Online newsletter for the Duke University Department of Music • Summer 2008
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back to ContentsFeaturesMembers of the New York Philharmonic lead master classes at Duke
PQNY, the Philharmonic Quintet of New York, was formed in 2001 and consists of five of the key players from the wind section of the world-famous New York Philharmonic. Master classes at Duke were offered for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. Ninety-two participants, including Duke students, students from other colleges, and members of the community took part in the Sunday afternoon sessions. While they were in Durham, PQNY also performed a benefit concert at the First Presbyterian Church, raising approximately $10,000 for music programs at the church. Virtually amazing: movement makes music in soundSpace exhibit
The soundSpace exhibit, sponsored by SunTrust, is a partnership between the Museum of Life and Science, composer Scott Lindroth, and the Pratt School of Engineering’s Visualization Technology Group. Lindroth, a Professor of Music and Vice-Provost for the Arts at Duke, says the current exhibit has grown out of an ongoing collaboration that began in 2004 with the photonics group in the Engineering School. “Our collaboration began with an installation for the opening of CIEMAS (Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine, and Applied Sciences) which used infrared sensors to control the sound design.” When Rachael Brady, a senior research scientist in Electrical Engineering at Duke, taught a course on Engineering & the Arts, she invited Lindroth to participate. In the class, they used movement captured by webcams to cue sounds. Their research led to collaborations such as the MiXTAPEStry project, and Lindroth’s Awaken, a multi-media composition for live musicians, video and electronic sound. The soundSpace exhibit is the most recent fruit of their research. Nine cameras which capture motion are each linked to a single instrument or a group of closely related instruments, so that participants can easily hear how their movements are changing the sounds produced. Lindroth has created a number of different mixes, some very percussive and some more ambient or environmental, incorporating natural sounds like bird calls, rain, or lightning. Grand gestures, like a leap or a wide sweep of the arm, produce big results-- crashing thunder, for example-- which Lindroth says is always exciting for participants. Small movements result in more subtle, nuanced sonic changes. “soundSpace offers us a great opportunity to test our system with the general public. Museum patrons will say what they like or what might be enhanced, and I can use this feedback to improve the music and the technical infrastructure.”
Lindroth plans to continue enhancing the soundSpace technology. “I’d like to allow the dancers to be able to input their own sounds so that they can customize their experience,” he says, acknowledging that it isn’t possible at the moment. “Another avenue I’d like to explore is mixing in conventional instruments with a dancer who is creating music with her movements.” Participating in music-making through virtual interfaces has been popular for some time. (Consider, for example, the success of the music video game Guitar Hero or the popularity of the Wii controller.) However, Lindroth feels the technology he is working on has a special place. “With this technology, there’s no hardware, no hook-ups. You don’t have to hold anything in your hand. I think the freedom of expression we’re creating will lead to more powerful and nuanced performances than we’ve seen before.”Pamela Halverson is appointed interim director of the Duke Wind Symphony
Ms. Halverson received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan and a Master’s in performance in instrumental conducting from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She has taught for Olivet College (MI), New Mexico, the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and several North Carolina Schools, including Meredith College, UNC-CH, North Carolina Central and Duke University. She was also on the faculty of The Governor’s Schools of North Carolina, where she was lead teacher of the instrumental music program and conductor of the wind ensemble at Governor’s School East for fifteen seasons. Ms. Halverson has an exciting year planned for the Wind Symphony. This fall, look for concerts featuring works by Wagner, Verdi, Richard Strauss, Steve Reich, and Eric Knechtges. The April concert will feature guest artist Tony "Tuba" Granados, Director of the Triangle Youth Brass Band. For more information, visit the Wind Symphony's website. Christy Reuss and Mark Williams join Music Department staff
Christy comes to the Music Department after years in the non-profit sector. Her past work experiences have included coordinating volunteers for the American Red Cross, recruiting and training foster parents, managing an AmeriCorps program, and volunteering with the Peace Corps in West Africa. She is excited to join the Music Department and work with the faculty, students, and staff. Mark has spent the past ten years as a touring singer/songwriter, music producer, and sound engineer. Mark has been recognized both regionally and nationally for his compositions, performances, and production work. In addition to his formal responsibilities, he brings his skills in music technology to our department.
Emeritus Professor of Music Fenner Douglass passes away on April 5
Before coming to Duke, Prof. Douglass had been a member of the faculty at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music since 1949. His legacy of outstanding students includes many who have occupied prestigious positions in churches, colleges, and universities throughout the country. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oberlin in 2001. Prof. Douglass was a respected scholar as well as performer and teacher. His first book, The Language of the Classical French Organ (Yale University Press, 1969 and 1995) remains the standard reference in English on French Baroque organs and related performance practices. While at Duke, he completed a massive two-volume work on on the renowned 19th-century French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Originally published as Cavaillé-Coll and the Musicians (Sunbury Press, 1980), it was later revised and republished by Yale University Press as Cavaillé-Coll and the Romantic Tradition (1999). A strong advocate for historically informed performance, Prof. Douglass was especially active as an advisor for numerous American organs built according to historical principles. Even before arriving at Duke, he served as a consultant for the Flentrop organ in Duke Chapel, and he guided the project in its later stages to completion in 1976. In addition, he was responsible for developing the Music Department’s outstanding collection of period keyboard instruments, including five organs, two fortepianos, several harpsichords, and a regal. -- Robert Parkins, Professor of the Practice of Music and University Organist DUMIC (Duke University Musical Instrument Collections) Goes Digital!
His collecting journeys were often quite exciting. He traveled through much of Afghanistan on horseback collecting instruments. While there he also followed a Khutchi tribe on foot for days without making contact; as de Hen recalled, "They have to invite you otherwise they may shoot you . . . I finally was invited." In Irian Jaya (New Guinea) he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by the Dani tribe. He was adopted twice: once by an old Berber woman in the Ahansali tribe (Morocco) and another time by Princess Thopi in her clan in Swaziland. Even at home he was reminded of his travels: he "had a wonderful butterfly come out in Belgium from an instrument brought back from Swaziland."
Digitization is already underway here at DUMIC. Curator Brenda Neece is working with John Taormina, the Curator of Visual Resources in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University, to add several image collections to Duke's online visual collection holdings. The new music collections that will be added to what is now known as MDID at Duke include slides from instrument maker John Pringle's collection of early strings, organology scholar Jeremy Montagu's collection of reed instruments, as well as images of DUMIC's instruments.
Rare Music concerts this fall will include "Echoes of the Past: Sounds of the American Civil War," featuring Penelope Jensen, Lewis Moore, Randall Love, Don Eagle, and Michael Hirata (September 12, 2008). This program will feature a large 1830s Chickering square piano and a keyed bugle from the Eddy Collection and will be a performance of sheet music from Duke University Library's Special Collections. Other programs this fall will be "Sentimental Journey" by Steve Barrell, clavichord (October 17); "Reproduction: Some Thoughts on Recreating the Music of Bygone Ages" by John Pringle (November 14); and "Sound the Bright Flutes! Seasonal Music for Early Woodwinds" performed by Trio Rossignol: Patricia Petersen, Karen Cook, and Douglas Young (Dec 12). Karen Cook also led DUMIC's first workshop open to both university and community members this past semester, a recorder workshop using Collegium Musicum and Miller Collection (DUMIC) instruments.
This past year DUMIC was able to acquire a kora made in Mali by N'fa Diabate, Mamadou Diabate's father. N'fa and Mamadou are part of an ancient line of bards who serve as keepers of oral history as well as musicians. This tradition is passed from father to son. This instrument, with all of its original fishing wire strings from Africa, is part of that venerable tradition and will hold an important place in DUMIC. Many thanks to Mamadou for bringing this kora from Mali to Durham for DUMIC.
-- Brenda Neece, Curator of the Duke University Musical Instrument Collections Comments or suggestions about this newsletter? |
Duke students had the rare opportunity to participate in master classes with members of the 
One of the most exciting developments for Lindroth has been a collaboration with a dancer from the
Pamela Halverson
The Duke University Department of Music welcomes two new staff members: 
Fenner Douglass, Emeritus Professor of Music and former University Organist, died on April 5, 2008, in Naples, Florida. He was on the faculty of the Department of Music from 1974 until his retirement in 1987. He also served as Chair from 1980 to 1985, after which he accepted a visiting appointment at Stanford University. 
DUMIC's big push these days is to make its materials accessible on the internet. DUMIC is going beyond the usual catalog listing online through our 
The new materials complete the original de Hen-Bijl Collection already at Duke, including 2000 slides from Swaziland, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, Thailand, S. Africa, and Morocco Also included are 68 video tapes , 189 cassette tapes, and 1380 photographs of Bolivian music-making as well as a number of DAT and cassette recordings of Swazi dances and music. In addition, there are some photographs and rare documents pertaining to Belgian composers. The materials are interdisciplinary and include not only images and recordings of musical instruments, but also information to place the instruments in context. For instance, in his Afghan materials, Prof. de Hen not only has information on Afghan music, but also images and information about monuments that have since been destroyed by the Taliban. DUMIC had to negotiate in order to keep this educationally valuable collection from going to another museum. This semester DUMIC Friends gave $1250 towards this project, but the whole venture, including shipping and digitization will be in excess of $30,000, and so fund raising is ongoing. The collection has arrived in the USA and is scheduled to be at Duke shortly.
What will the arrival of the de Hen materials mean? Once the materials have been digitized, they will be accessible to all through the internet and local databases. If one has an interest in Swazi dance music, one will be able to watch video footage, see still images, and listen to recordings – as well as seeing images of the Swazi instruments at Duke. If you are at Duke, you can make use of the research materials on-site, but there will be world-wide access to these educationally valuable and unique resources. You can hear some of 
Another project that will soon bring DUMIC concerts to listeners everywhere is the addition of the Rare Music concerts to the materials available on iTunes U. Neece is editing these recordings this summer. The Rare Music series, which DUMIC co-sponsors with Duke University Libraries, is perhaps the most visible and most successful of DUMIC's ongoing projects. Spring semester 2008 included four programs: 
New Arrivals at DUMIC!
This past year's acquisitions have included two marvelous instruments: a flute that belonged to the founder of the NC Symphony, and the kora of Grammy nominee and Durham resident 
DUMIC involvement in the community this past semester included outreach work at