CWU LIVING HISTORY PROJECT
HERBERT BIRD
Lowther: Today we’re interviewing Herbert Bird, longtime member of the music faculty at Central. Herbert, before we get into your career at Central, would you just give us some background on where you were born and raised, your family, education, any career before coming to Central?
Bird: Well, my family were in Rockford, Illinois where I was born and began taking violin lessons about the age of 7. Then the family - my father lost his business and we made a rather drastic move to the East Coast and we lived outside the Washington D.C. area. My - that’s where my mother’s family came from. I finished high school - I was 15 when we left Rockford. I finished high school in Washington and Lee High School in Arlington County, Virginia. That spring, after graduation, the family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina where they lived for 25 years. From there, I went to Oberlin Conservatory where I obtained a degree in music and came back to Raleigh, North Carolina on graduation in 1939 and began teaching privately in my home - my parent’s home. In 1942 Uncle Sam asked me to go in as a draftee. So I served him in various camps throughout - in the
Lowther: You came with the master’s degree at that time?
Bird: I came with the master’s degree. Then, subsequent to that, in 1955 I had a year off and went back to Boston and got a DMA at Boston University.
Lowther: What is a DMA?
Bird: That’s the Doctorate of Musical Arts in performance which is - for a performing musician it’s - permits you to spend your time playing your instrument instead of sitting in a library doing research. But some research was involved. But that was after my coming here. Interesting little incident about coming here. I got word that there was this possibility of having a job but I - my wife was taking care of our little - new little girl, Mary, and her father who was living in Kingston, New York, about 90 miles north of New York City. So I called her up and said, ‘How would you like to go to the state of Washington?’ And she said, ‘Great, when do we leave?’ And that kind of helped me - I have for 51 years. So we got to Chicago on the New York Central and then we changed to the Milwaukee Road and unbeknown to us there was a new track train that went from Chicago to Seattle called the Olympian Hiawatha but we didn’t know about it and so we came on a milk train. Arrived in Ellensburg about 2:00 in the morning and Wayne Hertz met us at the train and he - we had asked him if he’d secure a hotel room for us and so we drove and I ? we were right out in the residential section of town and not down where our hotel was. He said, ‘Well, this is going to be your hotel for tonight.’ We stayed in their home for a couple days until we able to get an apartment.
Lowther: Was he living on 9th?
Bird: Still living - yeah, that same house there on 9th.
Lowther: What was your first assignment when you came to the music department here and what was your work load?
Bird: We - well my qualifications that fit the job description were I could teach stringed instruments and piano and theory and conduct the orchestra. Our loads back in those days were supposed to be a maximum of 15 hours but we never got down that far. We always taught more than that. I think it was a matter of our own dedication and the dedication that Wayne had to his department, you know. That kind of a thing. Also, performance was part of the load which was not - which was not part of the load, it was part of the job. As you know, performance requires a number of hours of preparation. Then, about three or four weeks after I had arrived before the end of September, I got a telephone call from Amanda Hebeler saying, ‘When are you going to start the violin classes?’ (laughs) Then, and only then, I found out that my predecessors had taught the beginning violin classes for Hebeler. It was the college elementary school in those days. Amanda Hebeler was very much in charge. So, for 20 years I taught classes in the 4th and 5th and 6th grades at Hebeler Elementary School.
Lowther: Now what was the division of teaching time between classes and individual instruction? Did you spend about as much time with individual instruction as classes?
Bird: I probably spent more time with individual instruction. I would have a class in theory and I would have a class in what we called String Class, which was teaching the basics of stringed instruments to the music majors who were not performers on stringed instruments. In addition to that, there was a certain amount of counseling. After Nicholson Pavilion was built, I remember counseling out in the field house with the dirt floors. That kind of thing. So, what with teaching the classes and three individual lessons and conducting the orchestra and practicing and performing and teaching at the college elementary school it was a very full job but a very rewarding job.
Lowther: Wayne Hertz was chairman when you came’?
Bird: Yes.
Lowther: And he remained chairman very much of your career
Bird: Very much of my career.
Lowther: Do you have any recollections of Wayne as a person and as a professional man?
Bird: Yes. I - I like to think of Wayne as an ideal leader in the music department particularly because he - I think he said himself that he hired us to do the job and he wasn’t going to tell us how to do it he just let us do it. He was very supportive of us and - an illustration of that, I came to Central in 1947 with a salary of $3600 a year. A year! And that was only nine months but we were able to teach summers back then. We could teach three summers and then we had to take a summer off. It wasn’t - I think it was toward the end of that very first year that I ? and then I became an associate professor and then after my doctorate - my doctorate I was able to become a full professor.
Lowther: Do you remember what year you got the doctorate?
Bird: Yeah, 1957.
Lowthèr: Were there other outstanding personalities in the music department that you want to mention?
Bird: Yes, one of the people that came that very same year was Bert Christianson, the band director. I must mention Juanita Davies, the pianist teacher, who became my official accompanist for the school affairs. I think we played recitals together for about 15 years. Who else was here back then? Oh, there was a music ed. teacher who had also graduated from Oberlin and had also attended Columbia University Teacher’s College. Her name was Martha Skruggs. She was a wonderful teacher. She taught the classes in the music ed. and in the college as well as the classrooms at College Elementary School. I know there are others. Some - if I could remember them, there were some that came a little later. While I was at teacher’s college in New York, I met a couple of fellows. One was a fellow by the name of G. Russell Ross. Another one was Joseph Haruda. One day, Wayne called me into the office and he said, ‘Do you know anything about G. Russell Ross?’ And I said, ‘Why sure I know him.’ He said, ‘Fine guy.’ He had written a string quartet and our group back at the teacher’s college got together and played it for him and so he appeared on the faculty. Then there was a big, tall fellow with a big booming voice. He used to take classes as a graduate student for the teacher of choral music and singing at the teacher’s college. People referred to him as big Joe and, lo and behold, Joe Haruda appeared on our faculty, from the teacher’s college. I had a student, the first year I came here, who came from Roslyn. His name was Robert Panerio. He was quite a talented young fellow. He played the trumpet. He was pretty good in theory and you know, subsequently, what happened to him. Robert Panerio, he’s joined the faculty. He’s taught his years and retired already.
Lowther: How does that make you feel, you know, having your students now retiring?
Bird: I see that in some of the high schools around the state where I have traveled and they’re retiring and they’ve got more gray hair then I have. Let’s see, there was - oh I’m sure there are other faculty members back in those days that were outstanding but I can’t remember names way back there quite so much.
Lowther: Okay, I suppose there are some that are more recent that stand out in your mind too?
Bird: Yes, one that who has also retired in my estimation was just outstanding in music education was Jane Jones, you know. The orchestra director who came about nine years before I retired was Cliff Cunha and that was an era when the orchestra really obtained a high level of performance and membership. I think there were 60 people in the orchestra, which for 1970’s was very very high. He did some outstanding things. And of course, Wayne’s chorus was nationally known. Wayne was an autocrat but a benevolent autocrat and like many people in power, he was liked a great deal and he was disliked a great deal. One of the things that ceased to exist on. our campus I think, in music the fraternity is universal. You know somebody from everywhere. For a number of years, the Central Washington Music Education Association would have its meeting here in Ellensburg. Wayne was quite a mover in that organization. He would entertain the group in - Tecla - would entertain the group in their home. After recitals there would be a little reception in Hertz Hall and it was a let’s sit down and relax kind of thing. There was always a mixture of talent and piano at those meetings. It promoted a camaraderie in the department that I think was unusual. My experience back in the East at universities was that of politics and back biting things that - my wife said to me when we decided to take this job, Now don’t you come complaining to me about all of the politics that goes on up there.’ And to a certain extent there was a bit of that sort of thing, in my early days, and I’m sure you know as time went on –
Lowther: That increased?
Bird: That increased. Before I retired, probably in the 70’s.
Lowther: What year did you retire?
Bird: I retired in ‘78. So along four or five years before I retired the paper work, the trying to estimate what kind of equipment you wanted five years from now, and various kinds of pressures began to pile up. So when I retired, people said, ‘Oh, don’t you miss teaching?’ And I said, ‘Well, I really don’t because I was ready to retire.’ And as a matter of fact, I did keep on teaching privately in my home for about 10 to 12 years before I stopped altogether.
Lowther: There was a Composer in Residence?
Bird: Oh yes, Paul Creston. Paul and his wife came here - well let’s see, I think he retired in ‘70 so he must have come here about ‘64 or ‘65.
Lowther: I think it was a little later. I think he came after I arrived. I arrived in ‘65.
Bird: Okay, along in the ‘70’s he had to have retired. He was here about six years. He taught piano and he taught composition and performed. He had written a composition for violin and piano and we performed that together. The orchestra performed some of his symphonic music and he - one of his major goals in his music was rhythm. He had some very individual ideas about rhythms in music. So he had written a book about it and oh a half dozen or more of the members of the faculty came and he lectured on his ideas about rhythm. We became very good friends. Paul and Louise and Ruth and I would team up and go to concerts in Seattle. After Paul retired, he and his wife found a home in Rancho Vernardo, just north of San Diego. In 1986, I think, Ruth and I spent a couple of months in an apartment in that area and got to see Paul and Louise. Then after Paul died we visited Louise there and performed a little program in their home and I played one of the movements of Paul’s compositions on the pino. Paul was sort of self taught in his own admission. He read a great deal and he had some very positive ideas about things. I think one of the compositions of his that is outstanding in my mind was one that he wrote inspired by the chapter from Corinthians that they always read at weddings about love. It’s a gorgeous composition. The fact of the matter is Jane Jones called me up last night about - a little after 8:00 and said, ‘Turn on ten quick. There’s a composition by Paul Creston being played,’ and it was the Corinthians piece.
Lowther: Was that position, Composer in Residence, created just for Paul Creston or were there others?
Bird: I think he was the first.
Lowther: He was the first. Were there others that came after?
Bird: I don’t remember another Composer in Residence. A composer was added to the faculty –
Lowther: Regular faculty?
Bird: Regular faculty who taught.
Lowther: Let’s see, you of course, were at Central for 30 years teaching and have you - did you notice a change in the nature and quality of the students over the years? From the 40’s to 70’s?
Bird: Well, I really think that I could say that I began to notice a little more sophistication in Central students. I can’t say exactly when it started. Probably along in the 60’s after I’d been here for 10 or 15 years. It’s sort of a thing that I noticed I don’t know if it would be called so much of a change but when I retired - before I retired I began to feel that my students were not intellectually curious. They just - the class would sit there and expect you to feed it to them. I came over to the Samuelson building to get a ticket for the faculty affair last week and I - a young woman came up to me and said, ‘Dr. Bird do you remember me?’ And I said, ‘I certainly do. I can’t remember your name.’ But she was one of the few students in my theory class that had enough intellectual curiosity to ask me about things. I remembered a specific incident of her.
Lowther: Did the department consciously and intentionally recruit students or did you just wait until the students showed up on your door step?
Bird: Well, there’s tradition, I guess, of recruitment. Wayne Hertz would make a tour with the choir at high schools. Different years and different parts of the state and as a matter of fact he invited me as a soloist a number of times and we would go into the high schools and he would meet with some of the music faculty and he would almosf invariably interview some students who were interested in coming to Central. The band made tours and had the same kind of relationships with music teachers in high schools around the state. They had a - both organizations had a very fine reputation as a fine organization and people appreciated that kind of work so that was done. The Music Educators Association, which is a nation wide thing, was another means of publicizing the college and I think Wayne’s having the Music Educators conferences here, it would have competitions, soloists playing and then they would have a mass band or orchestra or something and having it here on campus was a recruitment type of thing. One of the other things I remember, if I’m not going on too long, is it kind of came about after I retired. I was invited to guide some parents - you know when they come for parents week or something - and a number of us retired people would do that. As I walked around the campus I realized that I had known personally most of the people whose names are connected to some building. I knew - Smyser was still alive when I came here and Reggie Shaw was teaching and –
Putnam: What did he teach? What area?
Bird: Shaw was geography and he had made a - one of those trips from the source of the Columbia clear to the mouth of the Columbia. So there’s Shaw-Smyser and the Samuelson building, Emil Samuelson known as Dr. Sam, I knew him, and Victor Boullion was President of the Board of Directors, Chairman and President of the then Washington National Bank in Ellensburg. I thought it was quite wonderlul when I came to a place like Ellensburg that I could call the president of a bank by his first name and walk into businesses downtown and call those people by their first names, you know. Then there was - well the science building –
Lowther: Lind.
Bird: Lind. I knew Lind and his family and Dean, Dorothy Dean. She lived next door to us when we first came here. Michaelson, Helen Michaelson and Reino Randall and Hogue, Peter Hogue and of course now I know his son, Prater. Do you know Prater?
Lowther: I don’t know him personally.
Bird: What else is-beef-? Nicholson. Oh we knew Leo and his wife Opal and then Dean came along and –
Lowther: Were there - you knew a lot of people. Were there anything that comes to mind concerning any of them that you would like to pass on?
Bird: Well I just remember, for instance, Courson, what was his first name? He was the one - paid out the money. We used to have to come over here to this building and go into the office which was down on the second floor and pick up our checks before they started sending them to us. Ernie Muzall, I knew him. I taught his son piano.
Putnam: And these were all faculty?
Bird: Yeah. Bernie Muzall was faculty. Courson was Comptrolier or something like that. I knew Dr. McConnell and his wife. His wife was a member of our church choir which Ruth directed so we knew the McConnells very well. Jim Brooks was a really good friend and Dr. Garrity was in my estimation - had many great qualities. There were others who thought he had some problems but one of the things that I liked about Garrity was he remembered individuals and would greet you by name and he would come hear me at my recitals.
Lowther: He was something of a musician too, wasn’t he?
Bird: Yes I can’t remember –
Putnam: Trombone?
Lowther: Or was it saxophone?
Bird: Saxophone or clarinet or something.
Lowther: Clarinet.
Bird: The names around here are pretty familiar to me. I think, I can’t remember when Barge Hall got it’s name. I don’t know if it was named for him before. Way back in ‘47. We just referred to this as the administration building. I remember Al Munson needed fixing up. I think its al?.
Lowther: As you think back over your career in the music department, do you recall any significant changes that took place with the program or procedure?
Bird: Well there was - the biggest change was the move from Edison Hall to Hertz Hall. Edison Hall was already condemned in 1947 when I came here but we taught there until 1964 when we moved into Hertz Hall.
Lowther: And Edison even continued beyond that, didn’t it?
Bird: Yes, I don’t know how many years before they tore it down. The building was planned to accommodate 20 faculty and within the first year or two that we moved into the new building we had already outgrown the accommodations for faculty.
Lowther: You mean Hertz was made to accommodate 20 faculty?
Bird: Hertz was built to accommodate 20 faculty. Now I hear they’re contethplating an addition or a new building.
Lowther: You moved into Hertz in about ‘64?
Bird: Yeah.
Lowther: Were you in on any of the planning for that building?
Bird: Not actually on the planning. One of the people that had quite a lot to do with the planning was Bert Christianson because he and Wayne got together and planned the rehearsal rooms and they were the ones that planned it so that instruments could be moved from the instrument storage to the stage of the Hertz Hall without any steps or anything, which was a great thing. The - gradually the little family group that seemed to exist when I first came hear dissipated. There were just that many more people. One of the things that I’d like to give Wayne credit for is keeping the faculty communicating. We had a faculty meeting every single week for years and years and years. We could air our differences that way and people did, you know, but it came out in the open that way and I think that it was a wonderful thing. I remember one of the psychology professors remarked that you didn’t see many of the other departments being able to meet together like that and have it be a wonderful thing if they did. So that was kind of interesting.
Lowther: Now, among the changes that took place, I think, were some changes in the major. I seem to recall that the number of credit hours required, particularly in the education major for music went up tremendously. Do you - did that happen after you retired?
Bird: I think this was happening before I retired and there was even talk back then of a five year program for music ed.
Lowther: Because of what?
Bird: I felt that I had - without planning it - had gotten my education the right way, which was that I got a thorough music education at Oberlin Conservatory and then I got my music education as a mature, experienced person at a teacher’s college and when I went out to teach, I had learned a lot about the psychology of education and people and so on and I was prepared to teach. I didn’t completely agree with the use of students in the classrooms before they had even finished their education. I see the value of hands-on education right in the classroom. I don’t mean –
Lowther: So you favored having them complete their music education before they went into teach?
Bird: I favor concentrating becoming a musician first and then learning how to teach but that’s probably an old fashioned idea.
Lowther: Sounds pretty good to me. Were you involved in any of the campus wide committees?
Bird: Yes, I was on the - what you might call the infamous committee. What were we called - Maury Pettit and - the head of it. What do you call counseling people and having them come through?
Putnam: Consultant?
Bird: No, they mediate little disputes and things. Well, we had a committee for that.
Lowther: Grievance Committee?
Bird: No, but anyway, this was a college wide committee and there was some criticism of Jim Brooks and so our committee interviewed the chairman of every department and asked questions and tried to get what needed to be done around here to improve things and all that kind of thing. In connection with that committee, I was on our Personnel Committee.
Lowther: Was that called the Personnel Committee? Was that Ad Hoc Committee or was that a standing committee? And when was that? Was it during the 60’s or 70’s?
Bird: It was during Jim Brooks’ reign. Then in connection with that, I had the same committee assignment in the music department. Then I was on the Sabbatical Committee, when I returned from my own sabbatical in 1970. I remember so well because we met in the fall of 1969 and a whole new batch of faculty came and then we returned - I returned to teach in the fall of ‘70 and another new batch of faculty came and I never got caught up. One of the members of the committee was a younger chap that I didn’t know and we introduced ourselves and his name was Kent Richards. I said, ‘How long have you been here at Central?’ He said, ‘Oh, five years.’ I didn’t even know him. That’s one of the things I noticed about Central. When - the first fall that I was here in ‘47 the faculty had a banquet in the dining room of the old Antlers Hotel that was on the corner of 6th and Pearl. It’s a parking lot now. Gradually the faculty increased to the point where they no longer had an opening banquet. I was interested about the convocation they had this year. I think that’s the first time they ever had anything like that. We used to have assemblies in McConnell Auditorium. Do you remember those?
Lowther: Uh huh. Well wait a minute, faculty assemblies or students?
Bird: Students.
Lowthèr: No, I don’t remember those. They must have been before my time.
Bird: When I first came to Central with the music department in Edison, we didn’t have an auditorium so all our programs were done in McConnell Auditorium and that was always a problem because we had to contend with the dramatics department.
Lowther: Did you ever serve on the General Ed. Committee or the Teacher Ed.
Committee?
Bird: I think the only official duty I had in that connection was visitation. I made several visitations to students who were in their first year of teaching. I had one particular visit I remember the person I went out with was Dr. Samuelson and one of my people that I interviewed was doing a marvelous job and the principal said, ‘If you have any more like these over there, please send them over to us.’ And the other one was a person who was just a mistake. Just really unfortunate that she went out to teach in the public schools. She was a pianist and had the choir and couldn’t discipline them. So I saw the two extremes as I - but my impression was that Central’s reputation over the years for teachers was very high. People in the field coveted teachers from Central. One of the things that happened during my time, you said changes, was the introduction of the Graduate Program. Because I saw Central Washington College of Education and Central Washington State College and then Central Washington University in my tenure before I retired.
Lowther: Do you remember about when the Grad Program was started?
Bird: Well, I’m trying to think.
Lowther: Was it in the 60’s or 70’s?
Bird: It must have been in the 60’s because I think I had some graduate students before I took my sabbatical which was ‘69 and ‘70. I’m terrible on dates.
Lowther: That’s okay. That’s okay. Now, what would you say were some of the strengths and/or weaknesses of the music department? Some of its accomplishments over the years?
Bird: Well, I wouldn’t call it a weakness but I would say that Central as a music department is noted for its music education area. I believe that any music study is music education but in this case education is the training of teachers to go out into the public schools and teach. I think that was very strong and still is. I think, you know, we weathered that problem of certification and won some national award. We turned out students that are not single minded in the one little thing. They are pretty broadly trained, which I think is great. We have never been the type of music department where the talent of young soloists would - we’ve had a lot of them but I think in my own situation and I were starting out to go to college and - to become a professional violinit I wouldn’t choose a state teacher’s college. I would choose –
Lowther: A conservatory?
Bird: A conservatory.
Lowther: You have - you said that Wayne Hertz’s chorus had a national reputation. Did you have any other music groups that really achieved national recognition?
Bird: Well, I think that probably during the time Bert Christianson was here the
- through National Band Association our band was invited to perform at the national convention type of thing and of course subsequently, since I retired, Larry Gookin’s outfit is nationally known.
Lowther: The jazz
Bird: Oh yes, now the jazz program at Central is outstanding. I also had a young student many years ago whose name was John Moawad and he’s come back to teach.
Lowther: Is he still here?
Bird: He’s still here. One time - I think - I’m sure he was still a student - we invited him to perform at the Kiwanis Talent Show and he came down there with his drums and he could play them. Quite a hit.
Lowther: Now do you own - oh excuse me. Go ahead.
Bird: I just thought of a teacher that I should mention, a voice teacher, Lynn Dupin. She was just one of those wonderful people. She taught people, not just singing. Some outstanding singers were among her students. One of my great memories I think is when I retired Bert Christianson retired the same year and so did John DeMerchant, the singer. The three of us, they had a big to-do at Holiday Inn for the three of us. That was quite an occasion.
Lowther: You had a group, Barbara Brummett called The Swingers. What was your impression of them?
Bird: Yes, that was really a remarkable group. We’ve never had anything before or since. It really filled a need. Television was more or less coming in and you saw things like that on television and the kids that took part in that benefited greatly in their musical training and in developing self confidence and as people, you know. Barbara had a tremendous enthusiasm and she went beyond The Swingers and did community chorus for a long time. She got the idea of putting on musicals. We did Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta.
Lowther: HMS Pinafore.
Bird: And we did “No, no, Nannette.” And who do you suppose taught the fellows to play the ukelele? I did. (laughs)
Lowther: I understand that within the music department there was a little controversy about this program.
Bird: There were people who thought that it wasn’t up to - actually, there were people who thought it wasn’t up to college standards. I thought it was superb.
Lowther: The public loved it.
Bird: For what - well, you know, there are classics, meaning outstanding in a certain field, you see, and for what it was it was tops. It was just done - the rehearsing, the timing, you know, the presentation was professional.
Lowther: Herbert, are there any other things that you would like to mention?
Topics that we haven’t covered here that –
Bird: Well there’s one thing that - it’s part of my career, I’m sure. After I retired, I continued to go up and be a member of the violin section of the orchestra with all of the various conductors. So, in 1980, I was playing with the orchestra and one Monday night at a rehearsal Richard Leinaweaver appeared in the auditorium and he came down near the stage front during a little break and he said, ‘Herbert, would you come over to the Tower Theater after rehearsal.’ He said, ‘I just talked to your wife and she said it’s okay.’ I knew what he wanted. They were getting ready to do “Fiddler on the Roof” and so I was the fiddler on the roof.
Lowther: Yes, I remember that.
Bird: And it was a wonderful experience. Of course the play itself contributed as that kind of play but I never experienced the extended family feeling of the whole cast and when the - Tevia-and I walked off the stage at the very end of that thing why we were both just crying. It was a wonderful experience and I still meet people on the street downtown in Ellensburg that say, ‘Oh, you were the fiddler on the roof.’ That was a wonderful play and it was beautifully done. They were afraid that I wouldn’t do it
- get up on the roof, you know. One of the things that sort of made me agree to do it was I had seen the movie and the person who actually played the violin was none other than Issac Sterne.
Bird: Well, if Issac Sterne can do it, I guess I can, One of the things that was not part of my college career that was part of my life was after I retired we were doing a great deal of traveling. So we covered during my sabbatical year - I was the last year that they paid the major salary during my sabbatical. After that they started cutting it down to about eight or nine months.
Lowther: Did you get full salary or was it two-thirds salary?
Bird: I think it was three-quarters.
Lowther: Three-quarters. Okay.
Bird: We were able - we rented our house and we were able to live pretty well. Those English people thought we were really living. They wanted to know how long we were staying and I said, ‘Well you see, we’re on a sabbatical. We’re going to be here the whole year.’ And they said, ‘Oh you really are on holiday aren’t you?’ I learned then that the English people do not refer to their academic people as Dr. So and so, it’s just Mr. So and so. It’s true also of their medical profession. They’re not Dr. So and so, they’re Mr. So and so. But if you are a professor then you are looked up to. So when they found out that I was a professor I went way up in their estimation.
Lowther: Anything else that you would like to mention?
Bird: Well, there isn’t anything really any more that - there are lots of little pieces that could be - that could come up you know.
Lowther: Sure. Well, we want to thank you for coming up here and giving us this interview.
Bird: You’re very welcome.