Phoenix College - Sandprints Yearbook (Phoenix, AZ)

Page 10 text:

'61 SAN DPRINTS SALUTES Chairman of the Music Department and a member of the Phoenix College faculty since i929 is Mr. Earle L. Stone. His specialty is piano instruction, along with music appreciation and music theory. He received his bachelor and master's degrees and a special diploma in piano and theory from the University of Southern California. In addition, he has done graduate work in a variety of universities. Once upon a time, back in the days when rockets were Fourth of July toys and space travel was some- thing to read about in fairy tale books, Phoenix College was a mere infant. The time, in case you wonder, was the l92Os. The College Music Department occupied a single room in the one building on the Phoenix Union campus that housed the entire school. ln l929 young Mr. Earle L. Stone arrived to take charge of the Music Department. At that time there were about 75 music students, a Women's Glee Club, a singing trio, and several specialty groups. That spring the PC musicians made concert appearances in the Valley, just as the music groups do today. Still heading the College Music Department in l96l is Mr. Earle L. Stone - not quite so young as he was 4 Much-loved director of the A Cappella Choir is Mr. Kenneth L. Hakes, who has been a member of the College faculty since l945. Under his direction the choir has won nation-wide acclaim tor its musical accomplishments. Mr. Hakes is a graduate of Simpson Col- lege and of the University of Colorado. He has done graduate study at Peabody Conservatory and at Arizona State University. in l929. He is a little grey on top and a little rotund at the middle, but he is still full of fun and ready to tell a joke or two. Instructors in the Music Department have come and gone. Of those who have come and stayed, Mr. Ken- neth L. Hakes arrived in i945 to lead the newly formed singing group that now has nation-wide tame as the Phoenix College A Cappella Choir. Mr. Victor H. Baumann Know Dr. Baumann of the Social Science Departmentl arrived in l947 and was band director until l959, when he moved to his present position. Mr. Abert O. Davis stepped on to the band director's podium and since '59 has been giving his own enthusiastic personal touch to the PC Band. New- est addition to the Music Department is Mr. Frits van der Steur, who arrived this year to direct the orchestra.

Page 9 text:

ACTIVITIES PEOPLE

Page 11 text:

THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT ii 1 nn ' 3 ' PF , r . . AM' .. Personification of energy and enthusiasm is Mr. Albert O. Davis, Director of the College Band since the fall of 1959. Mr. Davis is a musician and composer of note, and his musical activities keep him busy the year 'round. As a musician, his chosen instrument is the French horn. A graduate of ASU, Mr. Davis was special arranger for the Sun Devil band's concert tours for four years. When the College moved to its present campus on West Thomas Road, the Music Department was as- signed to raom 202 in the Liberal Arts Building. Quar- ters were cramped until the Department moved to a set of wooden barracks left over from the war. There the musicians stayed for several years, while bermuda grass grew in through the cracks in the floors. A wonderful day came in i954 when the Fine Arts Buildings were completed. The Music Department had a whole new and modern wing for itself - a room for the Choir, a room for the Band, offices for the faculty, and practice rooms for the students. College singing and instrumental groups play a major role in public relations between PC and the Newest member of the Phoenix College Music Faculty is Mr. Frits van der Steur, a native of Holland. By musical preference, he is a violinist, he instructs in strings and directs the Phoenix College Orchestra. Mr. van der Steur received his B.S. Degree from Potsdam, N.Y., and his M.A. and professor's diploma from Columbia Uni- versity. l-le came to Phoenix from High Point, North Carolina. Phoenix metropolitan community. The Choir has a busy schedule at Christmas and in the spring. The Band, too, plays numerous concerts and is a colorful marching unit in many parades. So far as academic offerings are concerned, the Department now schedules courses in voice, piano, and orchestra, and has high hopes of increasing the num- ber of classes in music appreciation, and of re-offering a course in organ. Like Phoenix College, the Music Department has grown from an infant of the l92Os to a husky adoles- cent. lt is striding forward, singing lustily, playing har- moniously, and giving great promise of even greater things to come. 5