He combines his love of music and teaching
tty Mike uuncan
Of the Emerald
Proudly noting that he takes
“complete responsibility” for
choosing Eugene as the sight of
the 16th conference of the Inter
national Society for Music
Educators, its Secretary
General, John Ritchie, could not
be more pleased.
“My enthusiasm for Oregon
has amply paid off,” he says.
Now very much an integral
part of what ISME is today and
will be in the future, Ritchie’s
involvement with, and love for,
music began very early. Born
and raised in New Zealand, Rit
chie spent his high-school years
at Dunedin technical school
where he comments that
everyone was directly involved
with the music program.
[£*<!' mm
“If a student was an engineer,
he was not there solely because
he excelled at that discipline,
but because the school needed
his particular music ability,’’ he
says.
His studies at Otago Universi
ty in New Zealand were inter
rupted by World War II which
gave him an opportunity to
study composition and teaching
principles at Trinity College 01
Music in England.
A member of the faculty at the
University of Canterbury, in
New Zealand, since 1946, Rit
chie began an association with
ISME in 1968 when he attended
the conference in Dijon, France.
Though his love for music
and teaching created the per
sonal interest in ISME, an addi
tional factor is that Ritchie
Photo by Michael Clapp
John Ritchie, in Eugene for the International Society for Music
Educators conference, discusses his love of music and teaching
and his fondness for Eugene.
f
believes it is valuable to have
direct contact with the variety
of teaching methods used in dif
ferent countries.
“I believe that we can learn so
much from each other’s coun
tries,” he says. ‘‘We may think
that we (music educators) are
doing well, or conversely, we
think that we are doing badly,
and it is quite helpful and
reassuring to look at other coun
tries. I am a great believer in
getting people into other coun
tries,” he notes.
“I believe that the teaching,
performance, composing and
the study of music should be
very professional,” he says. “I
have never been very strong on
the ‘play-away’ methods.”
One of the biggest problems
for ISME in the past was that the
organizers rarely knew where
the next conference would take
place. Ritchie notes that since
he has been secretary general
organizers have known three
years in advance where the next
conference would be held.
With this sense of per
manence, Ritchie says that
ISME ‘‘has gained its own
timetable and its own
tradition.”
One of the big problems with
organizing a conference, he
says, is getting the theme
adhered to by the keynote
speakers. Ritchie says that in
the past an apt theme for the
conference might have been
‘much ado about nothing,’
since speakers often ignored the
theme and spoke on what they
wanted.
Ritchie notes that this year’s
theme, ‘Music for a Small
Planet,’ has held the attention
of the speakers more than ever
before. “The people of Oregon
ought to be very proud of their
organizing committee for this
idea of a theme.”
Winning-out over two con
tenders to host this year’s con
ference, Ritchie says Eugene
could not have worked out bet
ter. Assets considered were the
University itself, the Hult
Center for the Performing Arts
and the size of the Eugene
r
community.
“Eugene is so charming,”
Ritchie says, “with an event
like this, the whole community
becomes involved.”
Commenting on the quality of
the University’s School of
Music, Ritchie says that this
event would have been very dif
ficult without the help of Dean
Morrette Rider.
“The man is a genius,” he
says.
Late concerts featured
A variety of American musical genres ranging from jazz
to musical theater are highlighting a series of late-evening
concerts during the 16th world conference of the Interna
tional Society of Music Educators.
The American Showcase concerts, featuring many
Eugene area musicians, will be performed at 10:00 tonight
through Saturday.
•Thursday’s showcase concert, in the Composers Hall of
the Eugene Community Conference Center, will feature two
contemporary jazz groups. The Dowd/Kammerer Jazz Duo
consists of University faculty members Charles Dowd,
vibraphone, and Edward Kammerer, piano. The “XJE” Con
temporary Jazz Ensemble has 15 members, all of whom are
University students or recent graduates.
•A night of barbershop-quartet singing, in the
Playwrights Hall at the Eugene Hilton Hotel, will round out
Friday’s showcase. Performing will be the Cascade Connec
tion Quartet of Eugene: the Most Happy Fellows Quartet of
Tacoma, Wash.; Eugene’s Cascade Chorus; and the Side
Street Ramblers Quartet from Dallas, Texas. All groups are
award winners in competitions sponsored by the Society for
the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet
Singing in America, which is also sponsoring this concert.
•The final showcase concert, also set in Playwrights
Hall, will feature big-band jazz played by the Starliters. The
Eugene group has performed in the area for more than 25
years.
Tickets to each showcase concert will cost $2 and will be
on sale at the door. Conference delegates and week-long pass
holders will be admitted free. For more information, call
686-5678.
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