very excited. I knew you would be just the right person to fill that position. You have carried on the excellent tradition of music leadership that produces outstanding musicians and musical experiences from this great institution.

And I am an example of the many people who know you, your work, and expertise in the area of choral music. Your leadership and expertise have had a far-reaching influence on people everywhere. Thank you for the contributions you have made to choral and church music.

Best wishes, Kay Stewart Columbus Avenue Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir Member Library Assistant, Moody Library Acquisitions, Baylor University

516

Hugh Sanders

Dear Dr. Sanders, I have such vivid and fond memories of my years singing with Baylor A Cappella Choir - it's hard to believe that more than a decade has passed. It's also been my pleasure to, year after year, get to visit with you and Rinky at music conventions - a pleasant experience that I hope won't disappear just because you are doing the "R" word! Below, I've highlighted some of the my favorite memories of singing with you and the A Cappella. Choir: 1. TMEA 1987 - That was so cool! ! ! !!! (I was clueless and" green" -looking back I now realize what a BIG DEAL that was . . .. at the time though, it was all about the singing to me . . . and come to think of it, it's still all about the singing!)

2. The Gregg Smith Singers - they got paid to do that?!?! (The director was impressed by my "solo" - one piercing note above the choral malaise - I was thankful I had practiced!)

3. Southern Baptist Convention(s) - If only I could hear music in my church like we sang at those conventions. (I loved "My Eternal King" and "Here's One" - gooooood stuff!)

4. The HUGHston tours and "Prayer of St. Francis" - it was practically our theme song my senior year and the tours were just good, clean fun.

5. Wonderful repertoire and then some more . . . . .You exposed us to the "greatest hits" of choral music.

Of course, my most inspiring Dr. Sanders memory didn't even take place at Baylor or during my college years. It was that clinic you gave at Richland High School my senior year - I'll never forget the way you transformed "Flower of Beauty" from a song to an EXPERIENCE. It was that experience that blossomed into four years of the most satisfying choral singing that I've ever known - Thank you for that. Now as you enter those wonderful retirement years, I wish you and Rinky the best of everything.

Much Love from one of your biggest fans!

Regena Ragan Tarkington ’89

Hugh Sanders

517

Dear Dr. Sanders: I just wanted you to know that you will be missed here at the School of Music.

Working with you has always been a pleasure; you approached everything with such a positive attitude.

Among the things that I will remember is your love of family. The love and pride you exhibited toward them is memorable. You have shared pictures of weddings and births, holidays and other occasions along with stories of them. I remember one summer when you and Mrs. Sanders hosted a luncheon for Dr. Lamb and his office staff on the deck of your home. The food and atmosphere was perfect as was the fellowship.

It truly meant a lot to all that were present.

In the years to come, I wish you only the best.

Cordially, Georgianne VanDyke

518

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh, I hope you have a happy retirement and “rest of life.� I knew of you and the wonderful work you have done long before you came to join the faculty. All of us here and throughout the state have admired you not only for your professionalism, but also for your love and devotion to the many students throughout the years.

I wish you the very best.

Jay Valighan

Hugh Sanders

519

Dear Hugh, Why is it we wait until a person retires to say "thank you" to him? Your gift of service to Baylor and to churches has been profound.

It has also been timely. During the sixteen years of your tenure at Baylor we have watched the dismantling of the Southern Baptist Convention. Among the greatest tragedies of this era has been the virtual demise of our seminaries.

You and a few others have continued to train young people in music and worship to the great benefit of the local church. I could not have chosen anyone better suited to such a task than you. You are and have been a person of integrity and grace. Our alma mater has been well served by you.

I wish you well in your retirement. I hope our paths continue to cross occasionally.

Grace and Peace, Ray Vickney

520

Hugh Sanders

Dear Hugh, It is a pleasure to think back across the years of our friendship and work together. I treasure the memories of our working together to make Ridgecrest and Glorieta Music Weeks times of great inspiration. Your teaching, conducting, and performing groups were always highlights of those national conferences.

One of the magnificent benefits, for me, in coming to Baylor was the fact that I could claim to be a colleague of Dr. Hugh Sanders , Mr. Ridgecrest, Glorieta, and Baylor aside, your greatest contribution to my life is your glowing Christian spirit. I thank you and God for that.

My prayers are with you as you move into retirement.

Sincerely, Terry W. York Associate Professor of Christian Ministry Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program Truett Seminary

522

Index

Index of Cont ributors

A Adams, Randy… 109 Albert, Donnie Ray… 284 Alfred, Maurice… 99 Allibon, Amy Detrick… 384 Antinone, Pat… 482 Ard, Michael… 477 Armstrong, Ken… 102 Atherton, John… 281 Austin, Barbara Lewis… 155 Austin, Bob… 189

Bingham, Lyndal… 111 Birkner, Julie… 356 Boggs, Frank… 476 Bottoms, Jack… 112 Bowers, Jack… 239 Box, Cecelia… 27 Bradford, Betty… 472 Brantley, Royal… 435 Brewer, Dave… 259 Brewton, Sarah… 473 Briggs, Phil & Jennette… 115 Broadstreet, Kim… 463 Brooks, Gene… 436 Bryant, Roger… 341 Buddo, J. Christopher… 474 Burkhalter, Betty… 140

B Baden, Carolyn… 478 Bailey, Donald… 451, 469 Bailey, Raymond… 462 Barnes, Carroll… 168, 219 Barnes, Edward… 107 Bates, Carl… 318 Bates, Dorothy & John… 87 Bates, Eloin Bradley… 125 Baxter, Jerry… 458 Beaty, Dewayne… 110 Bennighof, Jim… 471 Bernson, Dorothy… 95 Biffle, George… 235

C Carlson, John… 447 Carrell, Stephen… 437 Casey, Beth Baldwin… 369 Casey, Glenda… 252 Chambers, Ava Nell Donoho… 154 Christi, Lynn… 187 Clark, Dave… 171 Clifton, Jim… 133 Coates, Kenneth… 475 Coffman, Wesley… 191 Colderon, Jack… 479 Colvin, Herbert… 470

Index

Cooper, Thelma… 485 Council, Tom & Winifred… 286

D Davidson, Sandra Fulmer… 157 Davis, Bill… 116 Davis, Sid & Linda… 288 Dawson, Rebecca… 430, 488 DeBord, Erwin… 419 DeLoach, Doris & David… 489 Dilday, Russell… 490 Donald, Elena Ann… 85 Dorsey, Wilma… 28 Downey, Charles… 79 Duson, Dede… 299, 363, 375

E Eder, Terry… 337 Ellison, Hugh… 192 Evans, Jana Bullard King… 244 Everest, Ann Everett… 24

F Federer, Alice Lee Gist… 132 Fisher, Robin… 486 Fitzgerald, Mary… 117 Foley, Nelda Reid… 176 Foster, Walter… 309

Franklin, James… 175 Fuller, Charles… 88, 427 Fulton, Ken… 249

G Gans, Judith… 185 Garner, Cody… 164, 491 Garrett, Jean Rapp… 158 Garwood, Harry & Edith… 453 Gibbs, Vicki McFarlin… 444 Gilchrest, Anita Mobley… 124 Glenn, Philip… 397 Gorham, Dee Ann… 344 Grahnquest, Sharon… 188 Grant, Eleanor… 285 Green, Georgia… 492 Griffis, Don… 480

H Hackett, Kathy… 354 Hall Jr., OD… 92 Harrison, Paul… 156 Hart, Kenneth… 273 Hassell, Alton & Patricia… 94 Hatcher, Janet Bonicelli… 393 Hawthorne, Lloyd… 455 Heathclott, Rence Fast… 93 Heffley, Rosemary… 301, 357, 376 Hensarling, Jesse… 26, 100

523

524

Index

Henson, Nora… 335 Hickfang, Karl… 202 Hightower, Alan… 331 Hinojosa, Clara Dina… 390 Hirt, Charles… 424 Hodgson, Walter… 312 Holbrook, Charles Ray… 153 Holcomb, Al Dee… 406 Holcup, Gene… 349 Holmes, Ruth… 166 Hopson, Hal… 493 Horan, Leta… 481 Huffer, Kerry… 426 Hyson, Priscilla Lawhorne… 118

I Irby, Bob… 20 Irwin, Joe… 456 Ivey, Mel… 163

J Jacobson, Michael… 494 Jasek, Melvin… 119 Jeffress, Charles… 135 Johnson, John… 498 Johnson, JW… 18 Johnson, Karen… 495 Johnson, Mary Jane… 248 Joiner, Gerre… 238

Jones, David… 214 Jones, Joyce… 496 Jones, Suzie & Theiss… 497 Jordan, James… 402 Jordan, Randy… 257 Jousan, Pat… 282

K Kates, David… 366 Kavanaugh, Janette… 159 Keathley, Naymond… 499 Kennedy/Horsman, Katherine… 260 Killingsworth, Terry… 169 Kincaid, Pat Agnew… 106 King, Ben… 261 King, Tim… 224 Koen, Harriett Snider… 237 Kohler, Ken… 139

L Land, Lois… 297 Langner, Gerald… 445 Lawson, Linda… 416 Lehr, Allison Ercholz… 484 Lewis, Gerry… 420 Lewis, Virginia Lee Allen… 120 Loden, James… 121 Lovelace, John… 194 Lunsford, Donna Magee… 122

Index

525

Luper Jr., Marion… 98

Murry, Lena Sue Chilton… 104

M

N

Magee, John… 96 Malloch, J. David… 206 Marshall, Jane… 276 Martin, Morris… 172 Mathis, Margaret… 368 McClintock, Nancy Fields… 138, 141 McCormic, Mary… 320 McDaniel, John… 500 McGill, Stan… 454 McMahon, Stephanie Batt… 501 McWhorter, Bill… 502 Means, David… 459 Medlen, Suzanne.. 311 Medly, Mike… 241 Melone, Roger… 362 Miller, Brian… 387 Miller, Kim Word… 422 Moody, Vernon… 207 Moore, Edgar… 178 Moore, Jim… 296 Moore, Winifred… 503 Morris, Brenda… 468 Morris, Terry… 347 Morrison, Babs… 450 Moss, Eileene… 440 Murphy, J. Carter… 12 Murphy-Manley, Sheryl… 313, 365

Nance, AD… 317 Nance, James… 31, 136 Neel, Eddie Lou… 33 Nelson, Charles… 1, 3, 10, 52, 131, 193, 211, 233, 279, 314, 339, 378, 442, 449 Neuenschwander, JW… 255 Newcomb, Armentia… 380 Newell, KC… 29 Nichols, Ed… 57 Norman, RB… 316 Nunez, Rebecca Breining… 160

P Pack, Carol… 466 Palmer, James & Betty… 504 Pasetti, Texas De Sautell… 134 Patterson, Tammy Charles… 342 Pausky, Martha Brittain… 58 Peebles, Wyley… 59 Perales, Jerry… 345 Perron, Paula Constantine… 60 Peters, Dale… 195 Peters, Juanita Teel… 196 Phillips, Mary Jane… 372, 395 Poetschke, Linda Catt… 179 Pollard, Marvin… 151

526

Index

Ponce, Beryle Eileen… 184 Porter, Euell… 319, 465 Preskitt, Terrie McKenzie… 400 Prestidge, Sam… 61 Prestidge, SW… 505 Price, Terry… 294 Pugh, Donald… 161

Q Quebe, Fern Wiese… 62 Quillin, Eddie… 245

R Reynolds, Allison… 403 Reynolds, Herbert… 461, 506 Rice, Jeff & Jannifer… 509 Riehle, Kevin… 290 Roberts, Frank… 162, 216 Robinson, Wayne… 399 Robison, Lora Thomas… 63, 507 Rodgers, Candis… 452 Rogers, Cheryl… 183 Rogers, Michael… 181 Russo, Diane Sentell… 508

S Sager, Carolyn Pittman… 64 Sanders, Rinky… 65

Savage, Andrea Hall… 67 Schantz, Ira… 23, 198 Schmeltekopf, Donald… 511 Schott, Sally… 382 Scott, Daniel… 512 Segrest, Robert… 68 Seible, Rob… 351 Seibold, Robert… 180 Shanley, Richard & Helen Ann… 513 Shirley, Jakie… 70 Shore, Kenneth… 443 Simons, John… 514 Simpson, Francis Bryant… 54 Smith, Carol… 388 Smith, Karen Skinner… 439 Smith, Kay… 25 Smith, Lucia Woodbury… 167 Smith, Martha Pampell… 190 Smith, Ralph… 457 Snyder, Richard… 247 Stewart, Kay… 515 Stone, Edgar… 197 Swan, Howard… 434 Szenasi, Kay Norsworthy… 77

T Tadlock, Gloriana… 364 Taliaferro, Rowena… 21 Talley, Barry… 428 Talley, Billy… 438

Index

Talley, Randy… 413 Tanner, Amby… 383 Tarkington, Regena Ragan… 516 Taylor, James… 391 Teat, Herbert… 15 Teel, Bruce… 78 Thomas, C. William… 81 Thomas, Pamela Cooper… 177 Thornton, Frances… 84

V Valighan, Jay… 518 VanDyke, Georgianne… 517 Venable, DeAnna… 72 Vickers, Paul… 359 Vickney, Ray… 519 Vickrey, Sharon… 73

W Walker, Marilyn… 74 Wall, Sampy… 174 Ware, Broadman… 53 Ware, Mike… 353 Watkins, Bobby… 75 Watson, Bob… 321 Webb, Cloys… 137 White, Andrew… 76 White, Brad… 386 Whitsett, Brenda… 173

Whitsett, Dwight… 170 Whitten, Lynn… 130 Williams-Wimberley, Lou… 292 Wimmer, DeLois… 217 Wood, Conan… 367

Y Yates, Jack… 89 York, Terry… 520 Young, Carlton... 264

527