{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/iiif/2n4zg6gm0n/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Myrtle Mack Dutton oral history, 2002 April 21"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":[" Myrtle Mack Dutton (1940-2008) was a singer, pianist, and organist. As a child she played for her father's church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Dutton performed with the Treblettes and the Concert Choir at Western High School. In 1957 she entered Peabody Conservatory on a Senatorial Scholarship, where she studied voice with Elsa Baklor and received her Bachelor of Music (1961) and Master of Music degrees. She was twice a finalist in the Met Regional Auditions. She taught for the Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City school systems and at Morgan State College, and she was an active musician at several churches in Baltimore. In this interview, Dutton discusses her experience at the Peabody Conservatory as one of the first African-American students in the 1950s. (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":[" 2002 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":[" Dutton, Myrtle Mack, 1940-2008 (Interviewee)"," Schaaf, Elizabeth M. (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":[" English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["audio/mp3"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/215349"]}}],"summary":{"en":[" Myrtle Mack Dutton (1940-2008) was a singer, pianist, and organist. As a child she played for her father's church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Dutton performed with the Treblettes and the Concert Choir at Western High School. In 1957 she entered Peabody Conservatory on a Senatorial Scholarship, where she studied voice with Elsa Baklor and received her Bachelor of Music (1961) and Master of Music degrees. She was twice a finalist in the Met Regional Auditions. She taught for the Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City school systems and at Morgan State College, and she was an active musician at several churches in Baltimore. In this interview, Dutton discusses her experience at the Peabody Conservatory as one of the first African-American students in the 1950s."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/405/small/dutton.jpg?1649884516","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - pims0091_DuttonM_01.mp3"]},"duration":2945.0449,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/405/small/dutton.jpg?1649884516","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/405/original/pims0091_DuttonM_01.mp3?1624270816","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2945.0449,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Dutton_OHMS_20220113 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"DUTTON: My name is Myrtle Mack Dutton. My major was voice, and my minor was piano.\n\nSCHAAF: And when did you start studying music?\n\nDUTTON: I guess my mama was determined that I was going to study music when I\nwas about four years old I guess. And she was my first teacher. She was a\nself-taught musician. In other words, someone showed her where middle C was and\nhow it related to the staff and she taught herself. And she was determined that\neach of her children would learn to play the piano and we learned.\n\nSCHAAF: How many brothers and sisters?\n\nDUTTON: One brother and one sister. And one of her methods was what I call\nteaching staccato. If we missed a note, she would hit us, and that was her\nmethod of teaching. And so I became an expert at staccato, making sure I hit the\nnote and got it off real fast. [Laughter]\n\nSo, but her intentions were very, very good, and as I got older I understood\nwhat she was trying to do, what was her intent in life.\n\nSCHAAF: Who was your next teacher? Did she teach you up until?\n\nDUTTON: She taught me until I could correct her. I was so upset that I had to\ntake lessons -- it helped my ear training. When she practiced after we'd gone to\nsleep, she'd hit a F sharp and it should have been a F natural, I'd call down,\nmommy you hit a wrong note. It should have been an F. And I so discouraged her\n-- the poor woman gave up music -- no, not really. [Laughter]\n\nReally, just giving her payback for making me take piano. [Laughter] I was a\nvery sweet child. [Laughter]\n\nSCHAAF: Did she used to wish that you would have children just like you when you\nwere growing up?\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=0.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"DUTTON: Well, I think they'd have preferred that I would have been a nun.\n[Laughter] But that was a different religion.\n\nLet's see, she was the wife of a Methodist minister, so I had several different\nteachers because the conferences would change and we would get transferred. So I\ndidn't have consistent -- I guess consistent music teachers until I came into\nPeabody. I had various teachers up to that time. I guess I had about six to\nseven different teachers.\n\nSCHAAF: Where were you born?\n\nDUTTON: I was born in South Carolina.\n\nSCHAAF: And when did you family come to Baltimore?\n\nDUTTON: Oh wow! It must have been '47 before we came to Baltimore. But Dad had\nhad about four different parishes before he got there.\n\nSCHAAF: And where was his first parish here in Baltimore?\n\nDUTTON: Centennial -- that's down on Monument Street, not too far from Peabody.\n\nSCHAAF: You didn't go to the preparatory department?\n\nDUTTON: No.\n\nSCHAAF: Who were you studying with prior to auditioning at Peabody?\n\nDUTTON: I guess my last piano teacher might have been Mrs. Henrietta Holliman,\nover in East Baltimore. I believe she was my last piano teacher. And then, after\nthat, I got into music at Western High School, and that's when they found out I\nhad a voice. And so then there was a big effort to get me into Peabody. And so\neventually I did.\n\nSCHAAF: Who was your teacher at Western?\n\nDUTTON: Miss Martha Pointer. She was in charge of the Treblettes and the concert\nchoir I guess it was called in those days.\n\nSCHAAF: And you were in both of them?\n\nDUTTON: Yes, I was in both of those.\n\nSCHAAF: And so you auditioned for Peabody, and she urged you to audition for Peabody?\n\nDUTTON: Yes.\n\nSCHAAF: And what year did you enter?\n\nDUTTON: On dear. It would be in the archaeological records. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=120.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I graduated in '57\nfrom high school, so it was '57 to '61.\n\nSCHAAF: And who was your voice teacher here?\n\nDUTTON: Elsa Baklor.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh great. She was a wonderful, wonderful teacher.\n\nDUTTON: Luckily they gave me to her, and I stayed with her. It was a good thing\nbecause she was a superb teacher, but had unpopular methods, but she was a\nsuperb teacher. She understood the physiology of voice.\n\nSCHAAF: And you had piano minor?\n\nDUTTON: Yes.\n\nSCHAAF: And did you study organ here as well?\n\nDUTTON: No. I didn't study organ. Not here. I guess my first church job was one\nWednesday evening when I was playing for my daddy's church. This was in\nLynchburg [Virginia], but I was real thrilled about being his pianist, Wednesday\nevening pianist. And so I was sitting at -- I was about five years old, and I\nhad a bow on the side of my head. And I was playing \"What a Friend We Have in\nJesus,\" and bobbing my head and kicking my legs. Well, that destroyed, you know,\nthe ambiance that they wanted to create for the Wednesday evening services\nbecause the congregation was totally distracted by my [makes a knocking noise]\n\"What a Friend We Have in Jesus\". And singing -- like I was having so much fun.\nSo I was dismissed after two weeks.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh no. [Laughter]\n\nDUTTON: He said, I needed my rest. Hired me and fired me on a volunteer job.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh, that's great.\n\nDUTTON: Well, that was how I got started being a church musician.\n\nSCHAAF: So did you work as a church musician while you were a student at Peabody?\n\nDUTTON: Yes. I did most of my work playing at the funeral home because that was\nmore lucrative. I was the organist. I used to play for wakes and funerals. I\nmight get three wakes a week. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=240.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And so, you know it was better than tossing a hamburger.\n\nSCHAAF: So where was the funeral home?\n\nDUTTON: It was up on Madison Avenue; it was the Lawe Funeral Home. I was there\nfor ten years. And so that was a real blessing. And sometimes they'd send the\ncars to pick me up.\n\nSCHAAF: Boy, it must have looked really elegant.\n\nDUTTON: Yes. It gave a wrong impression. Myrtle -- they said. They thought that\nI had a very wealthy fiancé, but they didn't know I was going to work. Because\nthis blue and white limousine would come up, and the guy would tip his hat.\n[Laughter] So everyone thought, including Mr.\n\nRegier, that I had a fiancé. I said, no, I work.\n\nSCHAAF: So you were being transported to your job from Peabody in a limousine. I\njust love it. [Laughter]\n\nDUTTON: That was because after my last class I had to be there in time for the\nfirst wake. Because by the time I went on a bus, I would have been late. So it\nwas easier for them to come and get me. But it just gave the wrong, and I didn't\nrealize the wrong impression until much later. Most interesting.\n\nSCHAAF: So then were you in music education, or applied voice?\n\nDUTTON: I was in music education, but I was planning to get an applied degree. I\nwas doing a lot in voice because I had hoped to go on and get my doctorate while\nI was in grad school at Peabody. So I did all my music education courses, but I\nalso took additional music, applied music, as much as possible. And I came out\ntwice in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Finals in the top six for two years, so\nthat was a real compliment.\n\nSCHAAF: Fabulous.\n\nDUTTON: And I won the vocal proficiency award in '66 ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=360.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and I won the Azalia Thomas\nTheory Prize.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh that's a big one.\n\nDUTTON: So I won that. I was real pleased with that, plus I had this graduate\nscholarship for two years and, oh yes, a Senatorial.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh that's wonderful. So when you graduated, when did you decide to go\ninto teaching?\n\nDUTTON: Well, I had to. To get a senatorial scholarship teaching was mandatory.\nYou had to teach for two years to pay back the money to the State of Maryland.\n\nSCHAAF: Okay.\n\nDUTTON: So that was the deal -- that they would pay your tuition if you promised\nto teach for them for two years. So that was a small price to pay. I taught in\nAnne Arundel County for two years, and then I transferred to Baltimore City, and\nI taught one year, and then I went back to grad school, got a grad scholarship\nfor two years and graduated. But I still had planned to go back and get my\ndoctorate, that never happened.\n\nSCHAAF: Who else was teaching at Douglass the year that you were there?\n\nDUTTON: The year that I was there was Miss Lois Wright. They had a Lois Wright\nRecital Series for a while in her honor. She was one of the teachers, and Mr.\nWilliam Grigsby, Mrs. Marian Smith, and I think myself, and this girl named. Oh\ndear, she was the instrumental teacher. She married and her name was Claire\nKoman. And she was superb. She'd come in from the Sorbonne.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=480.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SCHAAF: So you were living at home while you were a student at Peabody, and what\nwas it like here when you were a student at Peabody?\n\nDUTTON: It was interesting because on some levels it was, for some people, not\nall, but for some it was as though if you could do music, you were equals. Okay?\nAnd there was no general reference to skin tone and so forth. And this happened\nwhen I was at Western [high school]. I'll never forget it. We were going to, en\nroute to do a concert, I think it was Second Presbyterian Church up on Charles\n[Street], and either en route there or on the way back, all the girls got out of\nthe car to go and get something to eat, this was the Treblettes. And I just sat\nthere because I knew I couldn't go in. And this is before I got to Peabody,\nabout a year before I got to Peabody. And they all jumped out and they looked\naround, where's Myrtle. And I said, you go ahead and eat. And they said, cmon,\ncmon girl. And so I just, oh gosh, I did not want a scene, I did not want to go\nto jail. Anyway, I said, look, I can't go in. They said oh yes you can, you're\nhuman. And they dragged me into the place. And I said, oh gosh, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=600.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I did not want\nthis scene.\n\nAnyway, what happened was that the waitress waited on everybody and she didn't\nwait on me. Meanwhile, all the girls had ordered, and I was sitting there, and I\nknew I was not going to get waited on. So one of the girls said, Myrtle, where's\nyour food. I said, I didn't get waited on. Hey miss, come here, wait on her. I\nmean, they finally said we can't wait on her. What do you mean you can't wait on\nher? She's our friend. You can't wait on her?\n\nAnyway, they all, I guess there was about five or six in the car, and they said,\nif she can't eat, we don't either. And they walked out. But it was so quiet on\nthe way back. They had not--I don't believe it was a set up thing. I think that\nthey actually had forgotten that the rules existed just for that. Which was that\nI was with them because I was accepted as part of the group, and they were\nbrought back to the reality that these rules exist.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=720.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"There were some when I was at Peabody who would say, oh, you have a gorgeous\nvoice, but don't forget you're Afro-American. Like, you know, you have a\nfabulous voice, but, you know, don't forget. How can I forget? Wake up in the\nmorning, look in the mirror and wash my face. But all in all it was a good experience.\n\nAnd a lot of the men in my class at Peabody were guys coming on the GI Bill, and\nthey were just so glad, I guess, to be out of the military and in school, they\nreally did a lot for forging the relationships back then and forcing the issues.\nBecause they took two Black guys in the frat. [Phi Mu Alpha] And the girls never\nmade it, but the guys became integrated from the get-go. And I was very proud of\nthem. I couldn't say it in those days, and I don't know if they're even around\nto realize what a breakthrough it was. But it was because they had had that\nmilitary experience. Where the women hadn't had that experience. I pledged but\nwe missed the date. [Laughter]\n\nI walked around with a soap box. One sock red, one green, you know, I had to\nwear all thesethings on the bus. And the people on the street thought I was\ntotally nuts. [Laughter] They didn't know I was pledging. But anyway, maybe it\nwas not so bad.\n\nSCHAAF: Well, that pretty much has died out. The sorority has been fairly\ninactive over the past years. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=840.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Who were your favorite teachers here at Peabody?\n\nDUTTON: Mrs. Baklor, Mr. Hensler, [Louis] Cheslock was fantastic because he\ncould dissect a piece of music so thoroughly like he could get hold of these two\npart inventions, and you understood when you got through what each note\nrepresented, and every possible, you know,\n\nthought process. Cross referencing it was only part of this particular, what you\ncall it, theme. It'll be this, it'll be this. If it's going to be part of this\ntheme, it means that. If it's part of that theme, it means the other. And so\nforth. So he was very, very thorough.\n\nAnd the other favorite was Mr. Hensler, and my woodwind teacher, Mr. Sidney\nForrest was. Because he wanted me to change my major and become a flute player\nbecause I found the golden tone. We had to learn all the instruments. We had to\npass the first year exam on all the\n\ninstruments of an orchestra in those days. And there wasn't enough time in the\nday so what I'd do is go through a whole book on each instrument and get it\nunder my belt. So I was practicing like two weeks learning the whole instrument,\nlearning the whole first book. So I developed this fabulous tone. And he got the\nguy from the National Symphony to come in and hear me and see if they could talk\nme into changing my major. I was so embarrassed.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=960.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that week I had to go on to my next instrument, and I lost my golden tone. [Laughter]\n\nSCHAAF: Oh no.\n\nDUTTON: And Miss Abdallah wanted me to become a conducting major, and I said now\nwait a\n\nminute. They can hardly take me in this school and now I'm going to go up there\nand try out for a job for the New York Philharmonic because I can conduct.\n[Laughter] No.\n\nSCHAAF: No, that was a hard career for women then.\n\nDUTTON: For anybody! I mean, it was difficult even for the men, even more so for\na woman. And an Afro-American. Oh no, no!\n\nSCHAAF: Well, any woman. It was a long time before Sara Caldwell.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1080.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SCHAAF: When did you start studying organ?\n\nDUTTON: My father was ordained Methodist clergy, and he would go to different\nchurches. And, of course, I had to go along because my mother wanted to be at\nhis side. She wasn't going to leave us with any strangers. I picked up organ by\ndefault. The guy at our church, I can't remember his name, wanted a vacation.\nHe'd been playing like forty years without vacation. Can you imagine someone\nplaying without a vacation? The only way he got a vacation was to teach me. So\nhe gave me some quick lessons. That was my introduction -- so he could take a\nbreak. And then it went on from there.\n\nSCHAAF: Were you involved in secular -- popular music or any sort of music\noutside of the church besides your teaching.\n\nDUTTON: Besides my teaching? Let's see, I did do some concerts around town and\noverseas, even that was basically church music. I did the \"Music Man\" in the\nSouth Pacific.\n\nSCHAAF: Now when was this?\n\nDUTTON: This was after I finished grad school. I moved out to the Marianas\nIslands and I was there for fourteen months, I think it was. And so I got a\nchance to play the leading lady, Marian, in the \"Music Man\", and got rave reviews.\n\nSCHAAF: Wonderful.\n\nDUTTON: And so after that, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1200.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I came back to the States, and then I went to Spain,\nspent a while there, got a chance to develop a voice and piano studio for the\nmilitary dependents that were stationed there. And so that was, I guess you\nmight say, my secular world. And so that was very interesting because I couldn't\nteach the Spanish people because they had Spaniard teachers, but I could teach\nthe Americans. But that was very interesting. So that was when I did voice and\npiano, mainly piano students.\n\nWhile I was there, I joined, they had an international quartet, and I did\nseveral concerts in Spain and in Italy. I studied in Italy with the music\ndirector at the San Carlo Opera Company. And so that was very interesting. And I\ndid Spanish art songs with Conchita Barria, in Barcelona. I also did some\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1320.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"coaching with Victoria de los Angeles' accompanist. His name was Zannetti. So I\nworked with him for a while. So I got a chance to do some performing.\n\nSCHAAF: And then drawn back to Baltimore.\n\nDUTTON: Yes. I finally returned back to Baltimore.\n\nSCHAAF: When did you return to Baltimore?\n\nDUTTON: Well, let's see. That was in '78, I believe it was. I was trying to get\nback into teaching so I taught at Morgan [State University] for two years,\ntrying to put my foot in the door so I could move to a full time situation, but\nthat didn't work out, moving around with a young child.\n\nShe had been to how many Montessori schools before she was five? She started in\nMadrid and ended up in Columbia [Maryland], then here [in Baltimore]. And that's\nnot good.\n\nI was a product of many schools. It wasn't bad, but you lose something.\n\nSCHAAF: Now, did she follow your path into music?\n\nDUTTON: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1440.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She was in the Children's Chorus of Maryland. She sang with them for\nfive years. It was very positive. And that was our first time having a point of\nmeeting -- like the E.T. or the Sistine Chapel. You know, where we could meet, and\nshe understands me and I understood her. The other big thing was when I dragged\nher to hear Johnny Mathis, and she finally understood how I thought and what was\nimportant to me. Don't ask me why, but it was one of those moments.\n\nShe's been a real blessing to me.\n\nSCHAAF: How old is she now?\n\nDUTTON: Oh she's grown. I don't know if she'd want me to say. She's fully grown.\n\nSCHAAF: And still pursuing music?\n\nDUTTON: No. She's not in music. She just did that as a hobby.\n\nSCHAAF: Now, after you came back, you went back into teaching?\n\nDUTTON: No. I didn't go back into teaching right away.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1560.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SCHAAF: So like many of us you had to put the career on hold for the mother\nyears, and finally you were able to get back and start stepping back into the\nworld of music with both feet again.\n\nDUTTON: Theoretically.\n\nSCHAAF: So which direction did you go? Did you go back to teaching and church\nmusic or church music or both?\n\nDUTTON: I'm in church music right now. I'm the interim organist at one church\nright now. And hopefully I will find a full time situation.\n\nSCHAAF: Where are you playing now?\n\nDUTTON: Oh, I play at Grace Presbyterian. It's been a fun experience.\n\nSCHAAF: What kind of music are they doing at Grace?\n\nDUTTON: Oh, we do a variety of music, and they have a very complete library,\nmusic library. It's going to be a lifetime going through the music library of\noctavo music. They do what I call a middle of the road type repertoire. They\nhave the Thompsons, all the old traditional ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1680.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"anthems.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1800.0,1920.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"SCHAAF: Has church music changed dramatically since your earliest days?\n\nDUTTON: Oh yes.\n\nSCHAAF: How do you see the change?\n\nDUTTON: Oh, with the rhythms. Because my dad in his church would never had had a\ndrum or a tambourine. It didn't exist. Very traditional, you know. Liturgical\ntype church service. And so the idea of having drums, and a complete combo for a\nchurch service, in a sense he wouldn't have never approved. And it's interesting\nthat you learn to adapt. Because when I was playing for St. Vincent's, we had a\ncombo, drums, guitars, and the whole bit for the masses.\n\nSCHAAF: So was your father able to see this change coming and did he talk about that?\n\nDUTTON: He was a person that every Saturday we listened to the Texaco radio opera. Every Saturday. From the time I was born. So the idea, to him,\nmusic was a thing given by God, and it was not supposed to be defiled. We were\nsupposed to keep it in its sacred place.\n\nWhen you read the stories of the composers -- they really got involved. Few\npeople would start to write music. It has to be something out of the ordinary to\nget you to even take the ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=1920.0,2040.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"time to devote to writing music. And so most of the\npeople that have written music have done so because of life-changing\nexperiences. So many of the songs, even when you don't like them, are based many\ntimes on a life-changing event in that particular composer's life. You know, I\nguess it's just a respecting that kind of thing. But he would never have\nappreciated, you know, the more rock type style. Never.\n\nSCHAAF: How do you feel about it?\n\nDUTTON: [Laughter] It's changed drastically. I will say that.\n\nSCHAAF: It's interesting. I always love listening to people talk about the\ncurrent trends in church music. I can't speak for you, but I'm probably more in\ntune with your father's outlook on music as an offering -- that you should be\noffering up the best that you have. But there's the other contingent that feels\nthat they are offering up the best. It's just not to our taste.\n\nDUTTON: One is more mental, and the other is more emotional. What I like about\none type is that it embraces the mental and emotions. If you can combine those\ntwo together -- doing a Vivaldi thing -- you've got something going on. A\nmechanical Vivaldi is a mechanical -- Am I ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2040.0,2160.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"making any sense?\n\nSCHAAF: Absolutely.\n\nDUTTON: When you get the two, the best of both worlds, the mental and the\nemotional, in the Vivaldi piece with all the instrumentation, you have a natural high.\n\nSCHAAF: Oh yes.\n\nDUTTON: But you cannot duplicate beyond anything that man can make or grow.\nErase that. [Laughter] And the thing, is once you get kids exposed to this, it's\nlike wow, you know? But it's so hard to get them past. Because my daughter, when\nshe heard, Johnny Mathis, and she saw the band, and she heard the band -- it was\nat the Wolf Trap with the outdoor ambiance. She was an angry teenager when we got\nthere. By the end tears were running down her cheeks. A transformation had\noccurred. It's rare to get those moments, but I was very pleased.\n\nSCHAAF: But that's the wonderful thing about music is that, you know, it can\ntouch you in ways that almost nothing else can.\n\nDUTTON: But there has to be a certain -- you're not going to get that touching\nwhen you \"Off I Go to Music Land\" by John Thompson, the first page of that. It\ntakes a while before you get to that level to realize that it's possible.\n\nAnd most people don't want to stay with it to where they are lifted to that and\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2160.0,2280.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"where they are able to transcend the mundane via music. But it takes quite a bit\nof effort to get to that level.\n\nSCHAAF: What do you think it's going to take? Is this something that needs to\nhappen in the schools? With you it was in the air at home when you were growing\nup. Is it too late by the time kids start hitting middle school?\n\nDUTTON: If I could do anything, I would have people put to sleep listening to\nsymphonies in preschool. So that every nap time they might hear Brahms all\nyear long. Every preschooler would learn that. And just that one thing. The\nchildren would get accustomed to a certain sound in no more than thirty minutes\na day. And after three years they would start looking for more of that sound. It\nmight not be every child, but it would be one here, one there, one there, and\nthe other.\n\nSCHAAF: Cultivating the appetite.\n\nDUTTON: There you go. Cultivating the appetite. But right now they don't have\naccess to that. It's so rare. We get the other. You know, 24/7, whatever those\nnumbers are, around the clock, our ears are constantly pounding with this other\nsound. And they would look ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2280.0,2400.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"forward to that different sound at some point.\n\nSCHAAF: Seems like it would work.\n\nDUTTON: If I was a Kennedy, I'd even buy the CDs [laughs]. But I'm not a\nKennedy. But something that simple can make a difference.\n\nSCHAAF: Well, how many of your classmates listened to classical music in middle\nschool and high school?\n\nDUTTON: Not that many I don't think. I really don't know. I really couldn't tell you.\n\nSCHAAF: There were some wonderful, wonderful people who were in that group that\nyou came in with to Peabody. If you had to point to two or three interesting\ncharacters that you were going to school with, who would they be?\n\nDUTTON: Every student at Peabody. And I'm not trying to give Peabody a pat on\nthe head, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2400.0,2520.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"but every student that came here was extraordinary. I mean, and I'm\nnot trying to give them anything more than they deserve. Am I making sense?\n\nSCHAAF: Absolutely. I know that Peabody was a different world for many of us.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2520.0,2640.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\nDUTTON: I didn't realize it was that different until I got away from it. And\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2640.0,2760.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"when I was overseas, I was organist choir director for a chapel program there.\nAnd I know I would not have gotten that job if I had not been a graduate of\nPeabody. There were many opportunities that I got. I was on boards and did\nseminars -- things like that. One was with the Valley of the Fallen, that was a\nbig monument there, serving as a moderator between Protestant and Catholic\nyouths in fostering closer relations -- this type of thing -- because people\nwould say, oh she went to Peabody.\n\nSCHAAF: And where was this?\n\nDUTTON: This was in Spain. And another time I served as a director for a seminar\nfor women who were part of the PWC [Protestant Women of the Chapel] program.\nMorocco, Spain, Italy, and so forth I was on the staff. I was the only\nAfro-American. But, you know, it was because I went to Peabody.\n\nSCHAAF: So what's next on your agenda?\n\nDUTTON: I don't say because I don't want to jinx myself.\n\nSCHAAF: But more music.\n\nDUTTON: Hopefully. It's too late to become a nuclear engineer now.\n\nSCHAAF: And brain surgery takes too long. [Laughter]\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2760.0,2880.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405/transcript/35144/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\nDUTTON: If I'm guaranteed another sixty years, I'll probably stay in music.\n\nSCHAAF: Are you going to stay in church music?\n\nDUTTON: I've been in it all my life. I hope to teach and be church musician.\nThat's what I've done all my life anyway -- a dual career of teaching and church\nmusic on the side.\n\n[END OF INTERVIEW]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44125/file/117405#t=2880.0,3000.0"}]}]}]}