Sigma Alpha Iota

Pan Pipes Winter 2017

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PAN PIPES • WINTER 2017 • sai-national.org 10 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z BY KATHI BOWER PETERSON As an oboe player, I am always interested in searching for new and different music to perform. In particular, I am especially eager to find music written by women composers, American composers, and composers of color to include in my programs. In the course of my research, and through my job as a music librarian, I became aware of two African American composers who wrote some especially lovely oboe pieces, which led me to further explore their lives and work. One of them, William Grant Still, is fairly well-known, although his work has not become the mainstay of the classical repertoire it deserves to be. Known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," he broke many barriers in this country, including being the first African American to have a work performed by a major orchestra, as well as the first to conduct a major American orchestra. His opera Troubled Island was the first opera by a composer (of any race) born in the United States to be performed by a major company — it was premiered in 1949 by the New York City Opera. 1 But beyond these facts, he was a composer who diligently studied and applied his musical knowledge to become a success in his field. Still was born May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi, although he and his mother moved to Little Rock, Arkansas aer his father died when he was still an infant. It was there in Little Rock that he received his education and became determined to compose serious music in the European tradition. Still's education was exemplary, as his family placed a high value on it. Both of his parents were college-educated at a time when even basic education for African Americans was less than adequate, and this afforded them some advantages in the community. Still's mother in particular (she was a high school English teacher) emphasized high standards and expected her son to achieve a lot. Still's stepfather, Charles Shepperson, also proved to be a supportive and encouraging parent, and contributed to his young step-son's earliest exposure to music by taking Still to concerts given by touring musicians and purchasing recordings of classical music that he could listen to. Still studied the violin briefly in high school, but was ambivalent about performing. However, he started composing his own music from the time he learned to read it. Although he was determined to study music in college, his mother's feelings about the lack of respectability of a musical career discouraged this. So, aer graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, he entered Wilberforce University in Ohio with the intention of preparing for a medical career. Unsurprisingly, he found himself rebelling against this particular academic path and gravitating back toward music. It was during these years that he first joined a band and taught himself to play oboe, clarinet, cello, piccolo, and saxophone. en, aer leaving Wilberforce University only a few months before he was to graduate, he began touring with and doing arrangements for prominent blues composer and musician W.C. Handy and his band. In subsequent years he performed in various bands and orchestras in several states, almost always doing musical arrangements for these groups. He also worked as a house arranger for Pace and Handy Music Publishing Company. Aer that company dissolved in 1921, he found work playing oboe in the pit orchestra of the very successful all-black musical Shuffle Along, which ran for over a year in New York City, then traveled to Boston. Nevertheless, while earning his living performing and arranging commercial music, he persisted in developing his skills as a composer of classical music. In the various parts of the country in which he found himself, he always diligently worked on furthering his musical education. is included enrolling for a time at Oberlin, where he studied composition with Dr. George Andrews, and taking composition lessons from George Whitefield Chadwick at the New England Conservatory of Music while he was in Boston during Shuffle Along's stint there; subsequently, he drew the attention of Edgard Varèse while working as the recording director at Black Swan Recording Company in New York City. Still studied composition for two years with Varèse, the longest time he spent with any teacher. Still began to receive recognition for his compositions; for instance, his tone poem Darker America won a Harmon Award (which honored Ulysses Kay served as one of SAI's IAMA Composer-Judges for the 1962 National Convention in Chicago. Carl Van Vechten/ Library of Congress William Grant Still Two American Composers AMERICAN MUSIC

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