To My Co-Lin Students (1983-1989)
You were among my earliest Facebook friends, and I was amazed that so many of you were eager to reconnect with me after so many years! Along the way, I have received humbling statements of appreciation from you, and this has been truly gratifying. In return, I would like to share a bit of my own perspective as a professor.
I moved to MS in 1983 from Cincinnati and experienced significant apprehension driving across the state line from Tennessee, owing to the racial history of the state that would be my new home. Co-Lin was situated in a mostly rural area and many of you seemed to have just emerged out of the woods. I was greatly relieved and delighted to discover that you were not backward. However, I was concerned about the degree of cultural preparation that such a rural setting could offer you, and deeply concerned about how well you would perform alongside native university and senior college students on transfer. In response, I resolved to work very hard, to do my best to provide the caliber of preparation that would help you to “fit in” with a university music department student cohort. I had a vision for music theory classes of making “intellectual warriors” of you. You might recall instances of being grilled one on one by me in class. Only years into the project did news come back to me that many of you were out-performing native university and senior college students in music theory classes.
Frankly, many of the outcomes were far beyond what I could have hoped for. From my standpoint, this was always about you and not about me, or Co-Lin, for that matter. You were eager to learn and easy to teach. You showed resilience and dedication. You didn’t back down when you were being pressed. You can truly own whatever you accomplished in your studies.
Many of you have since found your way into professional positions of leadership and distinction. That you speak respectfully to me now, with appreciation, says more about you than me. Understand that gratitude is a positive force that has profound, and often unseen, impact. Perhaps the most important lesson that I have learned, at the age of 71 is, to not let the flame die out. Music - our discipline - changes lives and inspires hope. For many ordinary people it is a factor that makes life worth living, and ameliorates so much darkness that surrounds their day-to-day existence.
You have done well. I feel proud and honored to have known you.
(Posted 01/13/2024)
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