Events at Sigal Music Museum
In addition to our OLLI lectures we also have a full schedule of events at the museum. Click an event image above or visit our Calendar of Events. Note: These are Sigal Music Museum events, unaffiliated with Furman University or OLLI.
Furman University OLLI Lectures by the Sigal Music Museum
There is an exciting new series of classes being offered by the Sigal Music Museum in the Fall session of Furman’s Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning – fondly known as OLLI.
This series of 9 classes is being offered at the Herring Center for Continuing Education on the Furman campus, 1274 Duncan Chapel Rd, Greenville, SC 29617. Our classes meet on Wednesday from 10:45AM – 12:15PM weekly beginning September 11th and cover a wide range of musical topics. Some are directly related to the Museum and others not, but all are geared to enhance the appreciation of musical sound you may hear at the Museum and elsewhere. The classes are taught by Museum staff and board members, each calling upon their special fields of expertise to bring you a fascinating deep dive into a topic of interest to any serious listener.
For registration and complete information about this and other opportunities at OLLI, go here: https://www.furman.edu/osher-lifelong-learning-institute/
There you will find several links to pages offering more detail about OLLI registration and offerings, including step-by-step instructions showing you how to register and pay for the courses you want – beginning, of course with MUS208, The Sigal Music Museum Series!
We look forward to seeing you in class!
September 11 – The Early Piano in America, 1745 – 1810
Presenter: Dr. Tom Strange, Curator and Artistic Director, SMM
Thumbnail : Concerning early American pianos in the Sigal Collection
Description: As musical culture grows in the early United States, the young instrument that came to be called the Piano is a vital part of the story. Several fine specimens in the Sigal collection illustrate this development very well. Copies of copies of Facing South -ca beautiful coffee table volume documenting the very first keyboard exhibit at the Museum – will be made available at a discount to attendees.
September 18 – Greenville’s Music History
Presenter: David Sims, Executive Director, SMM
Thumbnail: An overview of David’s research for the Greenville Music Preservation project
Description: Greenville has a much more diverse and impressive music history than most people realize. Executive Director David Sims will use research from Greenville Music Preservation to tell the story of Greenville’s music history, from the earliest settlements to the end of the twentieth century. Musicians such as Josh White, Moses Dillard, and many others will be explored through listening to examples of their music. Music venues, vendors, and radio stations will also be explored, including a detailed history of the Grand Opera House (1900-1921). Items from Greenville Music Preservation’s archive will be on display, including items and other ephemera dating back to 1905.
September 25 – Erlkönig: A Master Song Composer at Work
Presenter: Dr. Jon Grier, Board Member, SMM
Thumbnail: A phrase-to-phrase demo of how Schubert ties the music of his setting to Göthe’s famous ballad.
Description: Shifting in nuance from sentence to sentence, Schubert’s setting of Göthe’s chilling ghost story transforms the poem into a gripping 4-minute opera using 1 singer, a piano, and the power of his musical genius to reflect and enhance the text. Music reading ability helpful, but not required; this exercise in music appreciation will be accessible to musicians and non-musicians alike.
October 2 – Tour of the Sigal Music Museum
Presenter: Dr. Tom Strange, Curator and Artistic Director, SMM
Thumbnail: Historian and docent extraordinaire Tom Strange will offer 90-minute guided tours of the Museum exhibits
Description: Class will carpool to the Museum… if the class is large, multiple dates may need to be scheduled. Ideal tour size is no more than 15 people.
October 9 – BEFORE THERE WERE WOMEN COMPOSERS: There were women composers!
Presenter: Dr. Ruby Morgan, Board Member, SMM
Thumbnail: A brief survey of women composers from Hildegard to Higdon. In contradiction to Jean Jacques Rousseau, I assert that genius is not gender oriented. It grows out of a collective social, political, cultural, religious, educational continuum.
Description: The art historian Linda Nochlin posed a perceptive parallel question to, “Why have there been no great women artists?” Namely, “Why have there been no great artists from the aristocracy?” This session targets the prevailing conditions which inhibited women’s musical genius, as well as highlights the achievements of a selected group of remarkable women composers/performers who were contemporaries of many of the instruments in the Sigal Music Museum collection. This class will include musical examples of the history of women’s contributions.
October 16 Art Rock of the ’60’s and ’70’s: When Great Musicianship Got on the Radio
Presenter: Dr. Jon Grier, Board Member, SMM; Chris Stack, Director of Marketing, SMM
Thumbnail: Discussion of music by Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tower of Power, YES, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Gentle Giant, Happy the Man, and others.
Description: Few periods of American history have been more influenced or defined by their popular music than the ’60’s and early ’70’s. How was it that some music of extraordinary complexity earned a place on the radio? What exactly set it apart from the usual commercial fare? Why did it all but vanish after this time?
October 23 – A History of the Mark V Studios of Greenville
Presenter: David Sims, Executive Director, SMM
Thumbnail: The story of Mark V Studios in Greenville is long and colorful, with many historically important recordings.
Description: Mark V was Greenville’s first commercial recording studio beginning in 1961, first located on Mayberry St. near what is now Unity Park, then at a larger facility off White Horse Rd. Mark V became known as “Little Nashville” among county and gospel performers throughout the 1970s and 80s, due to its roster of quality musicians. This lecture will explore the legacy of Mark V by examining recordings from a variety of artists, including interviews and other stories from the its 30 year history.
October 30 – New Wings for Song: The Intriguing Story of America’s Flirtation with the Electric Piano
Presenter: Dr. Tom Strange, Curator and Artistic Director, SMM
Thumbnail: The development of the first electric pianos in America
Description: In late 1937 after licensing the needed patents, Story & Clark pianos began collaborating with RCA-Victor Corporation, and radio manufacturer Arthur Ansley collaborated with the Pratt-Read Piano Company, to bring forward an all-electric piano. Introduced within months of each other, they each took an approach that was both bold and slightly quirky, even for the time. Story & Clark engaged a prominent industrial designer for one of the two piano forms they brought forward, with RCA engaging its own design expert for the accompanying radio and phonograph. Now with an example of the Storytone and Ansley Dynatone piano in the Sigal Music Museum collection, this paper will examine these pianos and their origins in detail, including sound clips from the working Storytone piano.
November 6 – Who’s Afraid of Modern Music?
Presenter: Dr. Jon Grier, Board Member, SMM
Thumbnail: The instructor – a working composer – will lift the veil of mystery around new music
Description: Have you ever attended a symphony or chamber music concert and dreaded the pieces written after 1900? Or left confused or unmoved by them afterward? Listening is a skill like anything else. In this class we will try to adopt strategies for accessing music in unfamiliar or challenging styles. Success will not only open up a world of new listening options, but also enhance one’s appreciation of old favorites.
