The Eras

The Roaring Twenties witnessed the birth of the University of Miami and its Conservatory of Music. The years that followed brought considerable challenges, beginning with the devastating 1926 hurricane that struck Miami just before classes were scheduled to start, followed by the stock market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression.

Originally planned as a hotel, the triangular Anastasia Building was hastily converted for university use after the September 18, 1926 hurricane to ensure classes could begin on October 15th. Bounded by University Drive to the southeast, Riviera Drive to the southwest, and Segovia Avenue to the west, the building earned the nickname 'Cardboard College' due to the thin partitions erected to create classroom spaces. The building served the university until 1967. The School of Music occupied the west corner of the triangle—the point facing toward the Biltmore Hotel—with studios, rehearsal halls, classrooms, and administrative offices located on portions of the second and later third floors.

May Brigel, Director of Public School Music, guided instruction for undergraduate public school music majors from 1926 until 1932. She was followed by Frances Hovey Bergh, who provided stability for the program through 1962.

The poor sound insulation in the Anastasia Building eventually necessitated relocating most music activities in 1940 to a two-story apartment building a few blocks southeast at 3409 Le Jeune Road. Additional activities were moved further east to 2900 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, housed in a converted furniture factory.

U.S. involvement in World War II led many students and faculty to enter military service. When the war began in 1942, all activities were relocated to a building on Ponce de Leon Boulevard (known as the Music Work Shop) and to a building across the street to the north (Palermo), whose second floor served as a rehearsal hall. The Ibis Yearbook of 1943 (p. 12) portrays how the Music School coped during World War II:

Since early September, the Music School has been in so many places that it is no oddity to see “Pied Piper” profs leading their musical children all over the Gables for an available room. Driven from the Le Jeune building by neighbors’ petitions — some gremlin left the violin and brass sections on after dark — the Music School moved westward, establishing itself in one of the girls’ dormitories long enough to move in a dozen pianos and violin stands and to discover that the female enrollment was much greater than expected . . . Weary from carrying their heavy instruments, the faculty decided that the ol’ Music Workshop, known as Granada, was the best building around, and with some lumber this former furniture-factory could easily be partitioned into soundproof teaching studios and 12 practice rooms. This decided, carpenters added their rhythmic sawing to the rest of the noise and the Music School had a permanent address. Music theory and education held classes in the Main building, until the Navy sliced off the second floor for themselves; then back came the classes to Granada. During these excursions, the faculty members were calm and tolerated the game of “hide and seek” with their students. Despite the war’s infringement upon male students and room space, the profs continued their courses, seriously and conscientiously, and the students paced beside them. When we asked Dean Bertha Foster what the music school accomplished this year, she retorted, “Above all, we competed with Physical Training classes.” 

In 1946 the university began relocating to the present day campus area, moving into to wooden structures (20 x 100 feet) that had been constructed for the war effort. The School of Music occupied six of these buildings until 1954.

Thomas Collins joined the faculty in 1946, first as an instructor of woodwinds, and then in 1951 he was named chair of the department of woodwinds. His leadership led to the establishment in 1952 of a music education concentration for Master of Education students in the School of Education, as the School of Music did not yet offer master's degrees in music.

The two-story Volpe classroom building and one-story studio and office building were constructed in 1954 (the one-story building was eventually replaced in 1987 by the structure now housing Clarke Recital Hall and the recording studios).

The 1950s marked America's post-WWII golden age, characterized by unprecedented economic prosperity and population growth. The "baby boom" produced 77 million children by 1964, fueling the growth of suburban developments. However, the decade also exposed deep social divisions. The civil rights movement gained momentum with landmark events like Brown v. Board of Education and Rosa Parks' bus boycott, while Cold War tensions led to the Korean War and domestic Red Scare paranoia. Traditional gender roles continued to confine many women to domestic life. Popular culture flourished during television's golden age and with rock 'n' roll's emergence through artists like Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, The Platters, and The Drifters. Jazz in the 1950s featured the rise of bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop, with key figures including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie emphasizing complex harmonies, improvisation, and smaller ensemble formats.

Thomas Collins became chair of the music education department in 1956, the same year that a Master of Music Education degree appeared in the School of Music section of the University Bulletin.

Harriett Nordholm brought her expertise in general music to the department in 1957. Her national reputation as a leader in MENC—including her roles as former Minnesota MEA president, North Central Division President, and National Executive Board member—enhanced the department's standing.

Frances Bergh retired in 1962 after 30 years of service, and new faculty soon arrived: Ted Crager (1965) and Lee Kjelson (1967).

The Ph.D. in Music Education also appeared in 1967.  The announcement below is from the Music Educators Journal, Vol. 54, No. 5 (Jan., 1968), p 6.

The University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, started its first doctoral program in music in September 1967. The University of Miami is the thirty-second accredited institution in the United States to offer a Ph.D. program in music. According to department chairman Thomas C. Collins, the program will be kept small--down to ten students-for the next three years. Financial aid will be available to qualified students.

The music school facilities expanded with the construction of the Henry Fillmore Band Hall (1958), Albert Pick Music Library (1958), Caroline Broby Choral Hall (1960), Nancy Greene Symphony Hall (1960), and a one-story music practice rooms building (1961).

The late 1960s were a time of great social change, marked by the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War, and by technological growth, seen in the 1st lunar landing (1969). The Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969 was a pivotal moment in American counterculture history, symbolizing the ideals of peace, love, and unity through music  amidst the turbulent backdrop of mass protests, political assassinations, and a rebellion against established norms--it is often seen as a defining event of the 1960s generation. 

The music education program also experienced many changes during this time.  The sudden death of Thomas Collins in August 1968 was quickly followed by hiring Neal Glenn (1968) and the subsequent hirings of James Fitzpatrick (1969) and John Kinyon (1969). 

The Music Therapy program was established in 1969 and housed within the Department of Music Education. 

The 1970s, evoking images of nature-loving hippies, lava lamps, bell bottoms, and shag carpeting, saw continued unrest about the war and concern for equality for women, gays and lesbians, African Americans, Native Americans, and other marginalized people. It witnessed the Watergate scandal (1972), the first Earth Day (1970), the Apple II personal computer (1977), VHS tapes (1977), the first Star Wars movice (1977), and new popular music genres such as disco, punk rock, and funk.  

The leadership of Ted Crager (music education professor and Associate Dean) established the first music engineering degree in higher education (1975).  He also was instrumental in the implementation of other unusual interdisciplinary degree programs at the University of Miami including Music Merchandising, Studio Music and Jazz, Musical Theater, Music Therapy, and Studio Writing and Production (Score magazine, 1990 p. 3.) 

 The School of Music facilities expanded in 1970 with the addition of a second floor to the music practice rooms building, which was subsequently renamed the Bertha Foster Memorial Building  (note the dedicated space for music education in the proposed plan). Other additions were the Handelmann Institute of Recorded Sound (1970) and the Maurice Gusman auditorium (1975).

The generosity of Ruth Schmidt (alum, 1957) established a fund that still benefits the department today (photo and caption from Score Magazine, 1979). 

The sudden death of James Fitzpatrick in 1978 led to hiring Brian Busch in 1979. Department chairs during these years were Lee Kjelson (1968-1974) and Neal Glenn (1974-80).

During the 1980s IBM's personal computer the IBM PC (1981), running on Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system, competed with Dell Computer Corporation (1987) and with Apple's Macintosh computer (1984) and its revolutionary Graphical User Interface of icons, windows, and mouse. The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off (1981). Reaganomics held sway, AIDS ravaged the United States, and blockbuster movies and MTV videos reshaped pop culture. U.S. and U.S.S.R. tensions eased between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

During this decade, Miami experienced the Mariel Boatlift of 125,000 Cuban refugees (1980, the Liberty City riots (1980), and was dubbed "Cocaine Capital" because of the violent crimes and corruption. The television series Miami Vice (1984-1989) portrayed the city as stylish, edgy, and fast-paced, glamorizing the city's gritty crime reality into pop culture. Miami became known for Miami Bass (a subgenre of hip-hop), 2 Live Crew, and Gloria Estefan.

In the music education department, Neal Glenn retired in 1981, immediately followed by J. David Boyle, who was quickly joined by the husband and wife team of Nicholas DeCarbo and Joyce Jordan in 1982. With their arrival the department began hosting annual Music Education Day workshops for local music teachers and annual Honor Band Festivals for local high schoolers. Jordan's MusicTime program touched the lives of thousands of local infants and youngsters and their families.

During the 1990s the world's attention was drawn towards the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and subsequent U.S. involvement (Operation Desert Storm), the seige of the Branch Davidians religious sect in Waco (1993), the end of apartheid in South Africa (1994), the genocide of Tsutsis in Rwanda (1994), the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City (1995), the trial of O. J. Simpson (1995), and the shooting at Columbine High School (1999). Hurricane Andrew (1992) devasted much of Miami-Dade county and closed the university for 2 weeks. NASA launched the Hubble telescope (1993) and its Pathfinder spacecraft put a robotic rover on Mars (1997). The internet began to be noticed (1991) and quickly grew in use with the help of search engines like Yahoo! (1994) and Google (1997) and on-line retailers like Amazon (1994). Movies became available on DVDs (1995). Cultural touchstones included sitcoms (Seinfeld, Friends, Simpsons), the Harry Potter books and movies, mullet hairstyles, and rollerblades. Popular music genres included hip hop rappers (Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dog), boy bands and girl bands (Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Spice Girls), and grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam).

During Summer 1994, the music education department hosted the 15th Research Commission Seminar of the International Society for Music Education. Richard Fiese returned in 1995 to teach at his alma mater (MM 1986, PhD 1989).

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was a defining event of the 2000s decade, impacting global politics and culture. The decade ended with a global financial crisis (2008), leading to the Great Recession. The decade saw several devastating natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), and the Sichuan earthquake (2008). In 2001, Apple changed the way we listened to music forever with the release of the iPod and digital MP3s, allowing listeners to carry their entire music libraries in their pockets. Mashups and Auto-tune creations quickly followed. The 2000s saw the rise of pop-punk and emo, and artists like Britney Spears, Eminem, and Linkin Park dominated the charts. Reality TV (Survivor, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars) captured huge audiences.

The music school facilities added with the L. Austin Weeks Center for Recording and Performance (1990) and the Marta and L. Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center (2005). Phillip and Patricia Frost gifted $33 million to the university in 2003 for the school, which was renamed the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music. 

David Boyle retired in 2000 and was succeeded by Edward Asmus (2000).  Richard Fiese left in 2000 and the department relied on visiting professors Stanley and Lois Schleuter and George Heller for two years until hiring Stephen Zdzinski in 2002. Brian Powell joined the music education department in 2010 with a joint appointment in strings.

Department chairs during this era were Lee Kjelson (1980-1983), J. David Boyle (1983-1995), and Joyce Jordan-DeCarbo (1995-2011),

The 2010s saw the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter becoming integral to daily life, because smartphones with touch screens had become ubiquitous (Apple had launched its iPhone in 2007). These tools facilitated social movements like Occupy Wallstreet (2011), #BlackLivesMatter (2013), and #MeToo (2017). Gun violence against schoolchildren marred the decade, including attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and dozens of others. Several massive hurricanes and tropical storms hit the United States in the 2010s, starting with Sandy (2012), then Harvey, Irma and Maria (2017) and Michael (2018).  Britain decided to leave the European Union (Brexit) in 2016. Streaming services like Netflix gradually replaced VHS and DVD rental services. Superhero films, like those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, became a dominant force in the entertainment industry. The decade saw the musical and cultural dominance of dance-pop, electronic dance music, hipster culture and electropop.

The COVID-19 pandemic radically altered daily life for over a year and schools switched to online instruction in the spring of 2020. The University of Miami was among the few that hosted in-person and online hybrid instruction in the fall of 2020. 

School facilities made major strides forward with the Patricia Louise Frost Music Studios (2015), the Messinger Music Executive Building (2018 -- formerly the Handleman Institute for Recorded Sound), and the Knight Center for Innovation (2023).

The vacancies due to the retirements of Nicholas DeCarbo and Joyce Jordan in 2011 were filled that same year by Don D. Coffman and Carlos Abril (a UM alum, BM 1993). Music Education and Music Therapy faculty moved from office spaces in the Volpe Building and Knight Building to the newly renovated 1552 Brescia Building, where they remained until the PLF Studios were ready. 

Corin Overland (2012) added expertise in choral music education to the department. Steven Moore (2013), who came to be Associate Dean for Undergraduates and direct the Symphonic Winds, received an appointment in the music education department. 

Don D. Coffman has chaired the department since 2011.