Robert Scandrett—Another passing

Robert Scandrett died on Sunday of a heart valve failure. Bob was hugely influential to a large number of conductors and singers throughout the Northwest and beyond, and will be greatly missed.

Bob was a wonderful musician, extraordinary pianist, and someone whose interests were far broader than just music, from a wide range of literature and history to great food.

He had a great career with a long tenure at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle (building an unrivaled program at the time) followed by an equally long tenure at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where he influenced multiple generations of students. His Ph.D. was in musicology and his dissertation was an edition of the many anthems of William Croft in multiple volumes (I remember looking through them when an undergrad at the University of Washington and asking Bob for a recommendation for some Croft anthems to perform—he generously gave me several editions to use). He later put this skill to good use in editing a number of works by Domenico Scarlatti for Carus Verlag. He conducted other church choirs (University Congregational after his retirement), community choruses (the Whatcom County Chorale), and the Seattle Symphony Chorus for 12 years (I was lucky enough to follow him there). He was an active pianist and I remember a wonderful performance of Die Winterreise at Western. In his later years he worked regularly on Bach's Goldberg Variations and did a recital of them last year (this I heard from Neil Lieurance, who was present). I'm sure I'm missing many other important things!

While I was never a student of Bob's, he was an enormously important model for me. His musicianship, his love of music and immense knowledge (of many things, not just music) were hugely influential.

As I've noted before, I was introduced to Bob by Neil Lieurance, who was my high school teacher and who was working on his master's at WWU after I graduated and was going to school at the University of Washington. Bob did a memorable series of summer choral workshops at Western in those days and I attended workshops led by Gregg Smith, Günter Graulich (who would own Carus Verlag), and Louis Halsey (his son, Simon—well known now for his connection as Simon Rattle's choral conductor in Birmingham and Berlin—would spend a year studying with Bob at WWU).

Because I'd made this connection, I was invited to go on a study tour of England he organized in 1975. This was a watershed in so many ways—I've posted about it on my blog previously in 14 different posts. I think you'll be astonished at the experiences we had and the people we met or concerts we heard: Roger Norrington (we met with him in his home and the rehearsals we observed were my introduction to the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers), Alfred Deller (we heard the Deller consort in a program and went to a reception at his home), Simon Preston (then at Christ Church College), Louis Halsey, David Munrow, composer John Gardner, Daniel Barenboim conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra in (among other things) Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with Janet Baker, Solti conducting Die Frau ohne Schatten, Colin Davis conducting Cosi, Falstaff with Sir Geraint Evans in the title role, Death in Venice with Pears, Colerige-Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast and Purcell's Hail, Bright Cecilia at Aldeburgh with Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, and Charles Brett (we also saw Britten riding in his open convertible with Pears and Imogen Holst after the concert); also part of the Aldeburgh Festival, but out of doors at a nearby ruined castle, Imogen Holst conducting her fathers E-flat Band Suite; a performance of the Britten War Requiem; meeting with the young Fitzwilliam String Quartet, who had a close relationship with Shostokovich and played his 15th string quartet for us; the young King's Singers at a festival at St. Alban's (along with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in a baroque program, the English Chamber Orchestra, which did the Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani with Peter Hurford, and a recital by James Bowman with Robert Spencer on lute).

As you can imagine, this was an amazing and life-changing experience . . . and Bob organized all of it!

I also have to say that Kathryn and my wedding included Bob's setting of Psalm 91, for men's voices, organ and 2 horns—beautiful!

Bob and his wife Sandy are simply wonderful people as well—gracious and welcoming in all ways. They've had a marvelous influence on so many lives. We can all thank them for that and I certainly do.

In particular, my thoughts are with Sandy, who has to deal with the loss of her husband and partner of so many years.

My Most Meaningful Mentor

This is a difficult choice, since I've been lucky to have some wonderful teachers and mentors. For example, Neil Lieurance was an influential teacher—without him I probably wouldn't have made a career as a conductor. Neil died this past year at the too-young age of 70. I wrote about him here. But beyond his influence in HS, Neil immediately treated me like a colleague after I graduated and began my undergraduate studies at the University of Washington—I'd visit and he'd share whatever music and recordings were interesting him. He followed my work with early ensembles I conducted and was always willing to give advice. He was a true mentor.

 

Rod Eichenberger, my undergraduate conducting teacher (although he let me take part in the graduate conducting class as an undergrad), has been another great teacher and mentor. I started hanging around his office and listening to his conversations with the grad students around my junior year (among them Bruce Browne and Larry Marsh) and he told me if I'd file the large stacks of scores for him, I could keep any duplicates. This not only gave me the beginning of my personal library but a great overview of choral literature—if I filed a piece by Hindemith, I'd look through the file to see what else Hindemith wrote for chorus. And, like Neil, he remained a mentor long after I graduated (to the current day, in fact). When I took the job at Pacific Lutheran University, following Maurice Skones, he called and congratulated me, but also said, "As someone who followed Charles Hirt at USC, I know something about the challenges of following a legend. If you ever want to call and talk, don't hesitate." This was a gift . . . and a relationship that has continued up to the present.

 

But for this post about my most meaningful mentor, I'll speak of Eric Ericson. Eric was never my teacher, but has undeniably been a major influence on my music-making, repertoire, and approach to so many things.

 

I was aware of Eric's recordings from at least the early '70s (Neil Lieurance or Rod probably introduced me to them). I was fascinated with the amazing sound of his Chamber Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir, the purity of their intonation, and the repertoire they performed. In 1983 at the ACDA Conference I heard the Radio Choir live for the first time. And since I'd just auditioned for the DMA program at CCM, was invited by John Leman to join the masterclass conducting choir and got to observe Eric's teaching first-hand.

 

The following fall I began at PLU and in 1985 Bruce Browne called and said Eric's Conservatory Chamber Choir would be performing at the ISME conference in Eugene, OR and wanted some other opportunities for the choir. So I built the PLU Summer Choral Workshop around Eric and the choir. They were in San Francisco before coming to Tacoma, so Eric flew up and the choir came a day later on their tour bus. This was my first time to get to know Eric, watch him work on conducting technique with the whole group and a small group of master class conductors who worked with the Chamber Choir. It was an amazing experience.

 

About a year later I participated as a singer in a choir put together by Bruce Browne for his Haystack Workshop for which Eric was the clinician, I brought Eric and the Conservatory Chamber Choir back to PLU's summer workshop a few years later as well.

 

When I began thinking of a topic for my dissertation, I knew it would be about Swedish choral music, so I traveled for the first time to Sweden in April of 1989, where I searched for "the" topic, and Eric was the guide, introducing me to lots of people and resources. I sublet the apartment of one of his wife Monica's sons. I would then return for the full summer of 1990 to do research (and sublet the apartment of another of Monica’s son’s). Given the topic of my dissertation, Swedish A Cappella Music Since 1945 (published later here) I spoke with Eric numerous times, spent time in the Radio’s library, spent time going through Eric’s personal library of scores in his apartment, and Eric made connections for interviews with virtually every important choral composer of the this time period, plus many conductors and administrators.

 

I’ve also seen Eric work many times with his various choirs in rehearsal, recording sessions, and concerts. He was also the first conductor with a group of singers that would become Choral Arts. I’ve had numerous discussions with him (and those close to him) about his art. Eric was eternally curious about anything choral—always wanted to know what you were doing, what others he knew were doing, what repertoire you were doing (and it wasn’t easy to stump him about a huge range of rep: “Oh yes, I did that in the late ‘60s" or (about some obscure American piece), "Yes, I know that."

 

It’s hard to separate out all aspects of Eric as mentor, but so many opportunities have come from my work with him. There’s so much repertoire I’ve learned due to him. Approaches to sound (even though few of us have the level of voices of the Radio or Chamber choirs), and intonation have also come from him. And incredibly important is his work ethic and dedication. Eric lived for music and this showed in his every approach to music, music-making, and his choirs.

 

I owe him an immense debt. And thanking all my teachers and mentors, I hope I have been a mentor to those students and conductors I’ve come worked with over the years. That will certainly continue as long as I’m able to help. It’s an important way of giving back all that I (or you!) have been given over the years.

 

ACDA has a great new mentoring program and I hope you’ll consider being a mentor or mentee. Make sure you check it out!

 

(Will you one day be someone’s most meaningful mentor? Plant the seeds today for tomorrow's choral world. ACDA Mentoring.

Neil Lieurance - follow up

Many of you saw my blog post about Neil Lieurance Sunday. Those in the know were aware that Neil didn't have much time left. He's been fighting pancreatic cancer for some time (he missed ACDA in Dallas for a surgery). Well, that fight came to an end Sunday, ironically the same day of that post. I  talked to Rick Asher, another long-time friend, yesterday and he let me know. He and others have been there for Neil throughout this long fight and I an only wish I was to be able to be there in person as well.

I talked with Neil about 2 weeks ago and had a wonderful conversation with him, even though Neil was dealing with some painful fluid build up in the lungs. Rick said he was lucid to the end. 70 is far too young for an end to such a wonderful life, but Neil will live on in all of us who knew him--and that's a lot of people. He lived a great life and has been an influence in so many lives, mine only one of them.

Neil Lieurance -- an appreciation

I've been thinking for a while of doing an "appreciation" post for my teacher, mentor, and friend Neil Lieurance and now's the time.

While I'm lucky to have lots of mentors/models/inspiring teachers (I'll write more about them sometime), Neil is my "Ur-mentor" and it's doubtful I'd be doing what I'm doing today if it weren't for him and his influence. He student taught at Shorecrest HS north of Seattle my sophomore year and then the next year took a position at Shorecrest as a special ed teacher, but continued to accompany the the small ensemble. I also began to take voice lessons from him that year. At some point he asked, "What's your major going to be?" I answered that I wasn't sure, maybe English or History. At that point he said, "Have you ever thought about majoring in music?"

Well, that was the beginning and is the reason I'm in music.

Neil became the choir director at Shorecrest the next year and I started to think seriously about the goal of becoming a HS choral director. Neil gave me my first chance to conduct something with the choir ("On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever") and began a sharing process that has lasted all my career.

Here's Neil around the time of my senior year:

When I graduated, I started studying at the University of Washington, but this didn't mean the end of his influence. I'd show up at his house now and then and we'd listen to the latest recordings he'd gotten or the newest music he'd discovered. I can trace the beginnings of my love of choral repertoire from those sessions together. He's always been deeply curious and that definitely rubbed off. He'd also would play recordings and ask what I thought of the differences in sound between, let's say, Robert Shaw's and Gregg Smith's choirs. This interest in choral sound (and the many varieties possible) began here and would later be expanded by my experiences with Rod Eichenberger).

I think another marvelous attribute of Neil's (and one I've tried to emulate) is that once I wasn't his student, he immediately treated me like a colleague. I was treated like an adult from day one.

He began graduate work at Western Washington University during the summers when I was an undergraduate and that became my connection to Bob Scandrett and his work. Because of that, I started going to Bob's summer workshops with, among others, Gregg Smith, Louis Halsey, and Günter Graulich (publisher/editor for Hänssler/Carus Verlag). Bob, even though he was never my teacher, became a big influence in many ways.

Because of this I ended up going on a summer study tour to England that Bob organized (see here for the series of posts on this trip--which was amazing), along with Neil, Rick Asher, Rich Nace, and others.

Neil grew up in Castle Rock, WA in southwest Washington State on a small family farm. His HS teacher was Howard Meharg, well-known to anyone in the NW and editor of ACDA's NW Notes. Consequently, I've always considered Howard my musical "grandfather," and a few of my students have called Howard their "great-grandfather."

Neil attended Lower Columbia College before going to Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, where he worked with Bernard Regier. He ended up staying at Shorecrest HS for his entire HS teaching career, until "retiring" in 1993. During his time at Shorecrest his choirs were selected to perform at many regional conferences and the national conventions of both ACDA and MENC. Selected as the 1991 “Teacher of the year” in the Shoreline School District and the 1988 Washington Music Educators Association “Outstanding Music Educator,” Neil was also inducted to the WMEA “Hall of Fame” in 1998.

He was a longtime church musician, with positions at both Seattle First Baptist and First Methodist. 

I put "retired" in quotes because Neil has remained incredibly active as an adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor. He became an adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University, teaching ear training, supervising student teachers, and directing their women's chorus. He was also Associate Conductor for the Choir of the Sound, a community choir based at Shoreline Community College.

Neil has so many former students who've gone on to be successful, whether in music or another field. His work has influenced so many of us and that gets passed down to our students.

Of course, Neil's best attribute is just who he is--a terrific person and friend.

Neil has many other interests as well. He's a fantastic photographer, who did workshops with National Geographic photographers and trips to photograph on an African safari and grizzly bears in Alaska. He's also a wonderful gardener with particularly beautiful dahlias.

I was able to see Neil this past summer, which was great. I can't give him enough thanks for my career, for support throughout the years, and for being a magnificent model as teacher and person.

I'll close with a picture from this past summer. Many thanks, Neil!

Programming III

It seems obvious, but it’s easiest to program if you have the broadest possible knowledge of the repertoire for your choir. The bigger the lists of “possible pieces” and your knowledge about their demands (whether they’re appropriate for your group), the more options you have. For young conductors this is a challenge. For them in particular, but for all of us, searching for new repertoire is a constant occupation, whether browsing at the local music store or music library, subscribing to various publishers’ new issues, noting pieces on someone else’s concert program, following repertoire postings on choralist, enlisting your colleagues’ help, listening to recordings, or attending reading sessions at music conferences or workshops.

I was lucky to have some great mentors early in my career. Neil Lieurance was a student teacher at my high school during my sophomore year, took a non-music job there my junior year (but accompanied the small ensemble, and I also started to take voice lessons from him at that time), and then took over the choral program my senior year. Neil loved learning new repertoire (still does!) and provided a great role model. Even after I graduated and went on to university, I’d visit and he’d share whatever new music or recordings he’d added to his library. His excitement about this was catching. Since he was working on a master’s degree at Western Washington University in the summers, I got to know Bob Scandrett, who headed the program there, and attended several summer workshops with clinicians such as Gregg Smith, Günther Graulich (editor/owner of Carus Verlag) and Louis Halsey (a fine conductor in his own right, but probably best known now as the father of conductor Simon Halsey—who’s been Simon Rattle’s choral conductor since the beginning of Rattle’s career in Birmingham). Just with those three conductors/workshops I learned a wealth of American repertoire, European repertoire, and British repertoire.

Rod Eichenberger was my first teacher at the University of Washington and also had a great appetite for exploring new repertoire. During my sophomore year (after Rod had come up to Western for the end of the Gregg Smith workshop and we collaborated on making a rather potent punch at the after-party) I started hanging around his office with the grad students (I learned a lot from them, too—during that time I sang in almost all of their graduate recital choirs). Rod always received lots of new issues from publishers—ah, the days when it was easy to get complimentary copies! —and had them stacked all over the place. He made a deal with me: if I’d file all this music for him, I could keep any duplicate copies. That was the beginning of my personal reference library. I got some fantastic music, but just as importantly began to get an overview of the repertoire. If I filed a piece by Hindemith, let’s say, I looked through the file to see what else he’d written. This was an incredible gift to me.

All of us need to continually expand our knowledge of repertoire. This will also be shaped by the ensembles you conduct: the choral repertoire is broad and has so many sub-genres: treble, male, mixed, sacred, secular, for large ensemble, for small ensemble, etc., plus all levels from the most inexperienced choir to advanced repertoire only a professional choir could attempt. For example, when I taught at Mount Holyoke College for three years (a women’s college), I had a crash course in women’s literature and learned as much as I could about it and searched it out. Later, when I wasn’t conducting a women’s chorus, I didn’t keep up with this repertoire so much—but with the advent of the men’s chorus at PLU (which I led), I began collecting men’s rep appropriate to my beginning level ensemble. Whatever your choir(s), you’ll want to explore and acquire as much literature that’s appropriate as you can. When you take on a new choir with a new and different repertoire, get to know experts in that area and pick their brains, look at their programs, browse their libraries. When I became Artistic Director of Pro Coro Canada, Jon Washburn (conductor of the Vancouver Chamber Choir, whom I’d known for some time) let me come up to visit and spend an afternoon browsing through his extensive personal library, specifically looking at Canadian choral works. Again, an incredibly gracious gift.

One of the glories of the choral medium is that there is such a wealth of repertoire to explore. We’ll never run out of it, and that’s one of the joys of this job. It should never be dull.