Honorary Degrees of Retiring Faculty
James Wesley Ming, T. A. Chapman Professor, Conservatory of Music, 1982
"James Ming: After nearly four decades of teaching, composing and performing as a member of the Faculty of the Conservatory of Music, we can only say, with Henry Wriston, 'By such as you are colleges built.'
A student of Bernard Rogers, Howard Hansen, Darius Milhaud, and Nadia Boulanger, you have assimilated a tradition of music--in all its infinite styling and structure--and you have transmitted that tradition to your students who have come to know and feel the origin and development of Western music from Gregorian Chant to George Crumb. Your former students have done you proud in their own careers as educators and composers of national renown.
While Harper Hall and Memorial Chapel have been the scenes of many of your triumphs as a composer, your music has also been performed before your professional colleagues in Detroit and New York and at the Eastman School of Music. Your 'Music for Fountainbleu,' performed in the Jeu de Paume in the Chateau, likely sparks unforgettable memories.
Your teaching and music are world class--and so is your palate. Few would dispute that your own table, especially when adorned with your famous veaux a la creme and a bottle of Pouligny Montrachet would earn all the stars Michelin could ever assign.
For generations of Lawrentians, the Ming presence has been an unforgettable and shaping experience. For those graduates of earlier years, that experience is one of memories--memories of papers toughly but caringly corrected, of music made alive by an exciting London Center music appreciation course, so expertly tied to the highlights of the concert season, and of performances skillfully rendered to the edification and enjoyment of the Lawrence community.
For your most recent students, the Ming presence has been affirmed and honored by a classroom impersonation of your legendary ear training sessions in which finally--once and for all--you, not they, were the author of double leading tones and parallels.
By the authority vested in me, I now confer upon you the degree of Master of Arts, ad eundem, and admit you to its rights, its privileges, and its obligations."