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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE BETTY JOHNSON, MIDWEST PIONEER OF THE BASSOON: HER LIFE AND LEGACY A DOCUMENT SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS By ANNA RESNICK Norman, Oklahoma 2015 BETTY JOHNSON, MIDWEST PIONEER OF THE BASSOON: HER LIFE AND LEGACY A DOCUMENT APPROVED FOR THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC BY ______________________________ Dr. Eugene Enrico, Chair ______________________________ Mr. Rodney Ackmann, Co-Chair ______________________________ Dr. Suzanne Tirk ______________________________ Dr. Jennifer Saltzstein ______________________________ Dr. Bruce Hoagland © Copyright by ANNA RESNICK 2015 All Rights Reserved. DEDICATION This document is dedicated to my first bassoon teacher, Betty Johnson. What a blessing it was to learn from you and spend time with you during my early years as a bassoonist. The first thing anyone told me about you was that you were considered the Grandmother of the Bassoon. After learning more about your life, that title makes perfect sense and is deserved. I’m sure you are too humble to figure out why I decided to tell your story. It is because your story is worth being told. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This labor of love would not have been possible without the unending help and support of many people. I began this project by contacting Betty’s daughter, Joan Straach. She instantly invited me to her home, welcomed me into the family, provided many hours of information-filled interviews, and gave me a comfortable place to stay for many nights while I conducted research. The remembrances and memories she shared brought up old memories and forgotten emotions. Joan offered everything she had: pictures, old letters, programs, and more. The family’s information was invaluable to the preservation of Betty’s life and legacy; it outlined a story and added dimension to my research. Johnson’s former bassoon students, colleagues, and friends whom I contacted for this study responded with enthusiasm and a desire to help in any way they possibly could. They consistently answered my questions with excitement and added unexpected details, thrilled for the opportunity to share memories about a beloved teacher, friend and colleague. Pictures, programs, lesson notes, recordings, and more sources to contact were readily offered. The lesson notes provided essential clues to Johnson’s pedagogy and reed-making technique over time. They have been enthusiastic, responding to emails and phone calls full of follow-up questions and requests for last minute details. I could not tell the story of Betty Johnson without looking at her life through their eyes. Their dedication to Johnson and this project was evident in our correspondence, another testament to Johnson’s positive influence on their lives. To all 39 of my research informants - Thank you for your energy and enthusiasm from the bottom of my heart. iv Warmest gratitude also goes to the administration and faculty at Oklahoma City University, who provided me with background information about Betty’s employment and former students. I must also thank the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Artistic Director Joel Levine, and the Kerr Foundation for providing me with the invaluable unpublished manuscript about the history of the Oklahoma Symphony, and details regarding the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Betty’s involvement with that organization. Warmest thanks to Terry Dolan from the ReeDuAl Company for sending records, pictures and information about your product. I appreciate that you dug through old boxes of archival material to find information for me. I would like to express sincere thanks to my outstanding and dedicated Doctoral Committee: Dr. Eugene Enrico, Professor Rodney Ackmann, Dr. Suzanne Tirk, Dr. Jennifer Saltzstein, and Dr. Bruce Hoagland, as well as former members, Professor Carl Rath and Dr. Kenneth Stephenson. Your support, patience, encouragement, and advice through this process, along with tireless efforts to provide excellent feedback and suggestions have been a huge factor in my ability to write this document. Thanks go to my amazing editor Nancy Cohen, who not only helped me tell Betty’s story in a concise manner, but also provided support and encouragement throughout the finishing process. I am so lucky to have my wonderful parents Jane and Alex Resnick nearby and able to help in numerous capacities: supporting me when I wanted to quit writing, running errands to help me finish, and most importantly giving me the opportunity as a seventh grader to begin private lessons with Betty Johnson. Thank you for taking me to lessons, youth orchestra rehearsals, and providing wonderful examples of fine human beings that I may recognize those qualities in others. I also want to thank my first band director, v Teri Wyatt, for asking Betty to teach me, and my high school junior English teacher, Colleen Mallory, for being hard on me and teaching me how to write. Finally, I would like to thank my super-human husband Dusty Henson, who has supported and cheered me on through this entire journey of discovery. I could not have done any of this without you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………………………………….….…………….1 CHAPTER TWO: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION………………………..…..…10 CHAPTER THREE: PROFESSIONAL CAREER………………………………..…...53 CHAPTER FOUR: TEACHING METHOD…….……..………………......................111 Sound and Tone Production ..........................................................................................120 Breathing and Posture ....................................................................................................122 Vibrato ...........................................................................................................................124 Pitch and Intonation .......................................................................................................125 Expression and Phrasing ................................................................................................125 Articulation ....................................................................................................................127 Rhythm ..........................................................................................................................127 Practice ..........................................................................................................................129 Repertoire ......................................................................................................................129 Rehearsal Etiquette ........................................................................................................132 Auditioning ....................................................................................................................134 Reed-making ..................................................................................................................136 CHAPTER FIVE: LEGACY .........................................................................................166 CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY……………………………………………….…….….178 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................183 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ................................................................189 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEWEES ................................................................................194 APPENDIX C: SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF FORMER STUDENTS ........................195 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Betty Johnson Solo and Chamber Group Performances by Conductor Table 2: Past Students Interviewed about Pedagogy with Years of Study Table 3: List of Works Composed for and Dedicated to Betty Johnson viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1: Betty Johnson and Sullivan Family Siblings before 1950 Illustration 2: Betty in Childhood Photograph, on Pointe Illustration 3: Art and Betty Johnson as a Young Couple (Date Unknown) Illustration 4: Betty Johnson as a Young Bassoonist (Date Unknown) Illustration 5: 1982 Letter from Jerald C. Walker to Betty Johnson Illustration 6: Portion of 1982 Article with Betty Johnson Biography Illustration 7: Announcement of Lifetime Achievement Award Illustration 8: Lifetime Achievement Biographies Illustration 9: Bassoon Bash Program in Memory of Betty Johnson Illustration 10: Guy Frasier Harrison (center) with Art Johnson and Betty Johnson Illustration 11: Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Joel Levine Music Director Illustration 12: Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra 1988 Illustration 13 a through d: Instructions on Reed-Making Illustration 14 a through h: Reed Diagrams Illustration 15: Additional Instructions on Reed-making (3 page list) Illustration 16: Reed-making Tools and Companies ix ABSTRACT Betty Johnson’s career in bassoon performance and education spanned six decades. She began her tenure as a charter member of the Oklahoma Symphony Federal Orchestra in 1937 as a talented teenager with minimal formal training and retired as an influential member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic who had shaped the professional careers of many bassoonists. One of the first women playing principal in a major symphony, she was heard internationally through radio broadcasts of the Oklahoma Symphony, and developed a reputation as the premier teacher of bassoon in the Midwest. Participation in summer festivals increased her national exposure as she was the principal bassoonist for the Peninsula Music Festival (Fish Creek, WI) for 27 years and performed in other summer festivals