Finding Their Voices - Amherst College

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chorus never came to be, as the future success of the Musical Association seems to have hinged on concert proceeds from other musical groups trained by the instructors it hired. Even though the Music Association, too, was perpetually in debt, at least it had a reliable source of income. The Musical Association The Amherst College Musical Association rose dramatically from the ashes of the Beethoven Society in the fall of 1870. As soon as it appeared, it began offering a “Singing School,” hiring a voice teacher named “Prof. Cheney” from Vermont to lead the lessons, and quickly garnering a full membership of 96 members, an enormous number given that the college had a total enrollment of 261. 36 Subsidized by the Musical Association, the Singing School cost two dollars for twenty-four lessons and was offered both to students and to residents of the town. At the end of the course, Cheney’s students gave a joint concert with the Glee Club. According to The Amherst Student, the concert was “not a great success.” 37 Cheney seems not to have been a very effective teacher. One of his students at Amherst wrote: “[Cheney] tried to give us a little inspiration with his violin and rather unappealing tenor voice, but it soon became evident that his efforts were inadequate to the needs of the situation.” 38 Even so, his cheap price must have won out over his skills, as Cheney continued to find business in Amherst for several more years. Although he would not offer another Singing School until 1874, some musical groups at Amherst seem to have relied on him for training and for musical supplies. The Glee Club secured him to help direct their rehearsals in 1871 and 1874, and the College !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36 About the formation of the school see The Amherst Student (24 September 1870): 5, 6; about Musical Association membership numbers see The Olio, 16 (September 1870). 37 The Amherst Student (11 February, 1871): 5. 38 Sumner Salter ’77. Quote taken from a 1942 letter written to “Mr. Dyer,” found in the Sumner Salter ‘1877 Alumni Biographical Files, ACASC. ! 30!
Orchestra, inaugurated in late 1871, soon hired him as an instructor. 39 The orchestra also received some of their first sheet music from Cheney, purchasing a set of music books from him in June 1872 for the relatively low price of $5.00. 40 Cheney offered one final Singing School in 1874 before disappearing from Amherst life entirely. Just who this Cheney was remains something of a mystery. Like Meekins, his first name was never mentioned in print. A Cheney family from Vermont, many members of which gave voice lessons, did exist in the mid 1840s, and were fairly well known in musical circles for the vocal concerting they had done as a family around that time. Many of them had moved out of the state by 1870, but one, Simeon Pease Cheney (who was said to have a tenor voice) still lived in Vermont. The only aspect of this Cheney that does not quite fit with the Amherst narrative is that he was said to possess a very fine voice. Simeon, born in 1818, would have been past 50 years of age if he had appeared in Amherst in 1870, which might explain the “unappealing” vocal qualities described by Salter. Another possibility is Albert Baker Cheney, one of Simeon’s two sons, who would later go on to teach Vocal Music at Emerson College. Albert would have been 18 in 1870. 41 The College Orchestra Although Cheney had remained active in Amherst for four years, his involvement with the Musical Association seems only to have extended to his first Singing School. For the next several years the activities of the Musical Association were limited to a vote !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 39 About the Glee Club and Cheney see The Amherst Student (3 June, 1871); about Cheney’s connections with the Orchestra see The Amherst Student (5 May, 1872). 40 Orchestra Account Book 1872-1873; p. 3. Box 1, Folder 21 of the Music at Amherst Collection, ACASC. 41 For information about Simeon and his family, see Egbert Swayne, “A Vermont Musical Family,” Music: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art, Science, Technic and Literature of Music, 11, no. 2 (December 1896): 117-124. ! 31!
Page 1 and 2: Finding their Voices: Student Activ
Page 3 and 4: Figures and Musical Examples All Am
Page 5 and 6: A Beginning: The Doctor and the War
Page 7 and 8: Seelye was convinced that in Bigelo
Page 9 and 10: whenever Bigelow was on steady fina
Page 11 and 12: the official curriculum. Fortunatel
Page 13 and 14: the development of music education
Page 15 and 16: on this scare source material, it i
Page 17 and 18: Henry Ward Beecher, who would later
Page 19 and 20: elow their titles. 18 This collecti
Page 21 and 22: years. The impermanence of these gr
Page 23 and 24: ! Figure'1.1'*'Amherst'College'Banj
Page 25 and 26: College Orchestra 1860-1862 Instrum
Page 27 and 28: Delta Kappa Epsilon Glee Club 1876-
Page 29 and 30: One final disclaimer is necessary b
Page 31 and 32: grant a request of the Beethoven So
Page 33: and vocal scores; planned scenery a
Page 37 and 38: Association was eventually able to
Page 39 and 40: deemed an enormous success, and the
Page 41 and 42: It is rumored that President Seelye
Page 43 and 44: music and how they viewed the respo
Page 45 and 46: would not be able to pay, Zuchtmann
Page 47 and 48: in late 1883 in the student newspap
Page 49 and 50: performances. With one single excep
Page 51 and 52: Somehow the college authorities fai
Page 53 and 54: student, but when the organ arrived
Page 55 and 56: of his material from the 1869 New A
Page 57 and 58: Figure 1.2 - Old Doc with his cello
Page 59 and 60: involved with his students. 91 He r
Page 61 and 62: The Board of Trustees began address
Page 63 and 64: singing schools or even provide pri
Page 65 and 66: I intend to fill in some of these a
Page 67 and 68: The most difficult part of such a p
Page 69 and 70: Ritter from 1867-1891), who gave le
Page 71 and 72: accepted as an equivalent for some
Page 73 and 74: wrote an essay on the subject in 18
Page 75 and 76: e reconciled, —a proper subordina
Page 77 and 78: into the art they profess the disti
Page 79 and 80: Figure 2.1: Mount Holyoke Banjo Clu
Page 81 and 82: sighted view of music as an entirel
Page 83 and 84: oard agreed with Taylor, and the ch
Page 85 and 86:
performances, where they would play
Page 87 and 88:
a group well represented in the adm
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The evening was passed with pleasur
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ody. The president had constant tro
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highly involved in the group’s ac
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Figure 2.3 - The first issue of Dwi
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are not now prepared to state. A sy
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accumulations during its twenty yea
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chorus pieces by Mendelssohn, as we
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Mr. Paine to place high Music on it
Page 105 and 106:
“neither Guido nor his immediate
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Music is a science, and Music is a
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influence need be limited to the in
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numbers seem to have somewhat overw
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Paine’s training many of these co
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Chapter Three Music in America We n
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throne. Under his rule Henry’s re
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the use of music between the two th
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Wherefore, although we look far and
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entirely by the congregation. Every
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Ravenscroft’s The Whole Booke of
Page 127 and 128:
a series of Biblical examples and p
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By the late seventeenth century som
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World.” 184 The old style had cle
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Figure 3.1 - Examples of notation i
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HUMAN HORROR, Secretary. Billings c
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Feminine and Trivial: American Perc
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instrument was convenient for many
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should aspire, his Messiah and othe
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and Haydn Society. What might today
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Upon Mason’s arrival in Boston in
Page 147 and 148:
Perhaps indicative of the prominenc
Page 149 and 150:
Woodbridge’s lecture alone did no
Page 151 and 152:
unification of the country’s 39 d
Page 153 and 154:
Following this concert, the orchest
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thousand springs that the Giver of
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Looking back to Amherst College, we
Page 159 and 160:
Afterword William Bigelow’s trial
Page 161 and 162:
practice or ensemble work should co
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Appendix A. Dictionary of Amherst C
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Amherst” and “The Senior Song,
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Years Active: 1885-1929 In late 188
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Cinyrea Years active: c. 1856? - 18
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“‘Beauty’s’ Immense Octoqui
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perfect imitation of the bagpipes.
Page 175 and 176:
Figure'A.1'-'The'serpent'used'by'th
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Figure'A.3'-'The'Amherst'College'Or
Page 179 and 180:
Figure'A.5'-'Calliopean'Quartette,'
Page 181 and 182:
Figure'A.7'+'The'Amphion'Sextette,'
Page 183 and 184:
Figure A.9 - The Amherst College Gl
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Figure A.11 - The Glee Club at Lake
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Appendix B. Summary of Amherst Coll
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art of Music given in Amherst Colle
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Appendix D. Edward Hitchcock Jr., P
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of his glory with the English Peopl
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known as the “Mysteries,” and i
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shepherds abiding in the field, kee
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exciting majestic a work as Handel'
Page 201 and 202:
Committee [4] and received by a maj
Page 203 and 204:
institution to the President's hous
Page 205 and 206:
On commencement day the band perfor
Page 207 and 208:
C.B. Pratt - Assos. Master W.P. Pai
Page 209 and 210:
The instruments were examined and f
Page 211 and 212:
Friday morning, July 4 th [35] The
Page 213 and 214:
Chas. K. Whipple [Charles King, 183
Page 215 and 216:
E.P Russell - Ass. Master A.R. Thay
Page 217 and 218:
April 27th 1830 - The Band met in t
Page 219 and 220:
Mortimer Blake - Secretary Daniel L
Page 221 and 222:
Band met and played quite well cons
Page 223 and 224:
Amherst College, Oct. 13, 1834 Coll
Page 225 and 226:
Appendix G. Religious status of the
Page 227 and 228:
Appendix H. Report by the Harvard P
Page 229 and 230:
those of Homer, and Plato, and Newt
Page 231 and 232:
4. The next thing to be secured, is
Page 233 and 234:
Appendix I. Melody and original wor
Page 235 and 236:
Boston Musical Gazette 1, nos. 1-7
Page 237 and 238:
Ryan, Thomas. Recollections of an O
Page 239 and 240:
Leaver, Robin A. Luther's Liturgica
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Finding Their Voices - Amherst College

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