Meet the Faculty

During the school-year 1971-72, I moved to Western Massachusetts to finish my PhD dissertation about Charles Ives, begin a family, and support myself by teaching piano. My search for a teaching job was confined to the region west of the Connecticut River, which includes only five colleges. There happened to be an opening at one of them, a school I had never heard of which seemed to be based on the strangely compelling idea that high school was superfluous for bright students. The music students were into avant-garde compositional ideas which were too far out for the previous music professor, but apparently I was sympathetic enough and they decided I was a good fit. It was really the three-member student committee that made the decision. My sense of obligation to my students has remained a primary characteristic of my relationship to the college ever since.

In Sophomore Seminar last Fall, we were concluding our discussion of "To the Lighthouse" (one of my favorite books, period) which focused on the subject of Lily Briscoe's painting of Mrs. Ramsey in the window. Suddenly, one of the students couldn't find the words she needed to make her point leaped to her feet and began to draw on the board with colored chalk. By the time we finished our discussion, she had created her version of Lily's painting, which was photographically recorded by another student on his cell phone. This was immediately shared with the class via e-mail. As a teacher in the Arts Division, such transitions between verbal and non-verbal expression make my day!

In a music history class we listen to a piece of music together, sometimes with a score. I then go around the room and ask students, "what is your take on…?" [the music we just heard]. On a good day, the class will cover all the significant stylistic points we need to hear about, but in addition, will add idiosyncratic responses of their own which remind us that each of us hears differently, reacts differently, and in doing so, expresses our own uniqueness.

The Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts.