Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIV, no. 2 (Summer 1998)
Members in the News
Carol Baron read her paper, "The Politics of Charles Ives and His Family: Findings
in New Sources," at the Greater New York and New England Chapters of the American Musicological
Society. William Everett received the 1998 A. Roy Myers Excellence in Research Award at
Washburn University. The award is given annually to one faculty member from the entire university.
Kathryn Bumpass reports that two of her students at Fresno State have been chosen Ronald
McNair Scholars: voice major Delores Standifer, who has recently returned to school, and guitar
major Brian Garcia, who is studying with the flamenco maestro Juan Serrano. These two
talented students will be working with Bumpass on research in pre-Civil War African-American
hymnody this summer. The Ronald McNair program is a pre-doctoral program aimed at encouraging
minority students to pursue PhDs. The program allows students to work with a faculty mentor on
a research project during the summer months, and get "hands on" experience in research. Bumpass
reports that "the program on our campus is especially well run, and the McNair scholars get all kinds
of enrichment services -- advice and help on applying to grad schools, writing proposals, etc."
Ronald D. Cohen and Ralph Lee Smith are co-editors of the "American Folk Music and Musicians"
book series for Scarecrow Press. The purpose of the series is to present important and interesting
books relating to "folk music" in its broadest sense. In addition to topics covering traditional
folk music and performers, the series welcomes submissions relating to music and musicians of the
folk revival of the 1950s and the 1960s, as well as music and musicians that combine folk elements with
pop music, country music, blues, jazz, and rock. Submissions should consist of at least two
completed chapters with an outline of the balance of the book. Queries should be directed to Shirley
Lambert, Editorial Director, Scarecrow Press, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706, or phone
(301) 459-3366, ext. 6897.
All Benner's Conners Publications now has a website. Ordering information for Heinrich's
The Sylviad (#1 in the "Music of America" reprint series), modern engraved pieces from The
Sylviad (in the "New Editions of Past Masters" series), or other Conners offerings is available
at hostnet.pair.com/conners. Interested parties may also
contact Conners Publications either via e-mail (ALMEI@aol.com) or
at 6780 State Road 57, Greenleaf, WI 54126-9738.
Scott DeVeaux's The Birth of Bebop: a Social and Musical History has been selected as a
winner of the nineteenth annual American Book Awards for 1998, given by the Before Columbus Foundation at
the Book Expo America Convention in Chicago on 31 May. These awards are designed to "honor a wide
spectrum of books, fiction and non-fiction, which reflect this country's multicultural, multiethnic, and
multiracial diversity." The book was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in American History.
David Nicholls has spent the spring semester as Visiting Professor at The College of William
and Mary, teaching courses on "Music in the United States" and "British Rock." In April, a new
choral work, "Songs of the Spirit" co-composed with his son Benjamin, was given three performances
by its commissioners, William and Mary's Bottetourt Chamber Singers. A collection of essays on
Henry Cowell -- edited by Nicholls and containing chapters by Steven Johnson, Wayne Shirley, William
Lichtenwanger, Lou Harrison, and Kyle Gann -- has recently been published by Harwood Academic.
The book is entitled The Whole World of Music -- A Henry Cowell Symposium, and details can
be found at www.gbhap.com/abi/art/nicholls.htm.
Clayton W. Henderson, Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, Indiana), recently received the Jacob
Piatt Dunn, Jr. Award for his article, "The Slippery Slopes of Fame: Paul Dresser and the
Centennial of 'On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away.'" The article appeard in the Fall 1997 issue
of Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, a publication of the Indiana Historical
Society. Henderson's article was chosen as the best 1997 article written for this publiation. The
Indiana Historical Society awarded Henderson a major grant to write a book on Dresser and his music.
David Hildebrand wrote the research report and served as exhibit consultant for an exhibit
at the Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Virginia: "A Band of Musick" (Musical Life in Revolutionary
America), opening 6 June 1998 and running through 28 February 1999. Special help was provided by member
Art Schrader in debunking the myth of "The World Turned Upside Down" (which was actually
not played at the British surrender in 1781).
Luther Whiting Mason: International Music Educator (Harmonie Park Press, 1997) by Sondra
Wieland Howe has been published. This summer, at the International Society for Music Education
in South Africa, Howe will be presenting a paper on "Leadership in MENC: The Female Tradition" and
giving a workship on "Including the Music of Women Composers in the School Music Curriculum."
Helen Williams and Leonard Lehrman will be performing the first Yiddish concert (ever),
"Yiddish and German Songs by American Composers," in the city of Bayreuth, Germany, on 16 August
at Pianohaus Steingraeber. Lehrman's opera, The Birthday of the Bank, based on a one-act
play by Chekhov, will receive its world premiere 21 June at Glenwood Presbyterian Church in
Glenwood Landing, New York.
Louis Goldstein's "Slow But Unending 'Tendency Toward Tranquility' Tour" continued this spring
with four more performances of John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes: University of Maryland, College
Park; Hartwick Collge, Oneonta, New York; Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York; and New
Enlgand Conservatory, Boston.
Maxine Fawcett Yeske won the 1998 Best Dissertation in the Humanities Award from the University
of Colorado at Boulder for "The Fuging Tune in America, 1770-1820: An Analytical Study."
On 3 April 1998, Paul Wells, director of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State
University was the featured speaker at the Penn State Music History/Theory Colloquium. Wells spoke
on "The American Fiddle Tune Repertoire: Towards a 'National' Tune Collection," a work-in-progress
report on the volume of fiddle tunes he is editing for the MUSA series. Mary Wallace Davidson
was awarded the MLA citation for extraordinary service to the profession of music librarianship for her
work as a "vigilant spokeswoman for music libraries on issues of copyright and intellectual property
and as a guiding light in the formulation of the organization's Plann 2001."
Bonnie Jo Dopp has begun a term as a member-at-large of the Music Library Association Board.
Dopp is Curator of Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland. Nana Kwasi
Scott Douglas Morrow has received a three-year grant from the Josephine and Randolph Steward
African Heritage Fund to study dance in West Africa.
Updated 8/31/98