Leep Scholarship

Caroyln F. Leep was a vital resource for choral educators in Michigan for over twenty years as head of the choral/vocal department of Malecki Music. Since 1988 MSVMA has awarded an endowed scholarship in her name to a member using it for advanced study. A number of my friends and colleagues have won this honor over the years, including MSVMA Executive Director Ginny Kerwin, all of the teachers who taught together with us at Interlochen All-State, and my wife, Mandy.

I am honored to be the newest recipient!

With the support of this scholarship, this summer my family and I will spend a week in New England with Alice Parker. I've written before about my time with her, and I will again.

In July we will spend a week discussing arranging, composition, choral music, life, and whatever else we can think of. I know that my time with her will be life-affirming and revelatory. And because I was unable to attend during her Melody Studies Workshop at the end of July, Alice generously - and amazingly - offered a week of private study.

In the three days I spent with Alice Parker in November, 2013, she picked me up by the ankle, swung me around over her head, and set me down upside down. Utterly changed and wanting to make the change stick. She altered the way I think about rehearsal, performance, musical interpretation; she profoundly shifted the way I approach my own writing.

She inspired my parents to join a choir.

I simply cannot wait to reestablish our relationship and learn further from her experience and expertise.

MSVMA has given me a real blessing in awarding me this scholarship, and I look forward to sharing as much as I can from this journey.

(Meanwhile, I am reading and re-reading these two books of hers in preparation...)

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