Meet the members of the Board of Directors of New Horizons International Music Association for 2013. In addition, meet the founder of the New Horizons Program. Click any name below to read about that person. You can send an e-mail to any of them by clicking their name in their biography.
I am Lucette Fortier and a flute player in The Villages New Horizons Concert Band (Central Florida). I was born into a musical family; my father was a bassoonist/organist and my mother, a violinist. They met at Ithaca Conservatory (now Ithaca College). Their lives centered around music. My music experience began at a age 5 when I began piano lessons, followed quickly by violin lessons. After 4 years, and very slow progress, I announced I didn’t want to play violin anymore, and my violin teacher told my parents that this was a good decision. I decided I wanted to play the piccolo which I had heard at high school football games. I soon learned that the flute came before the piccolo. I began flute lessons in the 5th grade. My father was my high school band director, and band was the center of my high school days (Miami Edison) and my early college experience (Univ of Miami) where I was a music major. When I left college, I truly abandoned my world of music. I went to work as a law enforcement agent during a time that female agents were relatively rare in that field. After 25 exciting years, I retired. During this period I never played my flute. I married, had 2 wonderful daughters, and found a wonderful second husband whom I met on an FBI bombing scene. How romantic! Andre and I have been married for 32 years. He is very supportive of my renewed interest in music. However, since a nun in grade school told him just to move his lips and pretend to sing, he has never ventured personally into the world of music. For 13 years we lived on a sailboat in Miami and then Key West; upon my retirement, Andre took a transfer to Juneau, Alaska. We both got new wardrobes!!! Alaska was a wonderful experience, but due to elderly family, we returned to Florida after 3 years. It was at this time that we moved to The Villages, Florida, a hyper-active retirement community of about 80,000 people. I joined The Villages New Horizons Concert band in 2003. The Villages currently has 2 large (115 plus) bands, not to mention jazz band, swing band, strollers band, orchestras, etc. I have founded a flute choir group that performs around the area and was also instrumental in forming a flute choir in Vermont, where we now spend our summers. I have also joined The Rutland (Vermont) City band that plays weekly summer concerts in the park. I discovered the New Horizons band camps when both of The Villages band directors got invited to direct at band camps. I attended both Ithaca and Chautauqua band camps with directors Jean Butler and Ward Green. Since then, my summers always include at least one band camp. Andre has been known to accompany me to camps, dragging along our 3 horses for his entertainment. Music was always important to me, but New Horizons has enabled me to become more involved in music during my retirement years than I ever dreamed possible. It is truly a central focus of my daily life. And I am very excited to be serving as a board member for New Horizons - another musical experience that has already led to meeting new people and being exposed to new places and challenges. Thank you Dr. Roy Ernst; you have given so much to so many.
I love playing the tuba. After a 35-year hiatus from making music, I unpacked my schoolboy trumpet and joined a small local community band, but it was only a few months until the dark side beckoned and I descended to the low brass. After a year of playing in 2 community bands, I went in search of adult band camps and found the New Horizons camp at Interlochen which opened the door to the world of music making outside of my remote northern New York community. Shortly thereafter, one of my band directors introduced me to the Association of Concert Bands, which was about to hold its 2008 convention in Corning–my boyhood home. The thrill of that 4 days of concentrated music-making under fabulous direction with so many like-minded souls set the hook hard and fast. It became clear there was no turning back. I retired from a career as a civil/structural engineer in private practice in Canton, New York to make room for more music. I have played in wind ensembles on the campuses of SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music and Saint Lawrence University, and for 2 years was tubist with a local brass quintet. For the past year, I have also been a member of a handbell choir, satisfying the urge to play more than one note at a time. I have recently turned some of my energies for personal music-making into a campaign to get other adults into music, and in September 2009, I founded the New Horizons Band of Northern New York in Potsdam, with nearly 30 senior adults turning out for the first rehearsal, some of whom had never played music before. Current enrollment is now at 40, and we are making frequent public performances. As there was no one waiting in the wings to conduct the band, I have taken on the baton as my primary New Horizons instrument, and am also studying percussion during our class sessions. I have also appeared as guest conductor (okay—I won the raffle!) for the Orchestra of Northern New York, a regional professional orchestra, and I play tuba in the Potsdam Community Band and the Seaway Winds (Cornwall, Ontario). In addition, I serve on the Board of Directors of the Association of Concert Bands. When not making music, I keep busy with duties as a trustee for our community hospital, tending the garden, attending classes with our adult continuing education program and enjoying the open skies as a newly-minted private pilot.
Sally Bowers was the founding director of the first New Horizons Band in the State of Illinois at the Music Institute of Chicago in 1995. In the year 2000, her dedication to the “New Horizons” concept led her to found the North Shore New Horizons Band. Sally is also the director of the New Horizons Band of the DePaul University Community Music Division. She is a member of the music faculty of Lake Forest College, a member of the North Suburban Symphony Orchestra, and is an active conductor, clinician and adjudicator in the Chicago area, as well as regional and national New Horizons events. In January, 2012, she begins a three year term on the Board of the New Horizons International Music Association.
I restarted my musical career in 1999 when I joined with the New Horizons Band at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Because I was a late registrant, I was the last person to be given an instrument; I was hoping for a French horn. But the fellow in line ahead of me refused the instrument he was offered (he had his granddaughter’s clarinet in hand) and the program coordinator handed me the only remaining instrument – a clarinet. After a 40 year hiatus, once again I was learning to play a clarinet. My granddaughters think all Nanas play clarinet! And it’s great fun (dare I say retribution) insisting that my family come to my concerts - in fact, I’m fortunate that both my parents are coming for the second time around. In addition to a being a band member, I have had several roles in my New Horizons Band (London). I chaired the advisory committee for 3 years, with a group of dedicated volunteers coordinated a band exchange with the NHB (Peterborough) for 145 participants, and led the charge in commissioning 2 pieces of music for the London band. I have participated in 4 band camps at Chautauqua and the first NHB caravan in Florida. The New Horizons Band has smoothed the road to retirement. A manager, facilitator and coach/educator at heart, I spent most of my career as an administrator in Ontario’s post secondary education sector, with 20 years specialization in the field of Resource Development. My primary strengths are relationship development and project management. I have served as a community volunteer on several local and provincial boards – United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Theatre London Foundation, and King’s College Foundation. In short, I’m a fundraiser by profession, a mother/grandmother by design, a clarinetist in my dreams, and a pragmatist in real life.
I have been involved in music nearly all of my 74 years. We sang as the family Cryer Choir when we were all home. I started on trumpet in the fifth grade but gravitated to euphonium in seventh grade. (They said my lips were too fat for trumpet but I think they just needed euphonium players!) When they needed string bassists in seventh grade, my best friend, George, and I took up that instrument. Later, when the high school dance/jazz band beckoned, I learned to play my younger sister’s alto sax since George only played bass and he didn’t have a younger sister! I sang a lot all through high school also: concert choir, chamber choir, a male trio, Billy Bigelow in Carousel and Curly in Oklahoma. When I was about to go off to college, I owned a nice 4-valve King euphonium but played a school-owned bass. At college a Four Freshmen-style quartet awaited my singing and playing. So I had little choice. I traded the euphonium for a used bass that I still play today. In college I sang in this quartet, in an eighteen voice mixed chorus (which I also directed one year) and did some more musical theater. I majored in mathematics but sensed that I wanted to apply the math in real-world situations. That led me to pursue a Ph.D. in statistics at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. After graduate school, I taught for 35 years in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at The University of Iowa. Teaching slowed my music making somewhat but I did continue to sing and play bass. As I approached retirement in 2001, I looked around at the adult music opportunities in Iowa City. A friend was playing euphonium in the Iowa City New Horizons Band so I checked them out. I quickly looked around for a euphonium and joined the band. What a wonderful experience it has been! I made many new friends and we formed many new smaller ensembles. I play euphonium in the concert band, the Antique Brass choir and in Tempered Brass, a low brass quartet. In addition, I play string bass in Silver Swing (an 18-piece swing/jazz band), in Three for All (a flute, piano, bass trio) and in Jazzy Flutes and Friends (a flute quartet with piano and bass ‘friends’). I have had many wonderful experiences at New Horizons Music camps in Cambria, UNICOI (many times), Las Cruces, Bend and Chautauqua (many times). I have also attended adult concert band camp at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan for the last 10 years. And I haven’t given up singing. In June 2012, I was selected for the role of Arvide Abernathy in our community theater’s production of Guys and Dolls. I had one singing solo and played euphonium on stage in the Save A Soul Mission Band! Several of my euphonium and singing efforts can be seen on YouTube. You can find them there by searching for MrJonCryer.
Hello and Welcome to New Horizons Bands and Camps. When I joined in 1999 the FUN began for me. I was 60, still working my own business of book sales and struggling with a trauma. I bought a student clarinet, since I had played eight years in school and loved playing in a 100 piece marching band, and a symphonic band. A Hartford, CT, New Horizons Band and a community band welcomed me. At my first band camps at Lake Chautauqua and Lake Placid, NY, I went by myself and met friendly experienced musicians, willing to help the beginners. I met Eve McGrory, a beginner, who introduced me to Maryland musicians. We have roomed together and gone to camps in Cambria Pines, CA; Unicoi Mountains of GA; Williamsburg, VA. For several years between camps, Eve’s bands have welcomed me at rehearsals and performances (three on a July Fourth weekend). I learned that older musicians do not define themselves by their work or former careers. What a revelation! Life beyond my business, that I loved. The Hartford NH Band needed a tenor sax, so after a year of clarinet, I learned tenor sax and like it better. When I went to Sydney, AUS, band camp, just my mouthpiece went with me for a borrowed sax. You don’t have to be in a NH Band to go to a NH Band camp. Just become a member of NHIMA for a discount on the camp you want to attend. Sign up early for your skill level on line. Maybe you’ll want to start a band in your area. Help will be on the way for you. At NHB camps your fun is only limited by your attitude. In July 2011, I had open heart surgery and an eight day set back. My goal was to be at three camps in four weeks in September/October at Williamsburg, Chautauqua and Williamsport, PA. With the driving help of my camper friends and afternoon naps, I had wonderful times. What a good way to heal. Making music is great therapy. Come join us!
My roots are in Oklahoma, growing up in a small town that straddles Rte. 66 near Tulsa. The music teacher for the school system intoduced us to the “Tonette” in early grades and so I began my musical journey. In the 4th grade, we were invited to learn a band instrument; a cousin had an old saxophone in the attic, and my second phase began. I played alto sax in the Chelsea High School band, was noticed at a music festival and invited to play with the “Shadow Lake Eight”, so I played tenor, bari and clarinet on weekend gigs while getting my B. S. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Oklahoma A & M (now Oklahoma State). Being required to take ROTC for 2 years, I chose Air Force, and was surprised to find myself qualified for Advanced ROTC and pilot training. After receiving my commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with my diploma, I went on to fly the C-130 for the USAF for 4 years, then left the service as a Captain to fly as a Boeing 707 and 747 Flight Engineer for Pan American World Airways. When Pan Am folded in 1991, I was a 747 First Officer. I filled out my time until mandatory retirement at age 60 as a 747 Captain for Kalitta Air, flying cargo on charter worldwide. I had sold my horns at graduation, being fed up with late hours and smoky rooms, but there was an empty place in my life where music used to be, so about 8 years ago, I happened to see a letter on the local library bulletin board inviting people of a certain age who wanted to play in a band to come to rehearsals at SUNY Fredonia with a New Horizons band. I rented an alto, found that my fingers knew where the notes were, and here I am today, having moved to the baritone sax as my main horn. I am married to Sally and we live in Angola, NY, where she grew up. We have 5 grandgirls in Buffalo and Charleston, SC, and 3 cats at home. New Horizons has been an immeasurably positive force in my life. I feel so fortunate to have found music again after all those years. I have made many new lifelong friends at the Band Camps whom, needless to say, I would have never known otherwise. The opportunity to express oneself through music in a group, all harmoniously striving for the same thing, is priceless. I have served the New Horizons Band of Western New York as Steering Committee member and Chair and hope that I can give something back to this great organization as a member of the NHIMA Board of Directors.
I am a member of the Desert Foothills New Horizons Band in Phoenix, Arizona. I play flute in our Concert Band, and as of October of this year, alto sax in the Jazz Band. I have been a member since the beginning of our band in 1995. At that point in time, I had just retired as Music Department Secretary at Grand Canyon University and as piano and saxophone instructor at Monty’s Music in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was playing saxophone in the University Wind Ensemble. When the opportunity arose to join the New Horizons Band, I was excited and took that opportunity to start a new instrument, the flute. It has truly been a very rewarding experience. I have attended band camps in Snowmass, Chautauqua, Georgia, Cambria, Interlochen, New Mexico, Washington, and Wisconsin; all of which gave me the opportunity to meet and make many new friends. I have always been a “crafty” person and am always looking for new and interesting challenges. My latest is “scroll sawing”. Now that is a challenge!!! As with most every member of New Horizons groups, the list of interests, hobbies, etc. could go on and on. This is the one very special thing about working with this organization - everyone has such an amazing background! It has enriched my life and the lives of so many people in so many ways. That is why I feel it is so important for us to do all that we can to make it available to all that are interested in making music, making new friends, and keeping our minds and bodies active and alert. The investment of our time is worth everything!
Nancy is the founder, manager and assistant director of the Helena New Horizons Concert Band. The Band was formed on February 27, 2011 with fifteen members and now boasts fifty musicians. Nancy began her love of music at the age of five when she began playing the violin. She switched to the flute and piccolo in the seventh grade and continued playing and acting as a student conductor in both High School and College. She has played throughout the years in small groups, and while living in Florida played with The Villages New Horizons Concert Band. When she returned to Helena, Montana, she brought the love of the New Horizons concept with her. That inspired her to begin the Helena New Horizons Concert Band. Nancy has attended many New Horizons Band camps including Ithaca, Interlochen (twice), Chautauqua and Unicoi. She is currently learning to play the trombone. Nancy has a Doctorate in Business Administration, and a Master’s Degree in Management. She has had a varied career that encompassed everything from public school teaching to training pilots in the art of flying helicopters. She retired as the Manager of the Federal Aviation Administration/Flight Standards Office, with responsibility for the State of Montana. Since retirement she has headed several community projects and serves as a board member for Intermountain Children’s Home in Helena, Montana.
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; an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in recognition of his work in adult education; 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 Tarpon Springs, Florida with his wife Pat, who is a food journalist. They travel frequently to visit family and attend New Horizons events. ~~~~~~~~~~
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A one-hour interview entitled “Chordially Yours”, with New Horizons Founder, Roy Ernst, is available for purchase on DVD. Roy talks about his school days and early music experiences. He also talks about his early career and his time at the Eastman School of Music. Of special interest to those involved in New Horizons is the description of his original idea for a band for retired people and how his philosophy has grown into an international program. To order the DVD, send a check for $25.00 (which includes shipping) to Peggy Hall, 508 Panorama Trail, Rochester, New York 14625. 