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Music
from the Mountains
New York State Music Camp 1947 - 1996
by Robert F. Swift
Dedication
To all the
students of music, past and present, who together each
summer have shared and continue to share their unique
talents;
and to the
memory of my dad for his vision and dedication in establishing
the program which has touched the lives of so many of
us.
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Dr.
Frederick Fay Swift
1907 -- September 25, 1989
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Preface
This is a love story.
An intimate relationship
for half a century is bound to lead to strong feelings, one way
or the other. For fifty consecutive summers the New
York State Music Camp has been a part of the author's life.
At age seven he attended concerts during the first season, sitting
in the audience with his mother and younger brother. At nine he
first sang in the Concert Choir. By his thirteenth year he was
a full-fledged camper, playing clarinet in the band, singing tenor
in the choirs, and living on campus in one of the cabins near the
lake.
He advanced to junior
counselorship when he was seventeen and became a senior counselor
one year later. He first taught a camp class at 22, the year of
graduation from Hartwick College.
The next summer he conducted the choirs in concerts for the first
time. The privilege of teaching and conducting extends to the present
day.
Summers at music camp
have become a way of life for him, a continuing thread, a constant
through many changes. They have resulted in lifelong friendships
(including that with his wife), never to be forgotten musical experiences,
and memoirs which encompass the whole gamut of human emotions.
Dr.
Robert F. Swift
Echoes -- the author in June 1996
at the Music Camp Site at Otter Lake
I am deeply honored and
profoundly grateful to have been given the opportunity to write
this history. The magnitude of the project was considerable --
so much material, so many sources, plus all the memories. The continuing
challenge has been the decisions: what could be left out as much
as what should have been included. And I discovered that there
is much for which written records have been lost.
The eight chapters were
written in consecutive, chronological order. Each provided its
own difficulties.
- Tracking down information
on the Ernest
Williams Music Camp for Chapter One led to the discovery
of the enjoyment and adventure of historical research.
- Chapter Two required
a revisiting of times spent in one of my favorite places on earth,
the Adirondack Mountains, but those times included sad memories.
- Chapter Three covers
the years when I was most actively involved in the program.The
challenge was in not presenting just my personal view.
- Chapters Four and Five
include much information gleaned secondhand, either from others'
reminiscences of from Hi Notes of the time.
- Chapters Six and Seven
may old the greatest interest for the reader. They present memories
shared by faculty, staff, and alumni from earlier years. Preparing
the more than one hundred beautiful submissions necessitated
some editing because of space constraints.
- Finally in Chapter
Eight (the shortest of all), the intent was to look into the
future -- if indeed that can be done. The Roman god Janus demonstrated
how it might be accomplished.
The narrative is largely
in the third person, as befits historical writing. In certain instances
I have included obvious, personal observations and commentary.
Those particular passages are placed in rectangular boxes, such
as this:
The
reader is now forewarned
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So many individuals contributed
to this project. Were I to list each, the pages would run on and
on. To each of the respondents in Chapters Six and Seven, for instance,
I am deeply indebted. However, I should like to acknowledge fifteen
individuals and one institution for whose assistance I am particularly
grateful. They are named alphabetically, save one:
Sincere appreciation is
extended:
To Gary Corcoran,
Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Plymouth
State College, for offering patient instruction, encouragement,
and assistance in developing word-processing skills. |
To Mary
P. Crowly of True
Colors Print and Design, Plymouth, New Hampshire, for
advice and services in layout and design of the book you
are reading.
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To Jan
A. Maas of Brooklyn, New York, a lifelong friend
(first met at the 1956 music camp) for proof-reading, and
for encouragement.
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To Craig
McHenry, former Dean of Music at Ithaca
College, for invaluable assistance in researching the Ernest
Williams Music Camp. |
To Willard
I. Musser of Greentown, Pennsylvania, for providing
names, addresses, memories, and invaluable leads from Otter
Lake years. |
To John G.
Norton, Otter Lake, New York, without whose assistance
much information on the history of Otter Lake (as well as
the 1996 return concert and historical marker dedication)
would never have been realized. |
To Plymouth
State College (Dr. Donald Wharton, President) for
providing my first sabbatical leave in Spring 1995 to devote
to the research for this project. |
To Deborah
Fae Swift, Rochester, New York, my younger sister,
for providing the wealth of information from the third
and fourth decades of the Camp history.
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To my children, Jeffrey
and Jennifer, for their support and faith that
their dad was equal to the task, and to Jennifer as a journalism
major for suggestions on how to write interesting history.
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To Nancy
Swift Cook, my older sister, for memories shared,
encouragement given, and friendship through the years. |
To Norma
W. Swift, Oneonta, New York, who accepted the invitation
to become my dad's second wife and the mother of his three
children, for providing insights and information unavailable
elsewhere. |
To Shelley
Wallace, Archivist of Hartwick
College, for generously providing assistance in my research
on campus, and for sharing materials from the Archives. |
To Stuart
Wallace, New Hampshire State historian, for recommendations
on historical writing.
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To Steven
T. Zvengrowski, Hartwick
College Music Department Chair and Director of the Summer
Music Festival and Institute, for encouragement in
this project, and for ongoing administrative leadership
in the summer program.
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And finally to Margot
W. Swift, my wife, for patience and suggestions
and memories -- for lending a hand, a shoulder, and an
occasional kick where needed.
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I close with a poem
discovered in This
England magazine. The tone is sentimental, but the sentiment
rings true.
Memory
Lane
Memory lane
is the sweetest place--
It's where the years roll back,
And you meet again the old-time friends
Of whom you've long lost track.
And you live
again the happy times
When you and Dad were there
To give to you the boundless love
That made your world so fair.
Of all the
roads both near and far
where I have ever been
Memory lane's the sweetest one
To see, to see again.
-- Rachel
Hartnett
(Reproduced
by permission from This
England magazine)
Plymouth,
New Hampshire
June 1, 1996
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