Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Largest organization of its kind founded with help of Keokuk schools' music supervisor in 1907 holds biannual conference
 |
| A group of Keokuk High School singers performs for the Music Educators National Conference in Keokuk Friday afternoon. The group was directed by Dan Proctor, KHS vocal instructor. |
By Steve Dunn/Gate City Managing Editor
The largest music organization of its kind returned to its Keokuk roots for the biannual Music Educators National Conference (MENC) last week.
Founded in part in 1907 by Keokuk Public Schools' music supervisor Philip Hayden, the National Association for Music Educators has grown from 69 to about 130,000 members.
“It's a pretty humbling experience walking the same streets as the founders,” said MENC President Lynn Brinckmeyer when asked what is was like for the organization to meet again in Keokuk after a 100-year hiatus.
In addition to the presentation of 22 scholarly papers and four panel discussions, the event featured the dedication of a marker at Seventh and Blondeau, the site of the Westminster Presbyterian Church where the National Association for Music Education was founded.
On Friday night, the United Presbyterian Church of Keokuk hosted a meal for the conference participants and a concert featuring church organist Mary Jane Goeke, the Clark County R-1 High School Jazz Ensemble directed by Robert Dooley, the Southeastern Community College Chamber Choir directed by Allen Chapman and the Tempered Brass New Horizons Quartet from Iowa City. James McRaney of Reinhardt College in Georgia led a sing-along during the concert.
The dedication of the commemorative marker was held in the Holiday Inn Express rather than at the actual site due to an adverse weather forecast earlier in the day Friday.
“I really like this place (town),” said MENC Immediate Past President David Circle of Stilwell, Kan., who was persuaded by Mayor David Gudgel that Keokuk was a good site for the conference.
Circle noted he listened to Gudgel talk about Keokuk for about 45 minutes when the possibility of holding the conference in the community surfaced.
“We welcome you and we hope you have a good stay in Keokuk,” said Gudgel, minutes before a movie of the marker's “unveiling” earlier Friday was shown.
Jere Humphreys, chairman of the MENC History Special Research Interest Group, reviewed the first such conference in Keokuk April 10-12, 1907. The Keokuk High School Mixed Glee Club conducted by Hayden performed during the first day of the 1907 conference. Two days later, a Glee Club from Carthage, Ill., sang. That night, Keokuk students staged an operetta, “The House That Jack Built,” directed by Hortense Reynolds, the music supervisor in Des Moines.
The first conference was similar to the 2007 version in that it included lectures and round table discussions, MENC Hall of Fame member Michael Mark said.
“They appointed an auditing committee to assess everyone 75 cents, which would be about $16 in today's dollars,” Mark added. “It could have gone to the Friday night meal expense or something else.”
He also said the Keokuk School Board met during the 1907 conference and decided to close classes the next morning so the school system's music teachers could attend the conference.
After voting on the final day of the conference to form a permanent organization, a communal dinner was held that night, followed by the operetta with 201 roles and 151 students on stage.
While instrumental music was in its infancy in 1907, “MENC has become the umbrella for music education in the U.S.,” Mark said.
In addition to Hayden, the founding members of the National Association for Music Education included Elizabeth Davis of Fort Madison, Lena Brooker of Mount Pleasant, Cora Ball of Fairfield, W.P. Christy of Iowa City and Alice Inskeep of Cedar Rapids.
Hayden was the music supervisor in Quincy, Ill., before accepting the same position in Keokuk. He was president of the National Education Association Department of Music in 1899 as well as the founder and first editor of the monthly journal, “School Music.”
“The greatest offering a music teacher can give a community is a class of graduates who can read music, understand and appreciate it,” Hayden said once.
The Clark County High School Jazz Ensemble's program brought the audience to its feet at the end of their performance. The group's numbers included such familiar standards as Glenn Miller's arrangement of “In the Mood” and Michael Sweeney's arrangement of the Duke Ellington tune, “Caravan.” The jazz ensemble also played “Dos gatos bailando,” “ Four Brothers” and “Whatever It Takes,” the group's unofficial theme song.
Accompanied by Leigh Pirtle on piano, the SCC Chamber Choir sang five numbers: “Laetatus sum,” “En natus est Emmanuel,” “O nata Lux,” “Take Me to the Water” and “Let Us Join in Celebration.”
Chapman noted the Chamber Choir hadn't sung together since school ended nearly a month ago.
The New Horizons Quartet, part of a nationwide effort to have senior citizens play musical instruments again or for the first time, played “Achieved is the Glorious Work”; two Latin tunes, “Salvadorena” and “Estou por baixo”; “The Gridiron Club March”; “Gospel Time”; and “Pausenstomp.”
McRaney led the audience at the United Presbyterian Church in singing two hymns, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” and “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” as well as songs from a book put together to encourage Americans to sing more.
Goeke opened the concert with “Fanfare” and received a standing ovation when she ended the evening with “Toccata.”
Wayland, Mo., native Alan Spurgeon served as master of ceremonies for the concert. Spurgeon, a 1966 graduate of Clark County R-1 High School, is a music professor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. He served on the symposium planning committee for the conference. He also is national chair-elect of the History Special Research Interest Group Leadership for MENC for 2006-08.
When asked about the hospitality the music educators received Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, Brinckmeyer said, “I can't say enough about the mayor and church family. The hospitality has been wonderful.”
So wonderful, in fact, that she invited this year's attendees back a century from now for the 200th anniversary.
She also praised Kirk Brandenberger, executive director of the Keokuk Area Convention and Tourism Bureau, for his behind-the-scenes work with the conference.
Founded in part in 1907 by Keokuk Public Schools' music supervisor Philip Hayden, the National Association for Music Educators has grown from 69 to about 130,000 members.
“It's a pretty humbling experience walking the same streets as the founders,” said MENC President Lynn Brinckmeyer when asked what is was like for the organization to meet again in Keokuk after a 100-year hiatus.
In addition to the presentation of 22 scholarly papers and four panel discussions, the event featured the dedication of a marker at Seventh and Blondeau, the site of the Westminster Presbyterian Church where the National Association for Music Education was founded.
On Friday night, the United Presbyterian Church of Keokuk hosted a meal for the conference participants and a concert featuring church organist Mary Jane Goeke, the Clark County R-1 High School Jazz Ensemble directed by Robert Dooley, the Southeastern Community College Chamber Choir directed by Allen Chapman and the Tempered Brass New Horizons Quartet from Iowa City. James McRaney of Reinhardt College in Georgia led a sing-along during the concert.
The dedication of the commemorative marker was held in the Holiday Inn Express rather than at the actual site due to an adverse weather forecast earlier in the day Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT |
Circle noted he listened to Gudgel talk about Keokuk for about 45 minutes when the possibility of holding the conference in the community surfaced.
“We welcome you and we hope you have a good stay in Keokuk,” said Gudgel, minutes before a movie of the marker's “unveiling” earlier Friday was shown.
Jere Humphreys, chairman of the MENC History Special Research Interest Group, reviewed the first such conference in Keokuk April 10-12, 1907. The Keokuk High School Mixed Glee Club conducted by Hayden performed during the first day of the 1907 conference. Two days later, a Glee Club from Carthage, Ill., sang. That night, Keokuk students staged an operetta, “The House That Jack Built,” directed by Hortense Reynolds, the music supervisor in Des Moines.
The first conference was similar to the 2007 version in that it included lectures and round table discussions, MENC Hall of Fame member Michael Mark said.
“They appointed an auditing committee to assess everyone 75 cents, which would be about $16 in today's dollars,” Mark added. “It could have gone to the Friday night meal expense or something else.”
He also said the Keokuk School Board met during the 1907 conference and decided to close classes the next morning so the school system's music teachers could attend the conference.
After voting on the final day of the conference to form a permanent organization, a communal dinner was held that night, followed by the operetta with 201 roles and 151 students on stage.
While instrumental music was in its infancy in 1907, “MENC has become the umbrella for music education in the U.S.,” Mark said.
In addition to Hayden, the founding members of the National Association for Music Education included Elizabeth Davis of Fort Madison, Lena Brooker of Mount Pleasant, Cora Ball of Fairfield, W.P. Christy of Iowa City and Alice Inskeep of Cedar Rapids.
Hayden was the music supervisor in Quincy, Ill., before accepting the same position in Keokuk. He was president of the National Education Association Department of Music in 1899 as well as the founder and first editor of the monthly journal, “School Music.”
“The greatest offering a music teacher can give a community is a class of graduates who can read music, understand and appreciate it,” Hayden said once.
The Clark County High School Jazz Ensemble's program brought the audience to its feet at the end of their performance. The group's numbers included such familiar standards as Glenn Miller's arrangement of “In the Mood” and Michael Sweeney's arrangement of the Duke Ellington tune, “Caravan.” The jazz ensemble also played “Dos gatos bailando,” “ Four Brothers” and “Whatever It Takes,” the group's unofficial theme song.
Accompanied by Leigh Pirtle on piano, the SCC Chamber Choir sang five numbers: “Laetatus sum,” “En natus est Emmanuel,” “O nata Lux,” “Take Me to the Water” and “Let Us Join in Celebration.”
Chapman noted the Chamber Choir hadn't sung together since school ended nearly a month ago.
The New Horizons Quartet, part of a nationwide effort to have senior citizens play musical instruments again or for the first time, played “Achieved is the Glorious Work”; two Latin tunes, “Salvadorena” and “Estou por baixo”; “The Gridiron Club March”; “Gospel Time”; and “Pausenstomp.”
McRaney led the audience at the United Presbyterian Church in singing two hymns, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” and “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” as well as songs from a book put together to encourage Americans to sing more.
Goeke opened the concert with “Fanfare” and received a standing ovation when she ended the evening with “Toccata.”
Wayland, Mo., native Alan Spurgeon served as master of ceremonies for the concert. Spurgeon, a 1966 graduate of Clark County R-1 High School, is a music professor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. He served on the symposium planning committee for the conference. He also is national chair-elect of the History Special Research Interest Group Leadership for MENC for 2006-08.
When asked about the hospitality the music educators received Thursday night, Friday and Saturday, Brinckmeyer said, “I can't say enough about the mayor and church family. The hospitality has been wonderful.”
So wonderful, in fact, that she invited this year's attendees back a century from now for the 200th anniversary.
She also praised Kirk Brandenberger, executive director of the Keokuk Area Convention and Tourism Bureau, for his behind-the-scenes work with the conference.
 |
||
| Police investigate two deaths on Morgan Street |
Reader Comments
| Please log in or create an account by filling out the form on the right. | |
