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 For
almost 50 years, Robert Dodson has studied music, performed music,
taught music and worked for institutions dedicated
to the future of music and music education. In this Conservatory
News interview, our new dean discusses
the rewards and challenges of his lifetime in music.
You
have an interesting family history in music and music education.
Tell me about that.
At
least three generations of my family have been involved in professional
music. My maternal grandfather, Barrett Stout, was born in West
Virginia in 1890. Orphaned at the age of six by a typhoid epidemic,
he moved about from one farm to another as far from home as Oklahoma
and Missouri. One of his host families sent him off to college in
Kirksville, Missouri, where he eventually settled, started a family,
and opened a music store. During this time he began to sing seriously
and to consider a career in music beyond the music store, which
led to his completing a master's degree at NYU and, ultimately,
a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. He began his academic career
at what is now Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville
and eventually became dean of the School of Music at Lousiana State
University. He also participated prominently in the affairs of two
national associations, MENC and NASM.
My uncle Kemble
Stout was a fine pianist and composer. He completed a Ph.D. in music
composition at the Eastman School and for most of his academic life
was head of the School of Music at Washington State University.
A few months ago, a surprise package arrived in the mail containing
a CD of Kemble's most recent piano recital, which he recorded in
his eighties.
Although my
parents were not musicians, they shared a love for music. My father
didn't have musical opportunities in his childhood (although his
maternal grandfather was a fiddler). He discovered music through
my mother, and it became a centerpiece of their life together. They
assembled a large collection of recordings and by the time I finished
high school, I had heard
most of the major symphonic and chamber music repertoire and many
operas. Through my father's work as a scientist I met some passionate
amateur musicians in the scientific community. Two became particularly
influencial: a fine pianist who played Beethoven cello sonatas with
me, and an admirable cellist. As you can see, my musical opportunities
were abundant.
Let
me share one particularly life-changing experience. I had been studying
cello with Signe Sandstrom, a student of Maurice Eisenberg and Pablo
Casals, and whose influence has been very important to me. It was
the fall of my junior year in high school, and I learned that the
great Pablo Casals would be making his first public appearance after
a life-threatening heart attack, at the Casals Festival in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. I begged so often to attend that I eventually gave
up; but on my birthday a few months later I discovered on my bedside
table a round-trip ticket to San Juan, a full season subscription
to the Festival, and a rehearsal pass. So I played hooky for three
weeks; had an incredibly wonderful adventure; attended every concert
and rehearsal; heard Casals play all of the Beethoven Sonatas with
Serkin, Horszowski and others, and even met the master.
It
has been said that musicians who have the most diverse careers are
often the ones with the most successful and gratifying careers.
You seem to be a shining example of that. Please elaborate on the
rewards and challenges of your almost 50 years as musician, educator
and administrator.
An interesting
hypothesis, but one that might not stand up to scrutiny as a general
principle. I know many people who have followed narrow and conventional
paths and have had satisfying careers. That notwithstanding, young
musicians today will need
to respond and be receptive to a multitude of challenges and opportunities,
and they will tend to have more complex, lively, even turbulent
careers, than previous generations.
Music
has been very kind to me. One of my teachers said that when he
plays he reaches hundreds; when he records he reaches thousands;
but when he teaches he reaches generations. Much satisfaction
also comes from helping to shape institutions that enable others
to teach and to learn and make music. It is difficult to balance
my competing interests in performing, teaching and in what I think
of as building learning communities. I have tended to move from
one to another in bursts of concentration, but I hope with a unity
of purpose to serve the cause of music as well I am able.
My best
advice for young musicians is this:
-
Ignore
all advice; follow the wisdom of your heart.
-
Don't make limiting assumptions about the ultimate shape and
direction of your career(s).
-
Serve music passionately.
-
Remain open-minded about how to do that and be as prepared
as possible. Know that an important part of luck is being
ready to recognize it and to embrace it.
Be amateurs, in the true sense of the word, entrepreneurs and
provocateurs on behalf of music.
What
is unique about Oberlin that attracted you to this position?
I
feel privileged to be part of this great Conservatory of Music,
and to enjoy that privilege in a great college of the liberal
arts and sciences. The union of these two in a single institution
is a rare and precious accomplishment.
Where better
could music continue to occupy its time-honored position in
the liberal arts, uniting scholarship and the pursuit of knowledge,
social discourse and the pursuit of justice, and the arts and
the pursuit of freedom of the spirit through disciplines of
the body, mind and heart?
The
level of musical achievement at Oberlin is exceptional and the
double-degree opportunity is very important. To appreciate the
depth of Oberlin's offerings in the arts, consider also the riches
of the Allen Art Museum. One need only see the current exhibits
of German Expressionists, Renaissance prints, and examples from
the Asian collection to sense the quality of its collections.
You
spent the last 10 years as dean of the Lawrence University Conservatory
of Music, where you were credited with leading your faculty and
staff to impressive achievements in enrollment, faculty recruitment,
development and fundraising, capital projects, and a creative
and committed approach to outreach. What do you consider to be
your greatest achievement? What opportunities for nurture, growth
and change do you see at Oberlin?
I don't
take personal credit for the accomplishments at Lawrence;
they were done together with faculty and staff. Faculty are
the heart of any great school. The dean establishes an environment
in which faculty can best achieve their aspirations, removing
as many hurdles and roadblocks as possible and encouraging individuals'
confidence in themselves, in their colleagues, and in their
institution.
Celebrating
a retired teacher at Lawrence, a former student commented that
his legacy was "the pursuit of the highest musical and personal
standards in an atmosphere of wonder and joy, in the absence
of petty
egotism and vanity." I think that sums it up perfectly.
There
have been a great many advances in pedagogy during the last
10 to 15 years (such as student-based [i.e., "active] learning,
and the paradigmatic shift to teaching "skills" rather that
"content"). What are the biggest pedagogical challenges at the
Conservatory, and how can we best address them?
Music
learning has always been student-based, active learning with
emphasis upon skills, not as an alternative to content
but as an enabler of it. Of course there have been advances
in our understanding of how people learn and of new pedagogical
techniques and technologies. However, at the heart of music
education, perhaps all education, are the student's desire to
know and to be able, and the teacher's ability to guide that
quest. We should always remind ourselves that education is essentially
personal even as we try to keep abreast of each new style,
technique or technology that promises some utility or application
to music making, music teaching and music learning.
Critics
have labeled conservatories a dying breed, yet Oberlin has always
taken pride in its long tradition of "firsts." Our innovations
have complimented the college's proud history of progressive
and leading edge sociology. What are the challenges for conserving
the old while staying dynamic and embracing the new?
I think
that might better be framed as: "How can we ensure opportunities
for people to become the best possible musicians?" The young
will always explore or embrace the new. History suggests that
what is at risk is not innovation but memory.
I don't
agree that conservatories are a dying breed. There are more
opportunities for studying music today than there were 50
or 100 years ago. This year, the National Association of Schools
of Music celebrates its 75th
anniversary with more than 575 members. When I was a student
at the Henry Settlement Music School, the National Guild of
Community Schools of the Arts was a fledgling organization
with just a few members. Today, it is a populous crowd with
members from all over the country and beyond.
There
is a great thirst for music. More students seek admission in
music than ever before; enrollments have been growing dramatically.
Conservatories are thriving today!
To
end on a more personal note, which composers and musicians have
inspired you in your lifetime of music? What do you listen to
after a hard day at the Conservatory?
My
greatest personal debt beyond my immediate family is to my beloved
teacher Janos Starker. I want to remain active as a cellist,
so I try to practice every day. I return almost every day to
the suites of J.S.Bach. I am inspired, however, by whatever
I am studying at the moment. Discovering a new composer and
new music is enormously stimulating. I remember my first youthful
encounters with composers as if it were today. Some composers
take longer to find a place in one's heart, but the more music
one knows, the more one can love. That is a reason why performing
is so satisfying: one must really know a piece well to perform
it effectively, to bring it to life.
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