School of Music Alumni in the News
Carillonneur Gerald Martindale, BMA ‘77
Greg Samek, BMU ’06
Gordon Thompson, BMU ‘75
Oksana Vignan, BMU ’01
Alexander Zonjic, BMA ‘75
Carillonneur Gerald Martindale, BMA ‘77
The December 2008 edition of United Church Observer magazine featured an article about Gerald Martindale, BMA ’77, referring to him as a rare breed. Mr. Martindale is carillonneur at Metropolitan United Church in Toronto. The article described the experience of watching him play...Martindale slips on a pair of narrow black shoes and walks over to the ladder at one end of the room. He climbs the ladder and cracks open a small, hatched door that leads to 54 bells in the chamber above, “so I can hear myself play,” he explains. Next he sits down in front of the keyboard and begins. He stares straight at the sheet music while frantically striking the batons with closed fists and working the pedals with his feet. “As you can see, it’s quite a workout,” he says.
About 16 years ago, Martindale fell under the carillon’s spell after watching Metropolitan United’s former carillonneur give a demonstration. He then took lessons for five years before landing his current part-time position at Metropolitan United in 1997. Martindale now plays before Sunday morning services and on weekday afternoons, and spends the rest of his workweek giving private lessons and working as an extra in television and movie productions. *
Only 11 carillons and fewer than 20 carillonneurs exist in Canada today.
* “The Ringmaster” by Jennifer McPhee, The United Church Observer, December 2008 www.ucobserver.org
Greg Samek, BMU ’06 and ScrapArtsMusic
Fred and Jean Wilson (BMA ’81) sent in a note and clipping to share...
Enclosed is a Cedar Rapids Gazette article describing a recent concert held at Hancher Auditorium by ScrapArtsMusic. Former student and graduate of the UWindsor School of Music, Greg Samek (BMU ’06) is part of the five-member group. They have travelled to Taiwan and “points east” and now are touring United States with their special kind of music. Perhaps some of the readers of News & Notes would remember Greg from his student days and his hours of practice (best of times, he says). Greg recently (June ’08) received a Master of Percussion Performance from the University of Toronto.
Check out ScrapArtsMusic’s website at: http://www.scrapartsmusic.com/
1960s British rock fascinates Skidmore professor and author Gordon Thompson, BMU ‘75
Skidmore College professor, Dr. Gordon Thompson, was featured in a question & answer piece in the Saratoga Springs, NY Daily Gazette on Nov. 23/08, following the release of his first book, Please Please Me: British Pop, Inside Out.Thompson, a professor of ethnomusicology, developed into a rock n’roll drummer after seeing The Beetles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as a child. He has since immersed himself into popular music.
Thompson, who also plays Indian sitar and tabla, has been at Skidmore since 1989, teaching Asian Studies, along with music. He has a degree in music theory and composition from the University of Windsor (1975), a master’s in ethnomusicology from the University of Illinois, Champagne, IL (1978), and a doctorate also in ethnomusicology from UCLA (1987).
Oksana Vignan, BMU ’01 is Singing a Different Tune
Ms. Oksana Vignan was featured in a metro-Cleveland News-Herald article on Jan. 26/09. She is the Music Director of Fowlers Mill Christian Church in Munson Township outside Cleveland, Ohio. When she arrived the choir had 3 members, it is now 18 voices strong. Vignan has also drawn upon her many friends in Cleveland’s music community to stage a monthly concert at the church.
After graduating from UWindsor, Vignan pursued a master in piano performance degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, on a full tuition scholarship and young artist fellowship. The Cleveland Institute of Music drew her to Northeast Ohio, where she received a second master of music degree in collaborative piano and chamber music.
Alexander Zonjic, BMA ‘75 featured in MetroTimes Article
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