Meet the members of the Board of Directors of New Horizons International Music Association for 2010. In addition, meet the Newsletter Editor and the NHIMA Webmaster. Click a name to read about that person. You can send an e-mail to any of them by clicking their name in their biography.
My name is Pam Bolton, and I reside in a wonderful area of Ontario, Canada called “The Kawartha Lakes.” Our home is located on the Otonobee river and is about five miles outside the city of Peterborough. My husband Allan and I have a blended family of four married sons, three daughters-in-law and six beautiful grandchildren. In April 2001, I retired from my position as Production Coordinator/Manager for the Canadian division of Liberty Mutual Insurance company. A year after I retired, my former high school music teacher, Peter Ford, called and asked me if I would be interested in playing again as he was starting a New Horizons Band in Peterborough. I attended his first information meeting, fell in love with the whole NHB concept, and I immediately jumped on the “band wagon.” I have never looked back, and I readily and happily admit that it has taken over my life. I play alto sax in a Wind Ensemble, a Swing Band, a 20 piece band that performs at most of the retirement homes, and a sax quartet. I cannot seem to attend any social event in the community without sharing my excitement about “New Horizons” and inviting others to join. All our retirement plans have had to be revised to accommodate my music, so our travels in our motor home aren’t as frequent as planned, and quite often include a music camp, or I make prior arrangements to sit in with other New Horizons bands while travelling. To date, I have had the pleasure of sitting in with the Roswell, Georgia NHB, the Elkhart, Indiana NHB and in January and February I hope to play with the Desert Foothills NHB in Phoenix, Arizona. The New Horizons organization has provided so much enjoyment and opportunity to so many people in so many places and the opportunity for continued growth has no boundaries. I consider it a privilege to belong to NHIMA and an honour to be a director.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play the alto saxophone from elementary school through high school. Like so many people, I sold my saxophone after high school, assuming I would never play again. I often wondered about playing, but it seemed there were no bands or chances to start over. That all changed when I heard the Rochester New Horizons Band play in 2001. After a decade of planning complex trips and events as a travel agent, the changes in the travel industry lead to my retirement, so the timing was perfect. My husband and best friend surprised me with a saxophone for Christmas, I joined New Horizons and my life has never been the same. I play in The Rochester New Horizons Symphonic Band and Big Band. I also play in the Greece (NY) Jazz Band. Being part of New Horizons not only brings the joy of performing music, but it also has been the catalyst for many new friendships. I have attended band camps and have met so many interesting and fantastic people from all over the US and Canada. The joy of playing under different directors at the camps and making life long friends is an added bonus of New Horizons. My husband of 36 years recently retired from Eastman Kodak and is now a college professor. We have lived in Columbus and Dayton Ohio, Chicago, and Rochester, New York. We have two grown sons, one who is an instrumental music teacher in Hornell, New York, and one who is married. He and his wife have a one year old son, and I am so lucky to be able to babysit two days a week. New Horizons has brought music back into my life, and I am honored and very excited to be a member of the NHIMA board. I am anxious to be able to give back in some small way to a great organization that has given so much to so many people.
Linda A. Hartley is a Professor of Music at the University of Dayton where she serves as Coordinator of Music Education. She has conducted the University Concert Band and the Pride of Dayton Marching Band, teaches a variety of music education courses, supervises student teachers, and advises music education students. She is the initiator and Coordinator of the UD Summer Music Graduate Workshop series and the “Summers-only” masters degree program for music educators, which began in 2002. In 2000, Dr. Hartley was the recipient of the University of Dayton College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award, and the recipient of the University of Dayton 2003 Outstanding Teacher Award. Dr. Hartley is the liaison for a local elementary band program, where her music education students serve as primary instructors. In Fall 2000, Dr. Hartley began a beginning band program on campus for senior adults ages 50 and over – the UD New Horizons Concert Band, where music education majors assist as instructors. This band performs for local events and was featured at sessions for the 2002 and 2007 Ohio Music Education Association State Conferences in Cincinnati and Columbus. Additionally, the UD New Horizons Jazz Band, as well as the German “Oom Pah” Band, Dixieland Band, and chamber ensembles are also active with various local performances. Receiving her music education degrees from Bowling Green State University and Kent State University, Dr. Hartley instructed instrumental music for eight years in grades 5-12 in the Tallmadge City Schools (Ohio) where she also chaired the music department. For three years she supervised and taught instrumental music grades 5-8 at St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Kent, Ohio. Prior to her appointment at UD in 1991, Dr. Hartley taught at Mount Union College and Virginia Tech. Dr. Hartley has served the Ohio Music Education Association as an elected member of the Board of Trustees, State Editor of Triad, District 12 President, State Advisor for the Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association, Research Committee, Editorial Board for Contributions in Music Education research journal, and is the Advisor for the UD OCMEA chapter. She was Chair of the 2007 OMEA state conference in Columbus. She also serves as an adjudicator for OMEA solo and ensemble, large group, and marching band events. In addition, Dr. Hartley is an adjudicator for Music in the Parks National Festivals. She has been an adjudicator for the Kentucky Music Educators Association state concert band festival, and often gives clinic sessions and guest conducts for honors bands, and New Horizons Bands. Dr. Hartley is a member of MENC, OMEA, and the College Band Directors National Association. She remains active as a saxophonist. Research interests have included the starting grade level of beginning band, women and minorities in the band conducting profession, and most recently the starting grade level of beginning orchestra. Presentations have been given throughout the US and abroad. Publications include articles in The Instrumentalist, Journal of Band Research, Journal of Research in Music Education, Contributions to Music Education, and several state music education journals. As a research associate for the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, contributions can be found in the ‘March’ text as well as the ‘Beginning Band Vol. 2.’ Musical Perspective: When I was five years old, I began taking piano lessons from our neighborhood piano teacher, Mrs. Greenwald. At age 10 she gave me organ lessons, which I enjoyed very much (especially the foot pedals). In fifth grade my parents let me choose a band instrument to play. After carefully surveying the sounds I liked, I chose the saxophone. Continuing the piano throughout high school, I became active in the bands and choirs, and served as the accompanist for my high school choir. I continued to have wonderful experiences in my college bands. Since I was about in the seventh grade, I knew that I wanted to become a band director and be able to share the enjoyment of music making with thousands of future students. I stayed the course and have been teaching bands my entire professional career. I thank my parents for their continued support of my musical career, and am proud to have them as members in my New Horizons Band!
I began playing the cornet when I was in the 4th grade in Newton, Iowa and continued playing either trumpet or cornet with the Newton Grade School, Junior High, and High School Bands as well as the High School Orchestra. I was accepted and played with the 1960 & 1961 “Iowa All State Bands” and also played with the Drake University Band while earning a business administration degree. The horn was then sat aside for nearly 40 years while my attention turned to career and family. I worked for the GuideOne Insurance Group for 40 years, starting as a part time mail & supply clerk and ending as the Operations Officer of their life insurance company when I retired 40 years later. I am also a retired Command Sergeant Major, from the US Army Reserve. Shortly before my retirement, our local newspaper featured an article about the recently formed “Des Moines New Horizons Band.”” That article, along with the anticipated “free” time that retirement would bring, was all that it took for me to join up. It only took a few months before my wife dusted off her son’s old flute and also joined. Bobbie was new to the flute, but not to music. Today, our music has become a focal point for us as a couple. We attended the 2006 and 2007 New Horizon Band Camps at Interlochen, Michigan and the 2008 Camps at Olympia, Washington and Chautauqua, New York. The social aspects and friendships that have resulted from our New Horizons membership are as important to us as the music itself. Joining the Des Moines NHB was just what I needed to help me bring back some of my “Trumpeter” skills from the past. In Iowa, I also played with the Urbandale Community Adult Band and the “Iowa Military Veterans Band.” We moved to Oregon in November 2008 to enjoy the milder Oregon Winter and to be closer to our youngest grandchild. Both Bobbie and I are currently playing with the Corvallis New Horizons Band which we were familiar with from previously having sat in while visiting in the area.
I tell people that I got my music genes from my kids, both of whom played through college – in fact, my son has a graduate degree in music composition. I also note that there are music genes in all lines of my children’s ancestry. But instrument playing skipped my generation for both my wife, Doris, and me. Until NHB came along, that is. Maryann Flock, our wonderful director in Lisle, Illinois started us in 1998 in the “Standards of Excellence” beginning series, eventually taking us through all three books. We finally became trained musicians – my wife on clarinet (now on bass clarinet) and me on trumpet! Who would have thought? I found in Lisle that our band people are a self-selected group of doers: active, involved, inquisitive, humorous… in short wonderful people to know and delightful companions. It was only natural to want to give back to my local band in some ways, so I helped with the newsletter, the ten year anniversary celebration, and other tasks. Now it is only natural to expand that effort in furthering the goals of NHIMA. I am lucky and honored to be seated on this Board of Directors. I’m still employed, but retirement is not too far away. Along the course of my life to get me to this point, I have served in the U.S. Navy, graduated from Michigan State (BS) and Penn State (MS), married (40 years in 2010!), became a father of two great kids, and worked in various capacities in the industrial hydraulic and pneumatics field. And now I am a musician!
On Bob’s second birthday, the world witnessed one of the most significant events in all of history, the day of Pearl Harbor. Autumn of 1991 was another very special point in time in which the vision of Roy Ernst was on it’s way to becoming a reality. The New Horizons Concept was created, followed by the process of evolving into one of the greatest things since sliced bread. Meanwhile, in the fall of 1950, Bob began a career that is still expanding and growing. A family owned cornet, manufactured by the H. N. White Company, was the catalyst that started Bob’s new life in music. He became a performer, then an arranger and a band leader (at the age of fifteen). A colorful collegiate experience was followed by exciting times as an educator, a conductor, a church musician, an instrument repair technician, and finally a New Horizons Band Director. During this time, he also became a husband and a father. Band camps became an integral part of Bob’s musical life, beginning with a camp created by Stan Kenton in 1960. This two-week event was filled with activities directed by some of the finest professional musicians on the jazz scene. The New Horizons Camps are a constant stimulus to everyone involved, campers and instructors alike. The mix is a very pleasant combination of musical development and social activities. Inflated egos and stress, usually associated with groups of musicians, is pretty much non-existent. No one cares who plays first. This attitude is unique and it creates an environment that is so pleasant that it defies description. The New Horizons Concept is alive and well in Roswell, Georgia, as the members possess positive attitudes and have very regular attendance at rehearsals and performances. The concert band membership numbers ninety, which includes: two seventeen-piece jazz bands, a Dixieland band, several smaller groups and a rather busy schedule. The Roswell Board of Directors has provided great administrative leadership as exemplified by both the very busy day to day activities and the hosting of annual band camps. These camps, of which the first was in 2003, are held at the Unicoi Lodge and State Park in Helen, Georgia. They have had good attendance, overwhelming positive comments from the campers and they do make a difference. In January, 2008, the Roswell New Horizons Band will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a performance in Savannah, Georgia for the Georgia Music Educators Annual Conference. A very special feature of this performance will feature a world premier by Dr. Roy Ernst as a flute soloist on Bob’s arrangement of the “Brazilian Concerto for Flute.” Bob has been with the band for eight of those ten years. Bob’s music education background includes the University of Mississippi, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Berklee School of Music at Boston, the Stan Kenton Band Camp, numerous other conferences and workshops while teaching in the public schools of North Carolina and Georgia, and several New Horizons Music Camps.
I, Eve McGrory, retired teacher (M.Ed.), former FBI stenographer, widow, mother of two, grandmother of four, know that music has always been one of the loves of my life. My earliest memories include my mother singing nursery rhymes, one grandmother always humming a tune, other grandparents teaching me the songs and dances of their European heritage. Just last year while touring Bratislava, I asked the guide if she recognized the song I was about to sing. You can imagine my delight when she immediately joined in singing a song in Slovak that my grandparents had taught me so long ago. Piano was a major part of my life from ages six to twelve, when my focus went from practicing to other pursuits. As a new mother in my twenties, I returned to serious study of the piano but became frustrated when the level of play I had as a child was out of reach. So piano-playing was strictly for my own enjoyment until I began teaching, at which time piano again became part of my daily routine as I played and sang for the ceremony which began the school day for approximately one hundred second graders for many years. Then, just as I was ready to retire from teaching in 1997, Kate Levy was forming a New Horizons Band. The timing was perfect! I was finally going to play in a band, something which was denied in childhood due to my gender. My daughter let me borrow her old clarinet and I began to recycle myself musically, this time as a clarinetist. And so I play on, currently in a New Horizons Band (and attending band camps), a community band, a German band and a flute or recorder/clarinet classical duo, ever thankful to Kate Levy and Roy Ernst for opening so many musical and social doors in my retirement. I have a whole new set of friends from all over the United States and Canada, which is a gift. Lest you think I’m entirely single-minded, my other loves include tennis, Scrabble, long walks, swimming, travel, gardening, fine dining with family and friends, dancing, languages, audiobooks, etc., etc. Last but not least, I recently took some group piano lessons at the senior center, bought a drum pad and some sticks, took a few lessons from the percussion instructor in our NHB, and had the privilege of a semi-private lesson with Joan Cantor, NHB percussionist extraordinaire, at Chautauqua. “No one is promised tomorrow,” but I”ll surely be playing on one instrument or another with like-minded people as long as the opportunity arises. Join me! “If music be the food of love, play on...” Shakespeare.
After retiring from the IBM Corporation (sales & marketing in California and New York), I did volunteer work at Corporate Angel Network (CAN) in White Plains, New York. CAN arranges transportation for cancer patients on corporate jets, when a flight plan coincides with the patient’s need to travel for treatment in the United States. This was a most rewarding activity. I played a lot of trumpet in high school and college, then put the horn down until after I retired. I also sang with multiple groups in high school and college. Music has again become an important part of my life in retirement. I currently play the trumpet and flugelhorn in the Simsbury, Connecticut Community Band, the (35-piece) Harmonius Brass Choir, and a big band. I am a member of the International Trumpet Guild and have attended their annual conference. My wife, Sharon, and I have attended New Horizon band camps at Cambria, Olympia, Interlochen, Chautauqua, Ithaca College, the University of Delaware, and Unicoi. The Delaware band camp was a great experience, coming exactly 50 years after I attended my first band camp at the University for the concert band and marching band. Each year I also attend band camps at Allegheny College, Lake Placid and Williamsburg. We did a concert tour of Austria, northern Italy, and Greece with Herb Schultz (University of Vermont) and the American Winds Concert Band. Thru participation in band camps, I get to experience playing under many different directors during the year, learning from each one. We used to go to band camps for the music - now we go because of the people we will meet there. If you, the reader, play an instrument and have never been to a band camp - you are missing out on a marvelous life-experience! In addition to the above musical activities, I enjoy all aspects of photography and working with digital recording technology. I am able to employ both interests documenting our wonderful grandchildren as they pursue their interests in music and sports.
I am a research scientist, now in retirement from the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. Practicing a specialty in astronomical instrument science and design, I was fortunate to participate in nine large telescope projects during my career, and also lucky to be able to earn a living while contributing to the science of astronomy. In addition to 23 years at McDonald Observatory, I was on the faculty of Mercer University from 1971 to 1977, and created the computer science department there. I was born in 1942 and raised in Amarillo and Austin, Texas. My wife Helen Hyams and I have been married since 1996 and live in the Oak Hill area of Austin. I have one son, Timothy, from a previous marriage, born in 1966. In 1951, I had a chance to play oboe parts on a really sorry German-method tenor recorder, which led, through my school years to clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet (my first encounter with transposing), bassoon, and baritone saxophone. In marching season I played the snare drum, and thought I was a fairly good drummer until at age fifteen I met a bona fide rudimental world champion, Frank Arsenault; so I had to start anew, but it was a good lesson and taught me the value of musical precision and disciplined daily practice. In 2004, in a chance meeting with a friend of mine from the 1956-59 band of Wm. B. Travis HS in Austin, TX, I was invited to join the Austin New Horizons Band being conducted by Glenn Richter, who is a former Longhorn Band Director and is a professor of conducting at UT Austin. “You used to play bassoon,” Carol said, “and we surely could use one in New Horizons.” I had heard of Glenn Richter, so this sounded good to me. I was just phasing out of a 5-year stint as Drum Sergeant for the Capitol City Highlanders Pipe Band, and had told them I would continue to teach drummers for their band, but did not wish to perform in public any longer. Fortunately, I had a 1947 Linton bassoon to start with, so after several months of embouchure restoration, I joined the NH Band, and there was pleased to find 5 former students from Travis HS. The 60-odd NHB members are fortunate indeed to have this extended encounter with Glenn Richter; I count him among the handful of truly great teachers I’ve known. Glenn was delighted to have even a struggling bassoonist, and the challenge of learning new skills to match his music selections has kept me practicing and developing the art of bassoon playing, spawning many searches for resources, advice, materials, technique, etc. Realizing that this effort would probably last the rest of my life, I became a life member of NHIMA to confirm my final musical commitment. Meeting Dr. Ernst and traveling to several band camps served to reinforce this sense of involvement in music, so I suppose I always needed to do it. After heavy music experience in high school, getting educated included earning the B.A. and M.A. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in computer science (1972) from UT Austin. Having no bassoon during my college years, I managed to maintain a substantial interest in the percussive arts, performing with the UT symphony and concert band for 6 years. These days, I spend a lot of time studying music theory and performance, and have purchased two better bassoons, a 1973 Schreiber Pro and an older Adler with a sweet tone. Besides New Horizons Band and camp activities, I play bassoon in the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble, and have played with several community orchestras from time to time. My primary interest as a bassoonist is in the classical field, but I am interested in all forms of musical and other artistic expression.
Roy Ernst is a professor emeritus of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, where he taught for 25 years and chaired the music education department for 12 years. In 1991, Dr. Ernst started the first New Horizons Band at Eastman for the purpose of creating a model program emphasizing entry and re-entry points to music making for senior adults. Later, he became the founding director of the New Horizons Music Project, funded by the National Association of Music Merchants and the National Association of Band Instrument Manufacturers. In that capacity, he used the New Horizons Band as a model to assist in starting more than 100 similar programs in the United States and Canada. Publications by Ernst include books and articles on conducting, flute performance, and music education. He is the founding director of The Aesthetic Education Institute in Rochester, New York. He conducts frequently at New Horizons Institutes-national and international events for New Horizons band and orchestra members. Before moving to Eastman in 1975, he taught flute, conducted the wind ensemble, and was a member of the music education faculty at Georgia State University. In 1984, he was a visiting professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, Australia. Recognitions and honors to Roy Ernst include the President's Arts Achievement Award from his alma mater, Wayne State University; an Outstanding Educator Award from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; The Richard Snook Award from the Monroe County Music Educators; and recognition as one of the Grand Masters of Music Education by the Music Educators National Conference, the 85,000 member professional association for music educators. Ernst began his career in Michigan, where he taught instrumental music in elementary and secondary schools. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. from The University of Michigan. Roy lives in Corning, New York with his wife Pat, who is a food journalist. They travel frequently to visit family and attend New Horizons events. ~~~~~~~~~~
Shirley is a retired English/writing/humanities teacher, currently living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, after spending 30 years in northern Colorado. She and her husband, Jack Tefft, have been buying, remodeling, and reselling homes for the past 15 years, moving every one-two years. Both are hoping to stay in the current house and rest for a bit longer. Before the Northern Colorado NHB formed, Shirley learned to play piano a little, and hammer and mountain dulcimers, but she didn't enjoy playing alone. Then along came New Horizons...... Talk about a life-changing experience! While currently on a semester-long “leave of absence” from the Northern Colorado group, she is playing in the Laramie County Community College Wind Symphony and the Cheyenne Community Band. But both she and Jack are REALLY missing the camaraderie and support of their New Horizons “family.” Shirley welcomes newsletter items from all of the bands, orchestras, choruses and other New Horizons ensembles. The newsletter is published in April and October, with deadlines for submission of March 1 and September 1. Please send all items to [Shirley Michaels].
John is the former Conductor and Brass Coach for a New Horizons orchestra at a music school in Washington state. John served as the Executive Director of the school for two years, and he was instrumental in establishing the New Horizons program there which includes an orchestra, chorus and bluegrass band. John has a B.S. in Mathematics from Eastern New Mexico University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Colorado State University. He spent almost 10 years in the computer industry after a 23 year career in the Army. John is a life long musician, having started on trumpet and adding, among other instruments, the baritone, euphonium and trombone. His musical career includes performing in symphony orchestras, concert bands, Dixieland bands, German bands, wind ensembles, brass quintets, tuba/euphonium quartets, big bands and more, often as the featured soloist, and as a member of the world famous United States Army Band in Washington, D.C. for 6 years in the 1970s. John has always been a very strong advocate for having participatory music a part of everyone's life. Both he and his wife, Linda, were actively involved in the organization and management of another New Horizons Orchestra; he as the Music Director, she as a budding flute player, and both as members of the Board of Directors. John and Linda attended their first New Horizons Music Camp at Chautauqua, New York in September 2004, where John conducted the Intermediate Band and the German Band, and Linda played in the Beginning Band. John more recently taught at the New Horizons Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan in June 2009. As a faculty member, he directed the German Band and the Brass Chamber Music Ensembles. You are invited to send John articles, pictures, stories or any other information about your New Horizons program that you would like to see on the web site. Click his name above to send him an e-mail. |
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