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My Most Meaningful Mentor

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I am fortunate to have had many meaningful mentors, but it was Dr. Dee Romines who set me on my career path. Currently on faculty at Hardin-Simmons University, I knew him as Mr. Romines, director of the Academy choirs at Punahou School in Honolulu, HI. 
 
Choir was my Thing, and it happened at 7:30 every morning. No matter how early I arrived, the choir room door was unlocked, and some kind of record was playing…sometimes Robert Shaw, sometimes Elvis…and he would be preparing for rehearsal in the office. I understand now the ever-present cup of coffee. The choir room was my safest place, my most ME place, and I’m forever grateful that it was always open when I arrived.
 
Mr. Romines gave me the words to put on what I could already do: rhythmic integrity and exactitude, scale degrees and harmonic function. He challenged me to learn and love Palestrina and Handel and Mendelssohn and Poulenc. He helped me earn my first pay as a chorister, let me accompany the choir (perhaps to the detriment of the choir, but to the benefit of my education), and made me know I had something important to offer. I learned the importance of letting someone know when they perform well; always demanding excellence in rehearsal, after our concerts he would sit and look at us all and say, “I thought you sang well. No really, I did!”
 
I chose to pursue a music major solely because of the influence of Dee Romines. (I can hear his gentle self-deprecating voice saying “sorry” here…don’t worry, it was the right path.) Clearly, here was a man who worked hard at a profession that fed his passion…maybe I could also. Maybe I could make a living doing what I loved. Maybe I too could provide a safe place, a “most ME” place for a young singer. I hope, somewhere through the past 20 years, I hope I have. 
 
He is Dr. Romines now, and has influenced the lives of thousands of choristers. And Dr. Romines, with me, I thought you did good. No really. Really, I do.
 
Will you one day be someone’s most meaningful mentor?  Plant the seeds today for tomorrow’s choral world.  ACDA Mentoring (mentoring.acda.org).
 
Photo of Punahou Chorale Japan Tour Choir, 1989. Dee Romines, back row, 4th from left. Julie (Schroeder) Parsons, back row, 6th from right.

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  1. Nov. 18  2014
    After reading Julie Parsons tribute:
     
    I really appreciaate your description of your self-effacing primary choral influence, Dr. Dee Romines.  Most important I think was your remark about letting those in your choir KNOW that they sang well after an event.  Your complete identification with the choral department of Punahou school which provided yor “safe place” was very well expressed. 
        I too in Jackson (MI) HS had a similar experience having to report about 7:30 am to the choral room for Madrigal Choir rehearsals many times.  Later we had it at lunch hour which of course was welcome, but occasionally there were some early calls.  That teacher who passed only 3-4 years ago was George V. Cripps who headed Jackson High choral groups (about 4 or 5) for at least 15 years.  The name of the “main” choir was “Euphony Choir” which is a stellar fine name I think.  The “theme song”  was Bortiansky’s Cherubim Song No. ?, and we all really loved singing it.
         At Michigan State my chief choral mentor who handled the Men’s Glee Club was Dr. David F. Machtel.  He also taught voice and an outside civic men’schorus called The Orpheus Club in Lansing.  I was accompanist, occasionally a singer, for both groups in the earl 50’s.  I ended up following him to his private voice studio in Lansing upon leaving MSU where I accompanied many and also took voice myeslf.   Another important choral mentor was Mr.  Richard Klausli who directed both “State Singers” and the “Madrigal Singers.”  He was amaster repertoire finder.  Some pieces he brought out I have never forgotten nor ever heard anywhere else.  The third “big gun” who undoubtedly had greater wealth of plain old musical knowledge and a commanding hold of a rehearsal and performance was the Welshman, Gomer Ll. Jones.  He taught basic music appreciation also and on both fronts he was simply a spellbinder.  How about that three great mentors in one package of a school.
         All these personages have left us by now.  Those who still have your inspired music leaders around might want to give them your thanks and gratitude while they can acknowledge it.  But most importantly, if you’re still in the choral or related field, encourage and foster a “safe place” to hide in for one or more of your charges.  ‘nuf said.
     

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My Most Meaningful Mentor

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My Most Meaningful Mentor
 
Next to my parents, no one had more influence on me than Jerry Jordan, the former Director of Choral Activities at the University of Mississippi.  I am always thinking about the lessons he taught me and I am thankful to have had such a wise person in my life.  Without him, I can’t imagine who I would be or what I would be doing.
 
There are many things that he taught me when it comes to choir:
  • The power of an interpretive idea and how it can shape an entire work.
  • That nuance is the element that separates good choirs from great choirs.
  • How meter informs every beat of every measure.
Most choral conductors work diligently to get all of the notes, interpretive markings, and dynamics just right for a performance.  For Dr. Jordan, excellent execution of the musical elements was just the point of departure.  His sense of phrasing was unique and his interpretations were eloquent commentary.  I remember Kodaly’s “A Song For Ever” and Barber’s “The Coolin’.” I remember the complexities of Bach’s “Singet” and Brahms’ “Warum ist.”  I remember Luboff’s “Deep River” and Liebau’s “Wonderful World.”
 
The non-musical things stick with me even more.  He modeled courage and conviction as he challenged young minds to embrace new ideas.  He encouraged us to act ourselves into new ways of thinking and embrace all forms of beauty in the world. 
 
Will you one day be someone’s most meaningful mentor?  Plant the seeds today for tomorrow’s choral world.  ACDA Mentoring (mentoring.acda.org).

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My Most Meaningful Mentor

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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 [mentoring.acda.org])
 
 

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