Full Time Teaching Faculty
and Ensemble Directors

B.A., Oberlin College;
M.A., Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, University of Michiga
Primary areas of interest: Ethnomusicology, Western music history

Marc Benamou is an ethnomusicologist whose principal area of research is the music of Indonesia, where he conducted fieldwork for three years on a Fulbright grant. He holds a B.A. in music from Oberlin College, an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, also from Michigan. He has also studied at the Université de Paris X, where he earned a Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies in philosophy (but with a focus on Indonesian music). He has taught English as a foreign language, has interpreted for the U.S. State Department (Indonesian), and has worked as a professional cook in Ann Arbor, Milwaukee, and Paris. Before coming to Earlham he taught at the University of Alberta, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Oberlin Conservatory, and The Ohio State University.

Marc's principal interests within musicology include æsthetics (emotion, evaluation, ethics), music and language (language about music, semantics), universals, notational systems, comparative music theory, and music and gender. While in Java he studied gamelan performance, specializing in the singing that is an integral part of the tradition. As a performer he has been invited to sing with various Javanese music ensembles in Java and throughout the eastern United States. He has directed gamelan groupsat the University of Michigan, St. Mary's College, and Oberlin Conservatory. He has presented papers and participated in round-table discussions regionally, nationally, and internationally (Paris, Newfoundland, Buenos Aires). His publications have focused on the way Javanese musicians talk about music - the metaphors they use and the categories they have created.

William Culverhouse Assistant Professor of Music Choral Music Western Music History Conducting culvebi@earlham.edu

B.Mus. Oberlin Conservatory, Music Education
M.Mus. and D.M.A. The University of Maryland, Choral Conducting

Bill Culverhouse serves as director of the choral music program at Earlham and teaches courses in Western music history and conducting. He was educated at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Maryland, and his conducting teachers include Edward Maclary and Herbert Henke. He comes to Earlham College having directed choirs at all age levels and in a wide variety on contexts. Most recently he has served as the director of the Schola Cantorum, the resident professional choir of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and the Maryland Chorus, the resident symphonic choir of the University of Maryland. Under his direction, the Schola performed several times for President Bush, and sang at the funeral of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The Schola sings every year at the Red Mass marking the opening of the U.S. Supreme Court session. During Bill’s tenure, the Schola developed a reputation for excellence in the performance of Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony, and for championing the work of living composers. They have also recorded numerous CDs.

While at the University of Maryland, he taught conducting and directed the Women’s Chorus, Chapel Choir, and Men’s Chorus. He also continued the Maryland Chorus’s traditional specialization in historically-informed performances of Baroque music, and his performances of Handel’s complete Messiah were greeted with wide acclaim.

Bill has also directed choirs and taught general music, music history and music theory in the public school systems of Ohio, Illinois, and Virginia, and has directed community children’s choirs and adult chamber choirs. An enthusiastic collaborator, his high school choirs have joined with other local high school choirs for large-scale performances of major works by Benjamin Britten, Morten Lauridsen, and Carl Orff. He is also an active guest conductor and adjudicator, and has served as a clinician in Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Bill is also active as a composer and performer. He has studied composition with Adolphus Hailstork, Robert Sirota, and Kathryn Alexander, and his compositions have been performed by a wide variety of ensembles. His Requiem for chorus and harp was premiered in May 2008. A lyric baritone with a specialization in early and contemporary art music, he has given solo vocal performances in Norfolk, Cleveland, Chicago, and the D.C. area, and has been featured as a member of the professional vocal ensemble Icarus in the Chorworks summer early music conferences led by founding Tallis Scholar Philip Cave.

He recently completed a research tour of Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, exploring traditional and contemporary vocal and instrumental music of the Middle East.

Forrest Tobey Associate Professor of Music Orchestral Music Music Theory Composition Music Technology tobeyfo@earlham.edu

http://www.mirabaimusic.com

B.A. Whitworth College, Comparative Religion
B.A. Western Washington University, Music Education
M.M. Western Washington University, Conducting
M.M. Peabody Conservatory, Computer Music Performance
D.M.A. Peabody Conservatory, Orchestral Conducting
Dissertation: "Conducting the Computer: a Description of a Real-time System for Interactive Conductor-Following"

Music Director of the Earlham College Orchestra and Instructor of Music Theory and Music Technology.

Dr. Forrest Tobey began teaching at Earlham in the fall of 2003, bringing with him a love for musical eclecticism. He feels gratitude for his life's work as an orchestra conductor, possessing a deep passion for the tradition, but also seeks to expand the repertoire to include new works for orchestra and interactive technologies. As a lifelong pianist, he performs within the classical idiom, but also loves to branch out into jazz and spontaneous improvisation. His compositions include works for orchestra, choir and orchestra, solo voice, solo piano and various chamber settings, but he also prolific as a singer-songwriter, finding the composition of lyrics with music a very personal method of direct communciation and self-exploration. He also brings to his teaching a love of and experience with world music, most notably the music of India, which found expression in his work with the jazz/world music ensemble Off Chants.

During his years in the Washington D.C. area (1990-2003), Forrest founded the 21st Century Ensemble, a chamber orchestra that performed classical works alongside works for live musicians and interactive computer-music systems, using software of his own design. As a solo performer, he uses the infrared wands of the Buchla Lightning as an interface for his gesture-following software, performing electronic music through gestural interaction. He performed solo during the Times Square New Year’s Eve Millenium celebration in New York, and for many years gave solo Lightning performances under the title “Something Magical.” His most recent performance was at Earlham College in January of 2004. Over the past few years, he has giving his interactive computer music performance life a rest, but has recently returned to this work with renewed enthusiasm.

All of the above activities can be tracked at his personal website, mirabaimusic, which contains all the recorded music of Off Chants, many of his classical compositions as well as a compendium of personal songs.

Recently, Forrest has been composing for the Earlham Orchestra. In January of 2007, the Earlham Orchestra and the Chanticleer String Quartet performed the premiere of his Four Conversations for String Quartet and Orchestra and in the spring of the same year, they premiered Joyous Spring, Radiant Mountain. In the fall of 2008, the premiere was heard of his work Keeping Still, for choir and orchestra, with poetry by Pablo Neruda. This spring, Forrest will be on sabbatical and plans to work on an extended composition for orchestra and conducted electronics, which will be premiered in Civic Hall in the spring of 2011.

Dan Graves Professor of Music Musicology Western Music History dang@earlham.edu

A.B. Dartmouth College, Music
M.A. The Pennsylvania State University, Music History
M.M. Westminster Choir College, Choral Conducting
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, Psychology of Music

Primary areas of interest:  Western music history, jazz history

Dan Graves came to Earlham in the fall of 1984 after thirteen years of high school teaching in Connecticut.  Until the spring of 2008 he served as conductor of numerous Earlham choral ensembles, led seven semester-long Vienna Choral Programs, and directed music theater productions. He currently teaches half-time focusing on his classroom teaching.

Dan’s areas of major interest and study within Western music include canon formation (Why do we study what we study?  How is it selected and by whom?); cultural and social history surrounding musical works and composers; ethical considerations of performing, studying, and consuming music; and effects of class, race, and gender on music, musicians, and listeners.  Beethoven, Bach, and the history of jazz are among his current musical passions.

Emerita Faculty

Eleanore Vail

Professor Emerita of Music

Eleanor Vail, Professor Emirita of Music, was Professor of Music at Earlham Collegefrom 1976 to 1994, when she retired from active teaching. Prior to her years at Earlham she was a member of the faculty at Western College in Oxford, Ohio. She is a graduate of Eastman School of Music, from which she earned both Bachelor and Master's degrees. For many years she performed in the area as a chamber musician and accompanist, a role that she continues to enjoy in retirement. In 1975 she established the Meetinghouse Series of chamber music concerts and in 1979 started a series of informal Friday noon concerts in Leeds Gallery (now in the Orchard Room) known as the Brown Bag Concerts. She continues to manage both series, in addition to a similar series at Holy Trinity Church in Oxford, Ohio.

 

Photo here

Rex Bailey, Guitar

Photo here

Rich Begel, Trombone

Bio here.

Elaine Bergman, Flute   betterliving@etczone.com

Elaine Bergman earned her B.A. in Music at Wheaton College in 1983 and her M.A. in Flute Performance at Miami University in 1990. She has been teaching flute at Earlham since 1997. In addition to her activities at Earlham (which also include coaching our Flute Choir/Wind Ensemble), she has many private flute students. She is also an active recitalist and free-lance performer.

Ellen Denham, Voice   ellen@denham.virtualave.net

http://denham.virtualave.net

Ellen Denham, voice instructor, has been on the faculty at Earlham since 2001. She received her B.M in vocal performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts and her M.M. with honors from New England Conservatory of Music, where she was a member of the Opera Studio. Ellen is a past winner of the Encouragement Award from the North Carolina District Metropolitan Opera National Council and has performed roles with Piedmont Opera Theatre, Longwood Opera, Indianapolis Opera, and the Durham Savoyards. She has presented master classes at lectures at such places as Duke University, Butler University, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

An active singer in the Indianapolis area, Denham performs frequently as a soloist with Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra in works that have included numerous Bach cantatas, Handel motets, and Monteverdi’s Vespers. While at Earlham, she has been the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War and Mozart’s Requiem with the Earlham Concert Choir.

Ellen’s other professional interests include writing, dramaturgy, and stage direction. In 2003, Ms. Denham served as librettist and production dramaturgist for Butler University’s critically acclaimed production of "The Willow Maiden," a ballet based on her original story and featuring an original orchestral score by composer Frank Felice. She received an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission for her work on this production, and is currently working on a novel based on the same story. Her chamber opera, "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater," for which she wrote the libretto and co-composed the music with Meredith Gilna, was performed in 2009 at the Indy Convergence. She has also written for Classical Singer magazine.

Denham has received additional training in Laban Movement Analysis, Tai Chi, and Yoga, all of which she incorporates in teaching voice.