George David Parish – Music Education, 1959

George David Parish

MUSIC EDUCATION, 1959

                I began my study at USL (then, of course, SLI) in the Fall of 1954 as a major in music education.  I was, of course, “starry-eyed” in the extreme.  Very quickly, however, I realized that this was indeed the place for me.  In that first year, I studied tuba with Professor Robert Gilmore, voice with Professor Willis Ducrest, and theory with Kilford Neely.  Subsequently, I studied tuba with Professor John Guilfry, and in the second or third year, I entered the Music History classes of Professor George Brown.  These classes are what I can only call, incorrectly, I guess, an “epiphany”.  I was made to realize for perhaps the first time that my usual casual attitude toward my work was no longer acceptable.  Mr. Brown never particularly gave us the idea that we were mental giants, but we were absolutely expected to produce our very best work; nothing else was acceptable under any circumstances whatever.  A “defining moment”, as we would say in these post-Modern times!  The impact of his courses still inform my own work; indeed, when a question arises about the possibility of compromise on quality, the figure of Professor Brown arises like a strict, if benign, spirit.

                After leaving USL, I taught for only one semester as a junior high band director at Houma Junior High and Houma Elementary.  I then entered the Army as a military musician for three years.

Afterwards, I returned to USL for one year of graduate study mostly with Professor Brown, but also with Professors Reynolds and Turner.  This year was marked most profoundly however, by meeting a young undergraduate (E N N, H, 1964) who subsequently became my wife.

I realized that I could not get fully the training I needed at USL as it was then; so, I entered graduate school, first at a small college in South Carolina (E E, MM, 1965) and finally the University of Michigan where I received a Ph.D. in musicology in 1970.

After that, I took a position at Radford University in 1970 (then Radford College) where I remained for the last nearly thirty years, and where I am  now Professor of Music with special interest in the history and theory of music.

I am more aware every day of how much of what I am today was formed during those years at USL.