 |
 |
Music Professor Takes His Last Bow-For Now
By Michelle Nery
Decked out in his tuxedo with baton in hand, Music professor Joseph Kanyan
will conduct the George Mason University symphony orchestra and choruses one final
time as they perform the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah
at the Holiday Concert on Sunday, Dec. 9. After 33 years at George Mason, Kanyan
will retire from the university in January.
In 1968 when Kanyan was hired as the first full-time Music professor at George
Mason, the university had only been a four-year, degree-granting institution for
two years and was still known as George Mason College. The campus was much smaller
then, consisting only of the North, South, East, and West buildings; the Lecture
Hall, and a portion of Fenwick Library. As the campus grew, so did its programs,
and Kanyan was instrumental in the Music Department’s growth.
“When I came to the university, George Mason didn’t have one turntable,”
says Kanyan. “I bought the first turntable and the first LPs. There was one
really old donated piano, so when I established the band and orchestras, I bought
all new instruments.” Kanyan taught Music Appreciation his first year at
George Mason and except for the first four music courses listed in the 1968–69
catalog, he created the music curriculum from the ground up. “I’ve really
enjoyed developing and teaching the Sight Singing and Ear Training course, which
set the standard for students. And they will tell you it’s the course they
dread taking because it is the most difficult to get through.”
Kanyan has sported many hats at George Mason as a professor, conductor, administrator,
and clarinetist. His many positions at the university have included assistant
dean for Student Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences, associate
chair and interim chair of the Department of Music, chair of the Department of
Performing Arts, and undergraduate and graduate coordinator for Music. He was
also a member of the Arts Restructuring Committee that proposed the creation of
the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
“Joe founded the Music Department and worked selflessly at it around the
clock,” says Stephen Burton, professor of music and Endowed Heritage Chair
who was hired by Kanyan in 1973. “Joe came from a hard-working coal mining
family in Pennsylvania, and he carried that work ethic to George Mason,”
says Burton.
Kanyan received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania
where he was training to become a public school music teacher. During his senior
year, he took a fateful vacation to Washington, D.C., that led him to audition
and win a spot in the U.S. Army Band. He spent three years as a clarinetist with
the band and enrolled in the master’s program and later the doctoral program
at Catholic University of America.
While a doctoral student, George Mason came knocking, literally, Kanyan says.
“I was in my Music of the Classical Period course at Catholic University
when there was a knock at the door. A student said that Dean John Paul wanted
to see me, and I was so scared!” says Kanyan. “I went to the dean’s
office, and he said the dean from a small school in Fairfax called George Mason
College had asked for recommendations for its professor of music position. I wasn’t
really looking for a job at the time, but Dean Paul said that he thought the school
was going to be something some day because it had plans. So I called Dean Krug
at his home that night and set up an interview.”
As Kanyan will tell you, he’s only really had two jobs since he finished
his undergraduate studies, both of which he stumbled on by accident. If it hadn’t
been for that Washington, D.C., vacation, he wouldn’t have had either of
them. “I never like to make plans,” says Kanyan. “I’ll just
see where the wind blows me. I’ve really enjoyed myself at George Mason,
it seems like 3 years, not 33. Time has gone by quickly.”
Kanyan will be honored at a retirement reception in the Concert Hall lobby
on Monday, Dec. 10, from 3–5 p.m.
|
