True Stories
Professor of Music
Garry Clarke, Chair, Department of Music
When I interviewed at Washington College in January 1968, I was given a tour of the brand new Fine Arts Center, as it was then called. Arriving in September of that year, I was assigned an empty office. Almost forty years later, that same office is cluttered with books, scores, recordings, and files. I think of the many marvelous students who came to that office to talk about music and endless other subjects. There was also a lot of music-making in that room, and many ear trainings! And there were also minor disasters, such as the day in the early 1990s when an entire wall of books came crashing down as one of my favorite music theory students was at the piano doing a keyboard assignment. Apparently there was something wrong with the way the bookcase had been attached to the wall. Or there may have been too many books!
The Daniel Z. Gibson Performing Arts Center, as it is now named, after a president of the College who had an intense interest in the arts and wanted them to succeed at Washington College, has many spaces that conjure up memories for endless numbers of students and professors. We drama and music people have made it our home. And when you have a home, you have memories.
With any home, forty years of use results in wear and tear. For quite a number of years, my office ceiling has looked as though it may suffer the fate of the falling bookcase. It is time for some home improvements. While I will feel strange having a temporary office in another building, I'm grateful that a new generation will have a beautiful, refurbished facility where study and performance will lead to new memories for future Washington College students and faculty.