Joan Lippincott honored

Larry G. Biser is a retired organist-choirmaster and an adjunct faculty member at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was one of the early organ students of Joan Lippincott at Westminster Choir College. This article is excerpted from a Festschrift he is editing, Joan Lippincott . . . the gift of music.

Joan Hult Lippincott was for many
years the head of the organ department at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the largest organ department in the world at that time. She was born in Kearny, New Jersey, where her early keyboard studies were with William Jancovius. When she entered Westminster Choir College, she became a student of the legendary Alexander McCurdy. After completing her Bachelor of Music degree at Westminster, she was accepted as a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she again studied with Dr. McCurdy.
Upon graduation from Curtis, she returned to Westminster to obtain her master’s degree and was asked to join the faculty as a keyboard instructor. She later became a member of the organ faculty and, upon Dr. McCurdy’s retirement in 1965, accepted the position as administrative assistant to Alec Wyton, who had been appointed to succeed McCurdy. The following year she was named the chairman of the department. In 1967 she was appointed head of the organ department, a position she held until she became the University Organist at Princeton University in 1993.
Over these many years she has produced scores of extremely successful students who are active in churches, schools, and as performers across the country and abroad. On Christmas Day, 2010, Joan Hult Lippincott will turn seventy-five years old. I felt this occasion should be met with some recognition from her loyal and loving students, suggesting that as a body we produce a Festschrift, Joan Lippincott . . . the gift of music, to honor her. Some thirty-five of her students, friends, and colleagues will be contributing articles to this book. I had the pleasure and delight this past September to spend a brilliant fall weekend with Joan and Curtis at their home in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, interviewing her for the biographical section of this book. The following excerpt is a portion of that interview.

Larry G. Biser: When you went to Westminster Choir College from Curtis to teach piano and organ for the first time, what most influenced the way you approached teaching?
Joan Lippincott: In my early work as a teacher, I was especially influenced by the way I had been taught, by pedagogical studies with Frances Clark, and by the writings of Carl Rogers. When I was a student of Dr. McCurdy at Westminster, he required all of his students to take a piano class with Frances Clark, who also taught pedagogy classes. I particularly remember a lecture in which she said in her very colorful way that “Teaching is not telling.” Carl Rogers, about whom I learned from my counselor husband, was a leading proponent of non-directive counseling, and I was fascinated by the insightful things he had to say about teaching and learning. I remember him saying, “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.” The influence of Frances Clark and Carl Rogers led me to believe in approaching students with the goal of teaching them to teach themselves.

LB: What do you believe is the single most important trait as a teacher?
JL: I believe to be a good teacher is to be a good student; that teachers are older students, and that in teaching in a one-to-one context there should be a lot of communication of the teacher’s love of the subject and love of the process. It is necessary, of course, to give the student the tools he must use in the process. By this I mean details of posture, hand position, fingering, etc. Then the student must use the tools and engage in the learning process as if he were teaching himself.

LB: What advice can you give on the efficient use of a student’s practice time?
JL: I believe that practice means playing perfectly, which is to say we should do whatever it takes to play the right notes at the right time.

LB: At first hearing, that is a rather startling thought. Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?
JL: In the case of difficult music, this probably means, in the beginning of one’s practice, to play the parts separately before combining them. By proceeding in this way—and playing perfectly—one learns to be accurate and gains confidence in playing.

LB: Is there anything that a teacher can do to assure the success of a student?
JL: Careful learning, guided by the older student, the teacher, is critical in giving the student the confidence that he needs to be successful. It is the teacher’s job, in my opinion, to impart everything he or she knows to give the student this opportunity for success. In a sense, the teacher is really teaching and learning when the student is able to achieve that which he didn’t believe possible. I have enjoyed growing and learning and getting better throughout my life and I have a special joy when I can teach that concept to someone else.

LB: Is it enough to insist on correct notes or does generating heightened motivation on the part of the student lead to that end?
JL: On one occasion, a colleague asked me how much of the motivating of a student was the responsibility of the teacher. My response was that it is THE responsibility of the teacher. Sometimes in my teaching I have been insistent on a student following a certain procedure until he learns from his experience that it is going to work. This experience of success is then highly motivating.

LB: In your teaching career at Westminster you had students of all levels of ability. Would you approach a beginning student differently than you would a more advanced student?
JL: People sometimes have said to me that I am especially fortunate to teach so many advanced students. My response has been that I think that teaching advanced students is not so different from teaching beginners in that in both cases the teacher wants to teach something that the student doesn’t yet know. ■
 

William Robert “Bob” Brittenham died March 17 in New York City. He was 82. Born in Rock Island, Illinois, he graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1952. He worked as a computer programmer in Milwaukee and later for IBM in Poughkeepsie, where he received numerous awards, including a corporate award for creating and designing the system programming language PL/S.
Mr. Brittenham began playing the organ at age 14, and held positions at Capitol Drive Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Our Savior Lutheran Church in Fishkill, New York, and First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, for which he compiled a ten-CD musical history, along with other organ and choral recordings. He served in the 33rd Seabee Battalion in the South Pacific during World War II, playing the organ for church services while on the island of Peleliu. He is survived by his wife Marjorie Lorraine, five children, nine grandchildren, brother Rex Rollins Brittenham, and nieces and nephews.

Mary Sherman Caskey died on March 20 at the age of 83, in Cornwall, New York. Born in Fremont, Ohio, she received a music degree from Oberlin College, and also attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she studied organ with her friend and mentor Claire Coci.
Mrs. Caskey served as organist at Bantam Episcopal Church in Bantam, Connecticut, Moulton Memorial Baptist Church in Newburgh, New York, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Cornwall, and at Grace Episcopal Church in Middletown, New York for 30 years, where she created the Festival Brass Group, with whom she presented a concert at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. She was active in local organizations, including with Meals on Wheels and the local AGO chapter. Mary Caskey is survived by her son Jeremy Carroll, his wife Anne, and son Tyler.

Bess Hieronymus, 85 years old, died March 22 in San Antonio, Texas. Professor emerita in the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Music, she had developed and spearheaded the organ studies program there.
Born in Temple, Texas, she began playing piano at age three and had her first organist position at age twelve. She earned a bachelor of music degree in piano from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in humanities in 1995, and a master’s degree in music from Smith College, where she wrote her thesis under the direction of Alfred Einstein. She earned a DMA in organ performance and musicology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Hieronymus served on the faculty of Trinity University, San Antonio College, and for over 30 years at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the first woman to be appointed full professor there. She built a nationally known organ department and supervised the installation of the 1982 Casavant organ, named the Bess Hieronymus Pipe Organ in 2004, in the school’s Recital Hall. The Bess Hieronymus Scholarship Endowment in Organ and an eponymous faculty endowment were established in her honor. Dr. Hieronymus also organized the William Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio.
She concertized in many countries and served as organist-choir director at Madison Square Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Alamo Heights Methodist Church, Temple Beth-El, and at the First Presbyterian Church, where she served for over 27 years and was named organist emerita. Her numerous awards include the Yellow Rose of Texas Education Award, and a resolution from the Texas House of Representatives for her musical contributions to the State of Texas. Bess Hieronymus was preceded in death by her parents and older brother.

David Ramsey died January 17 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 68 years old. He made his debut as an organist at age nine, at Woodbine Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He received a bachelor of music degree in 1961 from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and a master of sacred music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Vernon deTar and Alec Wyton. He joined the faculty of Rhodes College as accompanist and associate conductor of the college choir, and was named Distinguished Service Professor of Music in 2001. He served as director of music-organist at Holy Communion (Episcopal), St. John’s United Methodist, and First Presbyterian churches in Memphis.
A 50-year member of the AGO, he served as dean of the Memphis chapter five times. A skilled improviser, Mr. Ramsey also played for the local professional baseball team, often quoting hymns during his playing if he knew a church group was in attendance. David Ramsey is survived by his sister Gayla Sutton, brother-in-law Barry Sutton, nephew Eric, and aunt, Charlene Turner.

Rev. Dr. Jaroslav J. Vajda, composer, hymn writer, and musician, died on May 10. A Lutheran pastor, Rev. Vajda was named editor of Concordia Publishing House’s This Day magazine in 1963, and served Concordia as book developer and editor from 1971 until his retirement in 1986. Vajda was the author of over 200 hymn texts, including “Now the Silence,” “God of the Sparrow,” “Christ Goes Before,” “Go, My Children, with My Blessing,” and “Now the Silence.” He also made effective translations from Slavic languages. His hymns and translations can be found in nearly 50 hymnals of various Christian denominations worldwide. Pastor Vajda was named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. The complete collection of his hymns, Sing Peace, Sing Gift of Peace, was published in 2003. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Louise, two daughters and two sons, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Marian Craighead (née Reiff), of Rochester, NY, died on May 8, at age 76, following a valiant six-year battle with ovarian cancer. At the time of her death, Mrs. Craighead was in her fortieth year as organist of Asbury First United Methodist Church in Rochester, where she was singularly beloved by her choir and congregation. A memorial service was held at the church on May 12, which included music of Bach, Brahms, Copland and Franck.

Born in 1919 in New Cumberland, PA, Marian Reiff began her organ studies at the age of 14 and went on to receive a BA in English from Lebanon Valley College. She then attended Westminster Choir College where she studied organ with Alexander McCurdy, receiving her BMus, and was later a member of the organ faculty at Westminster Choir College as well as assistant to Dr. McCurdy at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Subsequent church positions were held in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

In 1948 she married David Craighead and in 1955 they moved to Rochester where he assumed the position as head of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music. It was at this time that Marian joined the staff at Asbury First, while continuing to play recitals in various parts of the country. In recent years she joined her husband in concerts for organ duet, performing in numerous cities nationwide. Westminster Choir College honored her during their 1993 commencement activities by presenting her with their annual Alumni Merit Award in recognition of her contributions and achievements as an organist.

Throughout most of her adult life, Marian Craighead's musical energies were focused on her church, whose sanctuary and organ were new when Marian came to Asbury First. Her service playing, accompaniments and solo repertoire were consistently of the highest quality, as was her sensitivity to worship. During her long illness she often remarked on the blessings of her work as it related to her courage to do battle with cancer. She wrote "As one whose entire adult life has been involved in church music, I find myself recalling snatches of solos and anthems based on the poetry of the Psalms and leaning on the strength and faith expressed in those wonderful words." In spite of continual discomfort from the effects of radiation and chemotherapy, in addition to pain from the disease itself, Marian Craighead continued to play until Christmas Eve, 1995. Although she was desperately ill that night, many spoke at the time of it having been the most beautiful service they had ever heard her play. Prior to that time she had not missed any rehearsals or services for which she was scheduled, except for short periods of hospital stays. She truly lived her belief in the power of music to uplift the lives of people, and it gave her immense strength and energy.

In 1990-1991, Asbury First United Methodist Church celebrated Marian's extraordinary contributions to the musical and spiritual life of the church. She was lauded for "her brilliant musical accomplishments, her never-ending loyalty, her boundless energy in pursuit of excellence, the generosity of her gifts and her time, the warmth of her friendship, her patience as a teacher, and her selfless contributions to Asbury First."

Marian Craighead is survived by David, her husband of 47 years; her son James; daughter Elizabeth Eagan and two grandsons, Christopher and Jeffrey Eagen.

Russell Bigelow Gress died in his sleep of a heart attack on March 28 at the age of 55. A lifetime resident of Little Rock, AR, he was a passionate organ music supporter, amateur organ builder, educator and locksmith. He was a member of Christ Episcopal Church and donated the Swell Diapason for the recently installed Nichols-Simpson organ. Mr. Gress graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1958 and the University of Arkansas in 1963, earning a BA in English. He taught for 25 years in the Little Rock Public School District, taking early retirement for health reasons. A memorial service was held at Christ Church on April 1. Memorials may be made to the Organ Fund, Christ Episcopal Church, 509 S. Scott, Little Rock, AR 72201