Dean Tayloe Harding recently travelled to Hawaii as part of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) accreditation committee for the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Music. NASM establishes national standards for undergraduate and graduate degrees and other credentials for music and music-related disciplines and helps institutions and individuals engaged in artistic, scholarly, educational and other music-related endeavors. In fact, the University of South Carolina School of Music recently had its own NASM accreditation visit pursuing its every-ten-years re-accreditation.
En route to Hawaii, Dean Harding stopped in the “City by the Bay” to hear the San Francisco Symphony perform the premiere of Associate Professor of Composition Man Fang’s "Song of the Flaming Phoenix.” The next day he and his wife Christine stepped off the plane in Honolulu and headed directly to a local venue for a fun and lively evening watching alumna Ashley Cook, ’14, perform as the lead singer of a New Orleans style brass band. Cook received her Bachelor of Music in oboe and is currently serving as an oboist in the Marine Corp Band of the West in Oahu.
Christine Harding, Ashley Cook and Dean Tayloe Harding
Dean Harding engaged in accreditation review duties at the University of Hawaii, Manoa which gave him the opportunity to watch the rehearsal of the University’s Symphonic Band where alumnus Dr. Adam Kehl, ’14, serves as Marching Band Director. Kehl received his Doctor of Musical Arts from USC and has lived in Hawaii with his wife and child for the past couple of years.
“It was a whirlwind trip, but wonderful to have the opportunity to catch up with a couple of our talented alumni and watch them thriving in their music careers,” said Harding. "It makes me very proud. I am looking forward to the next trip!"
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Topics: Dean Tayloe Harding, National Association of Schools of Music, School of Music Alumni