Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt sent me searching for
the story of the Harman School of Music. I have written a few times about the
little school in Shenandoah, Virginia where my mother studied piano and tap as
a child.
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| former Harman School of Music Pennsylvania Avenue, Shenandoah, VA |
I remembered a thread from one of my Facebook groups when
members were reminiscing over their piano lessons and recitals at the Harman
School. One had posted a link to an article from the Harrisonburg Daily News
Record written as a tribute to the Harmans for their many years as the premier
music teachers of the Shenandoah Valley.
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| from Daily News Record 18 Jan 1983 Newspaperarchive |
Gordon and Conjetta Harman married in 1933 and together
they spent the next 50 years teaching over 2000 students to play violin,
guitar, piano, and organ. They kept a studio in Waynesboro for a while, but for
most of their career they taught at home or in their students’ homes charging 50 cents for a half hour lesson when they
started out and $4 in their last years. Conjetta sometimes taught with her baby
on her lap and her toddler on the floor.
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| Professor James A. Harman from Daily News Record 7 Jan 1959 Newspaperarchive |
As passionate as the couple were about music, Gordon
confessed that as a young boy, he just wanted to go play baseball. However, he
was from a musical family in which everyone played an instrument. His father
was James Harman, a professor of music at the local colleges Bridgewater,
Shenandoah Conservatory, and State Teachers College (now James Madison
University – Go DUKES!). He opened the Harman School of Music in Harrisonburg
in 1921.
Professor Harman’s life and love of music is no less
interesting. He fell in love with the violin as a youngster in Randolph County,
West Virginia. He would walk 14 miles to take lessons. (I wonder if he walked
barefoot in the snow?) He studied and taught himself how to make violins
following the patterns of Stradivarius and other old masters of Italy and
Germany. When a tribute to him was written for the newspaper in 1959, he had
made 3 including the one he had been playing for the past ten years.
James Harman’s six children (Gordon was the oldest) all
played the violin plus other instruments. The Harman family often performed
programs in the local churches on Sunday. One achievement that the Harmans were
especially proud of was being crowned the Virginia winner in the Home Music
Contest held nationally as part of National Music Week in 1929. The family’s
performance was praised for being “natural and unaffected” and for the
selection of music which all related to “home.” Their reward was a Majestic
Radio, a combination radio and phonograph player, priced at $316. It must have
been a humdinger of a radio as it was put on display in the local movie theater
for all to see.
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| from Daily News Record 26 Jun 1929 Newspaperarchive |
Probably James Harman was just as proud that at least
four of his children chose music as a profession, Gordon being just one of them.
Daughters Priscilla, Mary Jane, and Dorothy became piano and violin teachers
too. Each had his or her own “territory” stretching from Luray to Dayton.
With over 256,000 references to the Harman School of
Music in the Newspaper Archive database, it’s a wonder I spied this little gem:
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| from Daily News Record 15 Jun 1939 Newspaperarchive |
It’s an announcement of a Harman School of Music recital
under the direction of James Harman and daughter Priscilla Harman to be held at
Shenandoah High School on June 15, 1939. There’s my mother, Mary Eleanor Davis.
Her piece was “Mirth and Gayety” composed by Carl Wilhelm Kern. She was just 10 years old.
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| Mary Eleanor Davis about 1939 |
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| 1st of 4 pages of the music in public domain |
Those 16th notes in 2:4 time seem pretty challenging to me. YouTube has everything, but they don't seem to have this piece.
The stories and photos at Sepia Saturday will be music to
your ears.
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
