{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/iiif/5717m04g1z/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["William Myers oral history, 2002 July 18"]},"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":[" William (Bill) Myers began his musical studies in piano with Adah K. Jenkins. He then studied with Georgiana Chester at Douglass High School, at the Peabody Preparatory and Peabody Conservatory (BM 1962, MM 1968, Music Education), and at Morgan State University. Myers served with the U.S. Army Special Services in Europe in the 1960s. After returning to the U.S. and graduating from the Peabody Conservatory, Myers began teaching music and leading choirs in the Baltimore County Schools. Since the early 1990s he has served as executive director of Maryland Sings. Myers conducts workshops and choral clinics throughout the United States. Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf. (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":[" 2002-07-18 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":[" Myers, William (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/215383"]}}],"summary":{"en":[" William (Bill) Myers began his musical studies in piano with Adah K. Jenkins. He then studied with Georgiana Chester at Douglass High School, at the Peabody Preparatory and Peabody Conservatory (BM 1962, MM 1968, Music Education), and at Morgan State University. Myers served with the U.S. Army Special Services in Europe in the 1960s. After returning to the U.S. and graduating from the Peabody Conservatory, Myers began teaching music and leading choirs in the Baltimore County Schools. Since the early 1990s he has served as executive director of Maryland Sings. Myers conducts workshops and choral clinics throughout the United States. Interview by Elizabeth Schaaf."]},"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/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - pims0091_MyersW-1_01.mp3"]},"duration":1808.03918,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/473/original/pims0091_MyersW-1_01.mp3?1624270944","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1808.03918,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["MyersW_101_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ELIZABETH SCHAAF: Would you please introduce yourself and tell us your full name\nand where you were born.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: My name is Bill Myers and I was born in Baltimore many years ago.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And you grew up in Baltimore?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I grew up in Baltimore and in Philadelphia as well, I went back\nand forth.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Where were you living when you were here in Baltimore?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I was living in northwest Baltimore. Calhoun Street to be exact. Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And your parents, were they musicians?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: No. My parents were not musicians, but I believe my mom, deep\ndown inside, had this very, very specific love for music and art because I found\nmyself many days going off to art school or piano lessons at five and all of\nthat -- anything she could find for me. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Of course, we were quite poor, but mama\nalways could arrange a scholarship from somewhere she would find a place for me\nto go and study the arts and go free.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Do you remember the name of your piano teacher?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes, indeed. Adah Jenkins.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh my.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: And I think everyone had Adah Jenkins, you know. What a jewel,\nwhat a foundation for me in my life was she! Yes. Yes, indeed.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell me a little bit about what you remember about meeting her\nfor the first time.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh, but she was a tall woman, you know, and I was intimidated I\nguess by her size. However, when she opened her mouth and began to talk with me,\nI saw this gentle, kind woman.\n\nAnd she followed me throughout my life. Even when I was going around Europe, I\nwould always write, and she would write to me, and then I would come home and I\nwould stop each time to see her and say hello.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But I remember sitting at the piano and having a wonderful experience, just\nwanting to do well for her because she was a beautiful woman.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did you take lessons at her home?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: At her home. Yes. It was in northwest Baltimore. I can't remember\nnow the street. But I used to walk. I used to live near her about five blocks,\nand I used to walk.\n\nYes. Every week.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, I've heard so many wonderful things about her. She was\nwriting for the Afro-American--did she ever talk to you about the concerts that\nshe went to review?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, you know, I had a chance to read all of her reviews because\nI would get them in the mail wherever I was. My mom of course knew where I was\ngoing to be, and I was just in love with this woman. She was just a jewel. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And\nshe kept Baltimore posted, I guess, on my whereabouts. You know? And it was so\nnice of her to do that.\n\nAnd she would also ask, always ask for a picture. And so there would be a\npicture in the paper, and in her column she would say things about where I was\nworking, and especially while I was in Europe.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: There was a photograph in the Storm is Passing Over of Miss\nJenkins surrounded by her students.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh boy. How about that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And we'll have to have you get up there to look at it to see\nif you're among those children.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: How about that. I'd like to see that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now she used to do recitals once a year for her students?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Once a year. Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did you perform in that?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I did perform. Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: How long were those recitals?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, they were long, you know. You could go out for lunch and\ncome back [laughter] and they'd be still playing, you know. But it was all\nenjoyable. That's part of it, that's part of it all. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I didn't enjoy it right\naway, but it grew on me. And I kind of knew where my mom was taking me. Mom\nwanted me to become a musician.\n\nAnd I was the only one in the family, in the overall family, that was going in\nthat direction, becoming a musician. And so Mom just stayed with me.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now how long were you with Miss Jenkins?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh boy, I think I studied, I went to her at six or seven, and I\nwas in my teens when I stopped.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That's a good foundation with a wonderful teacher. Now what\nother music teachers did you work with as a young child?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, you know, in high school I can remember only one name:\nGeorgiana Chester, who was at Douglass High School. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And, you know, wow. You\nknow, moving from Adah Jenkins and going into school and having this woman, it\nwas just marvelous.\n\nI'm lucky. I am so lucky that I've worked with so many giants in my life. And I\nthink my life has been preordained in that everything was laid out for me. So\nthere were bumps in the road, horrendous bumps in the road, but I think there\nwas a master plan. I really do believe that. Because I know from Adah Jenkins to\nGeorgiana Chester and then working in my first job with a principal who I just\nadmired so much. She was just so good to us while she was there, and she helped\nlay out a foundation and a direction for me.\n\nAnd then I went to Morgan State College, for only a year. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I wasn't satisfied\nand so I dropped out, and I joined the Army.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: In what year was this that you joined the Army?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: This was in nineteen, 1954, '55--something like that. But anyhow,\nI went to Europe in Special Services, and you couldn't have asked for anything\nmore. It was just beautiful. And it got even better when a warrant officer came\nin from Florida and looked at my record, and sent for me and said I want you to\nestablish a full kind of operation of musical activities here in Southern\nFrance, Captieux, France. And I said, okay, and so we did this. We did this, and\nwe had Franco-American relationship programs going on all throughout Southern\nFrance, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and eventually I wound up bringing in entertainment for all of the U.S.\nservice clubs straight on up to Paris.\n\nAnd I was booking these people, bringing them in from other countries and from\nthis country. It couldn't have been any better. That's why I said it almost\nseems as if my life has been preordained and laid out for me.\n\nWhile I was in Europe, I met Billy Graham, and I don't know how I made it with\nall those thousands of people, I found myself up on the stage standing there,\nand he put his hands on my head, and he prayed. I still don't know how I got to\nthe stage.\n\nSo it's been an interesting life -- an interesting life from all of that and\ncoming back and coming here to Peabody to work ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and also to travel with\nUniversity of Maryland Baltimore County as a Negro spiritual singer, and going\nto Spain for three weeks.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now what year was this, what year?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh boy, what year. [Laughter] Somewhere in the '70s, I think, or\nthereabouts. But another thing happened to me. You know, we did a concert in an\nopen tent, and we arrived there and there was no one there.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now where was this?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: This was in Spain. And it was up in the mountains, and there was\nno one there. And so we were there around nine o'clock. We thought that the\nconcert started at around nine-thirty, and I think it didn't start until ten or\nten-thirty, or thereabouts, as the people came in. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And all of a sudden -- and of\ncourse they were building, they were building the risers while we were watching\nthem. And we thought wow, is this something. [Laughter]\n\nAnd so all of a sudden the place was packed, there was no room for a soul. I\nunderstand it held a thousand people. So we performed, and it was wonderful. And\ncoming off the stage we were given roses by the people in the township as we\ncame off the stage, all of us. And I heard this woman. Well, the crowd was\nyelling El Negro, El Negro. And, of course, I didn't know what in the world was\ngoing on, and I asked the interpreter what's going on here, what are they\nsaying? And he said, they love you, and my heart got so full.\n\nAs I came off the stage, there was a woman and she was yelling to me, and she\nhad this little baby. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I asked the interpreter what was she saying. She said\nshe wanted her child to touch my face. See, all of these things happened in my life.\n\nAnd now I am smart enough to be able to tie them all together and say, yes, God\nwas walking with me all throughout my life, and he had something in store for\nme. As the minister said to me recently in my home as I tried to make some\ndecisions about the rest of my life and my career, and he said to me you have\nbeen anointed. You have been anointed. And he knows my background. And he said\nthe doors will keep opening for you.\n\nAnd so I feel very, very good about who I am and where I am at this point in my\nlife. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I have a wonderful, wonderful wife, four gorgeous kids, and it's been good.\n\nIf I may go back to this, I didn't finish this with the woman in Spain.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, please.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: And so I walked over, and of course the security guards got upset\nwith me and came running, and the interpreter was with me. And the little child\nput her hands, she cradled my face in her hands. She had to be about five. I\ndidn't understand any of that. It took me a while. I came back to the United\nStates, and I had a conference with a minister and he helped me understand why\nthat happened. He said it's very simple because you know the Moors ruled Spain\nfor so many years and of course Jesus in their minds would have been of a darker\nskin. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And singing these Negro spirituals and being so moved myself and obviously\nmoving them, and the whole thing came together. So what an experience, you know.\nIt still makes me feel, wow! So I feel good.\n\nComing to Peabody was a major step in my life. Coming here to study after being\nin Europe for four years, doing my own thing, of course, not this kind of music\nat Peabody. We were doing contemporary music, pop music, rock and roll, that\nkind of thing, getting into the clubs throughout Europe. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"When anything came out\nhere in the United States on the charts and made it to number one, my mom would\nsend me the forty-five. I'd play it and bingo within, that night we were doing\nthat song in a club somewhere.\n\nSo I came here and as I said to you earlier, I studied in the Preparatory\nDepartment for a year and then made it into the Conservatory.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Who did you study with in the Preparatory? Do you remember?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh boy. I remember the teacher in the main Conservatory, Madam\n[Alice Gerstl] Duschak. I don't remember the name now, and I spoke this name\nabout a year ago to someone I believe and I can't recall it now. But it was a\ngood training session for me and for an African-American, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"it was a step up the\nladder in my own community, in my own life, living with African-Americans to go\nto Peabody was the thing to do.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What was the perception of Peabody because we were late\nopening the doors. It wasn't until 1947 that Paul Brent came and the color bar\nwas dropped here.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: It was tough. We found that it was tough in the Conservatory. I\nremember that there was a good kind of feeling going on between my frat brothers\nand I. [Peabody's Kappa Chapter was installed in 1911 as one of the early\nchapters of Phi Mu Alpha.] And there were about three of us, and I mentioned\nbefore to you Percy Brown was one of them, and another African American. And we\nhad our problems, we had our problems.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I remember going to the office one time and standing with another\nAfrican-American -- the other gentleman who was an oboist. And we stood there at\nthe office counter for a while, and then someone came up to us and said, oh,\nwhich one are you?\n\nAnd I bit down very hard on my lip and said my name is Bill Myers. And his name\nis Walter [Lee]. Anyhow, we went on from that point. And I would just joke about\nit really because that was the only way to get through it. Sitting in a class\nand the roll was called, and I was, my name was Myers, and there was a Jerry\nMyers, and the professor was leaning down like this checking the book, never\nlooking up, and said, oh are you brothers? Just like that. And I said, no, we're\n\nnot, I said, but I'm Jewish. [Laughter] You know and the whole class just fell\nout. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We're all frat brothers, you know. And that was the way to get through all\nof that, you know. Just joke about it. Get in class and study and be the best\nyou possibly could be.\n\nI had to go out and find my own job after graduating, getting the bachelor's,\nwhich I didn't particularly appreciate. But that was a part of the thing I\nguess. And I decided well that's it. I had to pay for a placement organization\nto find me a job, and you couldn't go to observe in Arlington, Virginia. Because\nthere was two of us, Gloria Chester and I. We couldn't go because that area was\nsegregated. And so I was out that day when it was announced, and the next day I\ncame in with my little shopping bag because I carried my books in a shopping\nbag. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I walked in and I was told the class is going, but you can't go. And I\nsaid, I'm sorry, I don't understand that. And I will not accept that. And I\nsaid, you need to do something about that. Can we? And I was told, no, we\ncannot. I said then the school will get a call from the NAACP tomorrow morning,\nand I turned around and I left.\n\nI didn't go to classes. I just went home. I walked all the way back to northwest\nBaltimore. I was just upset. And the next day the Dean of the school called a\nmeeting in North Hall, and the whole class was there, and the question was asked\nwhy is it that these three students cannot, these two students cannot go? And he\nwas told. Well, then if these two students cannot go to that observation, they\nhave to have credit like everyone else does, then no one goes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Good.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: And that was his stand. And because, before that of course, one\nof my buddies who's conducting an orchestra somewhere now in the United States,\nMurray Sidlin, stood up and said, if Bill can't go, I can't go. Then, one by\none, the frat brothers stood up, and so that was the end of it. Nobody goes.\n\nIt was a great move. However, I left this institution with a remark on my\nrecords because of that. I was a troublemaker. And I know that. Because in my\nfirst job I did extremely well. I was a go-getter, and I'm still that way. I did\nall kinds of after hours working and charts and diagrams and all kinds of things\nto help kids to learn music -- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"how to sing. And my principal was one of the\nwomen in my life who has motivated me to be where I am now, called me in one\nevening, and said I just need to share this with you. And I may be breaking all\nkinds of rules, but I have not seen in you what I see written on your records --\nthat you are a trouble maker.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, you know all the best Peabody students are\ntroublemakers. [Laughter]\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, we got around that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You should talk to Jim Morris.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Jim Morris! Yes. Right! Right.\n\nSo we went on from there, and she helped me to get into Baltimore County. She\nknew of someone from Baltimore County who saw me directing a summer musical -- a summer\n\nworkshop I think in Catonsville [Community College] -- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and this person called\nme. And this principal did the negotiating for me because she believed in me.\n\nSo I thank a whole lot of people. But first of all my mom. You know? I think in\nall the lives of African-Americans, Mom is the one. Whatever is needed, mom will\ndo it. And my mom took in wash and ironing just to help pay the bills. How she\ndid all of this I'll never know. But then again too, my wife says to me, that\ndrive is inside of me. I'm always moving.\n\nAnd I move my students. Now I'm not teaching in a public school. I've been out\nof there ten years, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and I asked her whether I could just hang it up, take an\nearly retirement. But I felt, again, a need. There is a calling somewhere. You\nsee? And I'm trying to shift myself, and when I get these feelings inside, and I\nhear something happening in my head, I think it's God talking to me: now it's\ntime to do this. I need you here. I believe that. I believe that. And so I\nstopped, and now I said, I want to just work with gifted kids, just gifted kids.\n\nBecause it's something inside of me that when I work with gifted kids they\nmotivate me to do more than I ever dreamed of. So I grow myself as well. And so\nthis has been thirteen years now with Maryland Sings. I'm its chief artistic\ndirector, and my wife is the executive director. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She handles all the business.\nOf course we have people writing grants. We're connected with the Baltimore\nCounty Arts and Sciences Commission, the Maryland State Arts Council as well,\njust helping these young people.\n\nAnd we do shows. We haven't been to Europe now since '94. We were planning to go\nto Spain in 2003, but it didn't work out. I think 9/11 had something to do with\nit. So we are planning now perhaps a trip to Canada. Because I think the kids\nwere disappointed. They worked so very, very hard.\n\nWe have about thirty-five in the company, five performing groups. And I have a\ngroup called Escape in the company, and the boys are outfitted in zoot suits\nfrom the '40s and the girls have '40s dresses. There are only five of them, but\nah, fabulous sound, just a fabulous sound.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So we try to cover the gamut. One of my best friends, musical friends, is Tom\nHall, director of the Choral Arts Society, and Tom and I talk every now and\nthen. I remember Tom saying something to me some years back -- that you find\nyour niche and you stay there. Don't try to wander all over the place. And so\nBroadway, and now country music. Jamie Eisenstadt, I started working with her at\nnine years of age. And usually we don't teach kids until they're ten, and her\nmom got to her wife, and my wife got to me. And so the next thing I knew she was\nstanding in front of me in class, and so we began to work.\n\nBut thank goodness we started working with this child at nine. What a\nmagnificent voice. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Right now as I speak today, on this day, on July 18th, she's\nin Nashville. Yes. She's in Nashville. And she's only fifteen, but she went down\nfor an audition, and they called her back. And she came back home, and then they\nsent her new music to learn and some other stuff. And I had the privilege of\njust working with her in private studio sessions getting her ready for\nNashville. And she's there. I haven't heard a word from her yet, but I know the\nphone will ring and she'll be screaming.\n\nShe was here. She sang with Shania Twain at the Arena downtown when Shania\nTwain, the country artist, was in town. And she beat out three thousand kids for\nthat spot. And so I remember in her lesson prior to going to the Arena, I said\nJamie, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"what if Shania Twain stops singing with you and leaves the stage. What\nwill you do? Her eyes got big. Wow! I said well, let's pretend that she's going\nto do that, and let's work on a routine. And we worked on a routine and sure\nenough, she did. She stopped singing and walked off the stage. And Jamie knew\nwhat to do so the stage was hers. Well, she brought the house down, and she was\non television the next morning giving interviews. I think she was twelve -- she\nwas either eleven or twelve at that time, and it was just marvelous. Big voice\nin a little girl.\n\nSo we have done well with the Maryland Sings. I feel very good about what my\nkids have done. We have a boy now in Dusseldorf, Germany, who's starring in\n\"Starlight Express\". ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He just closed in Germany doing the lead in \"Beauty and the\nBeast\". That magnificent fire that I first started when I did a concert of music\nfor William Schaefer who was then Governor in Chestertown, Maryland. I remember,\nit was a wonderful afternoon.\n\nAll those people, and we did a concert, a mini-concert for him that morning at breakfast.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: How did that happen: What led to that?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh, Nancy Grasmick, the secretary of education in the State of\nMaryland. Nancy loves these kids. She talks about the way they communicate to an\naudience. She said, we were performing at a place over in Bel Air somewhere, and\nNancy and her husband, Lou Grasmick, were in the audience. They both came to me\nafterwards and said we'd like for you to bring some children to the Crab Feast.\nOf course, I was saying what Crab Feast, right? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But I wasn't in the know.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: The Crab Feast.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: The Crab Feast, right. [Laughter] And so I said, okay, we can do\nthat I guess. Select some kids and bring them down, and we will take care of\neverything. And sure enough I selected five kids. I had a wonderful organization\nin high school. I had about, oh I had about twenty-five or thirty kids in a\nchorale in high school. And we went into international competition every other\nyear. And we won two golds, three silvers and four bronze medals while I was in\nthat school, working.\n\nAnd so they were quite fond of what I was doing there with the kids, and how we\nall got along, etc. Anyhow, so we put the group together. I selected five kids.\nJust dynamite kids. And went down to the Crab Feast. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We were there, and I told\nthis joke to my son who's fourteen now. We're talking about limousines. Have you\never been in a limousine poppy? He calls me poppy. And I said, yes. I remember\nthat. We were in Ocean City. We were in Chestertown, and I got a call in the\nmotel where we were staying, and it was Lou Grasmick calling and saying that I'm\nwith the Mayor right now and we are on the way to your motel to pick you up so\nyou can see the facility where you're going to perform. I was already in bed. So\nI quickly got up and put on my clothes and stood outside, and the limousine came\nup, I got in and we went off.\n\nThat was the start of a wonderful weekend, and the kids performed brilliantly.\nThat's of course when they all talked about how we need a group to represent\nMaryland, to be a good will ambassador for Maryland. And so that was the seed.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1680.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And it all started at the Crab Feast. [Laughter] That's such\na, that's such a huge thing, and so many important people. What was their\nresponse to that crowd?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: They had a ball. They'd been used to working in front of crowds\nbecause we had gone into international competition. And these kids had been with me.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So they were veterans.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: They were veterans. Because they were in a small group of mine.\nWe did pop music. And we taught them what to do, how to do it. How to\ncommunicate with an audience. My thing was to reach out with your voices and\nyour warmness and bring those people up on the stage with you. Let them sit\nclose and watch you up in person. So it was a marvelous time. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1740.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473/transcript/38479/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Marvelous.\n\n[END PART ONE]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117473#t=1800.0,1860.0"}]}]},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - pims0091_MyersW-1_02.mp3"]},"duration":1809.03184,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/474/original/pims0091_MyersW-1_02.mp3?1624270945","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1809.03184,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["MyersW_102_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ELIZABETH SCHAAF: How did the Maryland Sings tour come about?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, I wanted to go take my young people to Spain. I was there\nmany years ago for three weeks and worked with the UMBC Cantata at the time. And\nI found Spain to be just so marvelous. The people were so warm and friendly and\nopen. And I liked the idea of the siesta in mid-day (although we couldn't take\nadvantage of that because we were on the road traveling to another city, you\nknow, that kind of thing).\n\nWe were on the Costa De Sol, and we stayed in a lavish hotel. It was just\nmarvelous. I walked to the wine store once every other day and got a nice bottle\nof wine. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, it was just wonderful living, and then we were on the bus\ntraveling maybe for an hour and a half or two hours to another city to perform.\n\nI remember rolling into a city, and actually trying to get to this tent that I\ntalked about earlier to you. The streets were so narrow and the bus couldn't get\nthrough, and so some of the people got off the bus and went out and lifted the\ncar up and put it on the sidewalk. [Laughter] One of those little bugs, you\nknow. And the man came out and he was screaming. But the bus got through. And\nthe marvelous and most prestigious thing about that, the man who had booked this\ntour for us was from Spain. And he had the secretary to the King with us. They\nmet us at a certain point. The secretary got on the bus--I couldn't believe\nthis--and rode with us. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We had motorcycle escorts, police, and that was so thrilling.\n\nAnd so I said, well, this is wonderful. With the success that the Maryland\nsingers have had, going to Europe twice, I said down the road sometime, I've got\nto get these young people to Spain, just to see the beauty and the warmness and\nfeel the warmness of the people.\n\nAnd so, we thought about it for next summer, and we thought about it last year\nand put all the things to work, and contacted the companies, and everything was\ndone. It took almost seven\n\nmonths to lay it all out as to where we wanted to go. I had been there and I\nknew what I wanted to see. And then, 9/11.\n\nMany parents still wanted to go, and the kids, of course. But it just didn't\nwork out. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"It was just that uncertainty hanging over all of us.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So what are your plans now for the group?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, we are booked solid into 2003, and hopefully in the summer\nof 2003 we can get to Canada.\n\nI worked as a clinician and a conductor for Performing Arts Abroad located in\nKalamazoo, Michigan, and they send me out to various places to adjudicate and to\nconduct, and these people have been so very good to me. I met them while I was\nteaching in high school, and I went into these international competitions\nthrough them. So they knew me.\n\nWhen I stopped teaching is when I went to them, because it was time now for us\nto travel and do something on our own. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So they set up some things for us. As I\nteach, I go around the country giving workshops, clinics carrying the name\nPerforming Arts Abroad and have done well even into Canada to adjudicate the\nchoirs. Like we did when I was teaching.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Going back to your youngest years, I'm just fascinated about\nhow fixed you've been on a career and obviously it's carried you very well. Who\nwere the artists you were exposed to growing up? Did you go to concerts? Did\nyour mother take you out to concerts?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, you know, I see my young people now and they have so many\nopportunities that I did not have. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We couldn't afford to go to a concert. We\ncould listen to recordings. You know, there just was not enough money to do\nthat. My ear was glued to the radio and recordings, and, of course, Adah Jenkins\nwould provide reviews of things for me to read and that's how I got involved in\nthis whole thing. Not until I got, really, not until I got past the age of\neighteen or nineteen was I able then to get into a concert hall. Now, of course,\nonce it started, you couldn't get me out. [Laughter]\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Where was the first concert that you attended? Do you remember\nyour first live concert?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh boy, I think it was in Washington. It was in Washington I\nbelieve. A live concert and it was a jazz concert as well. Actually I didn't get\ninto classical music until I went to Europe. And maybe it was time for that to\nhappen to me. Like I say, you know, stages, it has always been in stages getting\nme ready for what was about to happen.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, also when you were quite young, certainly the Lyric\n[Theater] wasn't a welcoming place at that point, and actually your teacher was\ninstrumental in opening the doors to the Lyric [for African-Americans].\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: That's correct.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And did she ever tell you about the trials that she went\nthrough to get Marian Anderson on stage at the Lyric? Do you remember that?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I remember that. Yes. And she would talk about that, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and she\nwould tell me that you must prepare yourself, and you must also help to open\nsome doors. I'm glad you said that, you know, because that just popped back into\nmy mind. Opening doors. Yes. She said you will open doors. You must be prepared\nwhen the door opened.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You certainly opened a lot of doors. You found a good role model.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes. I was the first African-American to teach drama in the\nJewish Community Center on Park Heights. There were a lot of firsts for me.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell me about some of those.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: [Laughter] That was funny. That was a wonderful kind of\nexperience for me.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When was this?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: There you go with dates again. Wow. I'm not programmed for that.\nBut I don't know, I was quite young. I probably was in my late twenties. But it\nwas a good experience and I worked with a woman. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh I can't remember her name.\nIt doesn't come to me right now. But I know she was called Dearie, and all the\nstudents called her Dearie. And she was a drama person. She wrote several books\non drama and improvisation and stuff like that. And she took me under her wing\nas well, and got me involved in the theater.\n\nShe took me to Washington to work for the school for the deaf over there.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Gallaudet.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes. Gallaudet. And I did workshops over there as well. And so\nyou see there have been people - females.\n\nSo I was ready to go into that situation, the drama and music together inside of\nme, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and did quite well for about three years. But then I had to move on. Why I\ndon't know, but it was a calling to keep moving.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now how did you move on to The Block and when did that?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: [Laughter] Oh my goodness!. Well, coming back from Europe, being\ninvolved in just all that good music then. What I called music there Rock and\nroll. And I was still playing piano at that time, singing, and I needed a job.\n\nAnd, of course, the military helped pay for my college education, but I needed a\njob to support myself. My mom left us and went to God in 1955, I believe.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"There are times when I think about Mom now, and I wish of course God had spared\nher to see where I am because she's directly responsible for that.\n\nBut I was down there playing piano and singing and having a good time. And there\nwere some other of my frat brothers also playing as well. [Laughter] You know,\nthe money was good.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Martin Berkovsky was down there.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh boy, look out now. [Laughter] I don't recall these names,\nokay? But anyhow we had a good time. We had a good time. And then somebody found\nout about it, and it got into the Conservatory. And I was called in for an\ninterview, a meeting rather and said they prefer that we not work on the Block.\nI got the distinct feeling that if I continued to work there, I would not be in\nthe school. And the school meant more to me at that time. And so what I did was\nI started taking private students, teaching. .\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So you started teaching very early. Spending time in\nPhiladelphia and Baltimore, how did you view the two cities in terms of what was\navailable musically and, you know, what was the climate? How did the climate\ndiffer between the two cities for an African-American musician?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: To me, I felt that racism was everywhere. I just had to endure.\nThat's all. In some of our schools where we going and trying to work as an\nAfrican-American into African-American schools predominately, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"some curriculums\nwere not strong, not well established. I knew my first experience in college, I\nwas taking junior music courses in my second half of my freshman year, and so I\nthought that there's got to be something better. I didn't think of going to\nanother university, but I thought of the military. And there was mom again and\nthinking about tuition being paid by the military.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So, and you were fortunate in that it wasn't Vietnam, it\nwasn't Korea. You were in this little magic place between the two, and so she\ncould feel fairly safe.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Right. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I'm so glad she did that. And it was wonderful to get\naway. I missed Alaska by one name. Once I went in, I read down this roster of\npeople going to France, and my name was the last name on the list, and the next\nperson went to Alaska. And I said, oh gosh, thank you God, you know. [Laughter]\n\nOh boy, I don't know what I would have done.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, perhaps the music scene wouldn't have been quite so rich.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Right. [Laughter] Oh boy, I was so glad about that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So you got to see the clubs in Paris?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell me about that scene.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Marvelous. You know, Count Basie came over while I was there. And\nCount Basie played in Bordeaux, France, near where I was playing with a small\ngroup that I had, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and we went over to see them, and that was a wonderful\nexperience. And I sat next to Joe Williams. I sat next to Joe Williams at the\nclub after they finished doing the concert. And then Count Basie was on his\nright hand side. Yes. Amazing! It was just nice. And big Al -- Wow, it just was\na marvelous experience. There was a chateau outside of Paris. Oh, I can't think\nof it now. But my aunt knew someone, a singer [Josephine Baker], and I can't\nremember right now her name. But she adopted children, many, many, many\nchildren. I can't think of her name. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh, I can't think about it.\n\nBut I was able to stay there several nights when I was trying to take some voice\nlessons at the Conservatory and do some studying. I had time on my hands because\nthe job that I had as musical director and bringing entertainment to the service\nclubs in France to Germany, and to England as well so I was always in a car\nmoving somewhere. And I took time to study. Had a ball.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh that's wonderful.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: We had, we went into -- below Captieux, France there is this\ntown, right on the edge there -- you go across the water and there is Spain. But\nwe did a show there one night, and I was new to it all, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and someone said once we\nfinish the show, we're not going to rent a hotel. We're gonna sleep on the\nbeach. And I said really? Really? No, we can't do that! Yes we can. And there\nwere other people sleeping on the beach.\n\nAnd wow, what an interesting thing that was. We finished the club, and we stayed\nin the club, and we got paid that night, and by the time we left, we had spent\nall the money anyhow. [Laughter] Buying drinks, you know, and buying the ladies\ndrinks and whatever, and of course, we slept on the beach. Now I see what they\nwere talking about -- why we were going to sleep on the beach. But nobody told\nme that ahead of time. You see?\n\nOh it was just fun. And seeing the bull fights, and just traveling, it was just\nfun. My life has been really, really fun.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, it must have been quite a contrast, you know, to be able\nto travel over there without having to deal with the racial climate.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, saying that, I remember being in a club one night, and\nthere were Communists in this club that night. A little boy here in the United\nStates had just been hung in the South. Anyhow, all this propaganda was going.\nWe were sitting at the bar just having a drink and just before going to another\nclub to perform. And these people were saying -- they had these signs with the\nboy hanging from a tree -- see this is what America is like. You don't want to\ngo back to that. Stay in Europe, don't go back to that. And it was hard for me\nto digest that. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But I saw that figure hanging, I got very, very upset. I didn't\nknow about it, for one thing. And I'm saying to myself, why didn't I know about\nthis? And then how to deal with these people shouting, down with America,\nracism, all of this. And then trying to convert us I guess. And of course it\ndidn't go over too well. A fight broke out. And my job was to drive the car so I\ntold the guys, I said I'll have the motor running. And we just got out of there.\nWe got out of there.\n\nBut that was a terrible experience. We went to the club and played, and the next\nday, I remember the next day in rehearsal. We rehearsed almost all day. Got up\nlate and rehearsed. And we sat and talked about it, and there was a kind of\nsolemn kind of gloom hanging over us about our own country. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know?\n\nAnd I remember coming home to visit once, and I was in the back of the Chevy\ndaddy had. We were going to buy a kitchen table and chairs. I don't know where\nwe were in downtown Baltimore -- east Baltimore, somewhere driving. And a girl\ncame up the street and passed the car, and I looked at her. She was a white\ngirl. I looked at her. And my mama said don't ever do that again. You don't look\nat white women. And I swallowed hard, and I could not tell her or share with her\nthat, Mom, in Europe they're part of my life. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I see them every day. They're\nfriends of mine. We eat together.\n\nI was very discouraged. And I never said a word to her, never said a word\nbecause I knew I would hurt her. So all of these experiences shape me and mold\nme into what I am now. And oddly enough, as we sit here, oddly enough I am\nmarried to a woman who is Irish and Hispanic. And so I say, my kids and I have a\nfoot in two worlds.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Very international.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: My little, my daughter, Elise, was in school, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and a little\nCaucasian boy said to her when he saw her mama come to pick her up the next day,\nthat's not your mama is it? That's not your mama. So she turned to him and said,\nI live in a rainbow family. Isn't that something? She was only about seven.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You've had the struggles.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh yes. I don't mind that. I really don't. It's prepared me for\nwhere I am now. I'm conducting -- music director at a church in Reisterstown,\nMaryland, the Reisterstown United Methodist Church. I've been there thirteen\nyears. And we don't have many African-American people there. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I mean, you can\ncount them on one hand. It's in an area that two hundred and some odd years ago\nslaves were held.\n\nAnd my wife said to me we're going away on a vacation. I didn't want to go\nbecause I had a chance to sing at a camp meeting back in that area. I don't\nremember the name now where all the camp meetings were held [Emory Grove, a\nMethodist campground in Glyndon, Maryland, founded in 1871.] I had a chance to\ngo and lead the singing at a camp meeting of all white people. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"For me to stand\nthere on that pulpit and do that -- I could not pass up the opportunity, because\nof history And my son, who is fourteen said to me, poppy, I'm so glad you had\nthis experience.\n\nHe's learning and I talked to him about all the things that had happened to\nbring me this far. And I believe that there's much more for me to do out there.\nI will continue to speak to kids in schools, in classes, and tell them about my\nexperiences and to make them understand that, listen, the most important thing\nis to listen to your mama when she talks to you. You think you know everything now.\n\nYou know, it's a different world now in which they're living than when I grew up.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Very.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: There are so many, many things now that are bad out there for\nthem, and they're enticed every day to do this or that which is wrong for them.\nBut they must listen to the mother, if the mother is in the home, or the father,\nif the father is in the home. Because I found that parents want as much as they\ncan get for their kids.\n\nI find that in the kids I'm dealing with now, many of the kids are well off, but\nstill they're involved to the hilt in all kinds of activities that are going to\nhelp promote them and help them to have, to do better and better and better.\n\nSo I am a taskmaster, and my wife says sometimes I don't see the dead bodies I\nleave behind. [Laughter] So she comes along and scoops up people. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But we're in\nthe business of art, creating art. I tell my kids, I may get up here and yell\nand whatever, and I'm all over the place, but it's nothing personal at all. I\nlove you all. It's just that I'm obsessed that you are not digesting this art\nand being able to communicate back the whole thing.\n\nSo we feel good about me teaching the whole child, their feelings. I always ask\nthem, who are you? Well, they say, well, I'm a pianist and I've done -- and they\nlist all of these things. I said, I don't want to hear what you have done. Who\nare you? Talk to me about you, the inner workings of you. The aesthetics of you.\nWhat happens when a bunny rabbit runs across your lot, or you see a deer, or you\nsee a sunset? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'm after that inner kind of thing. And when you tap that, it's\nfantastic. You know that? It's fantastic.\n\nI had a young singer just recently who wanted to sing, the 9/11 song, Allen\nJackson did, \"Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning\". And I spent two\nhours with him, talking. Two hours just talking. I prepared a list of questions\nto make him think of all that happened, all of the emotions involved. How this\nhad affected these people, men and women and children, all of that. Deep\nemotions. And after two hours, then we started vocalizing and beginning to work.\nAnd at the end of four hours I videotaped him and it was priceless. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I did that,\nand he said, it was so funny, he said to me, my mom told me to ask how much\nwould this lesson be. And I said no, this is between us, a gift that I'm giving\nyou. He sat there and looked at me and his eyes got kind of misty and filled\nwith water.\n\nWe had a ball. And then in concert, when it was time for him to sing this\nnumber, he did it absolutely perfectly. And you could hear a pin drop, and the\npeople didn't want to ever stop clapping once they got started. But these are\nthe kinds of experiences we bring to young people in Maryland singers, and I\nwouldn't trade it for nothing in the world. I'm so glad I got out of that box in\nthe classroom.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I'll bet you were pretty good in that classroom.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: We had a good time. We really had a good time. [Laughter] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I\nremember building a set in -- I taught musical theater. And some of the kids by\ntheir senior year, they had put in all of what\n\nthey needed to put in to graduate and so they were in my room, in my area\nsometimes three periods a day.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now what school was this?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Dulaney High School. And so we were building a set, and I think\nit was \"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.\" And so we built sets\nright in the room, right in the class. And lo and behold when it was time to\nmove the set out of the classroom we couldn't get it through the door.\n[Laughter] And so we all stood there and looked at the door and looked at the\nset and then looked at each other. You know? And then they said, Mr. Myers, why\ndidn't we plan this better?\n\nAnd it was so funny. So we had to take it apart and then move it out. But those\nare the kind of things that we got involved with and were so much fun. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1680.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And we\ntaught them that the theater was there home. And one last thing: one of those\nkids, of that whole group of kids of about ten that were so involved in theater,\nmost of them today are still involved in theater except for one who died of AIDS.\n\nI heard about this in a phone call. The funeral was the next day, and I dropped\neverything and I got out to the funeral, and I sat in the back of the church. I\ndidn't want to get involved. I just wanted to be present there. Hopefully his\nspirit would feel my presence, a beautiful child and a good guy. And then\neverybody went out, processed out, and I was the last person in the church, and\nI got up and I walked outside and I stood by a pillar of the church.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1740.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474/transcript/38480/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The cars --\n\n[END PART TWO]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117474#t=1800.0,1860.0"}]}]},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - pims0091_MyersW-2_01.mp3"]},"duration":1134.02776,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/475/original/pims0091_MyersW-2_01.mp3?1624270946","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1134.02776,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["MyersW_201_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"WILLIAM MYERS: -- proceeded to leave. The hearse went on and the rest of the\ncars had stopped. Doors opened and here come all these kids. They came running\nup those steps, and they were just blubbering. And I stood there and one young\nman put his arms around me and said you're the man who opened the doors for all\nof us.\n\nAnd we just stood there. Just stood there and we hugged, all of us.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now before you started opening doors, who were the artists you\nwere listening to, who were the artists that meant ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"-- I mean, you had people like\nAdah Jenkins in your life, and my goodness, and you can't get much better than\nthat. But who were the artists whose footsteps you wanted to follow?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: That was hard for me. I loved the voice of Nat King Cole. I loved\nthe voice of Harry Belafonte, Sarah Vaughan. You see where I'm going, you know. I\nwas not schooled in opera at all at the time, but I loved the pop voices.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And they were wonderful voices.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: So I knew I wanted to sing. I knew I wanted to sing. And of\ncourse my aunt wanted me to become a doctor, and she was putting money away in a\ntrust fund for me to go to medical school, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and mama had different ideas\naltogether. When I started really pursuing all of this, I\n\nnoticed that my aunt withdrew the trust fund. And it was all right with mama\nbecause this is what he wants to do, and he's going to be schooled. He'll be\ntaken care of. He'll make it.\n\nI listened to all those pop singers. Rhythm and blues. I liked groups as well. I\nwas so involved in listening to like the Fifth Dimension, groups like that\ncoming along, Platters, and hearing the harmonies. I got involved in a group\nlike that when I was in high school.\n\nWe had one job -- one job that's all we had, and that was at the Royal Theater\non Pennsylvania Avenue. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"That's where all of the big stuff rolled in there. And I\nsaw Little Richard there. I saw the granddaddy of soul, James Brown. I saw him\nthere. And that one group, we were in high school, but it was a good group. A\npromoter put us together and we had one job. And two of the boys left to do\nsomething else, and said forget this, that was it.\n\nBut that group thing is coming back to me now! Because I'm writing for the\ngroups that I have, the five groups that I have. I'm writing.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell me what it was like walking out on the stage of the Royal Theater?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Afraid to death. Knees were knocking, teeth were chattering.\nScared to death. But once we got out there, and the lights hit us, you know, and\nthe music started, bingo, bingo. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And then to walk off the stage, and to walk\naround the front and see big artists. We were overwhelmed. We opened, you know.\n\nBig artists, wow, we were just up there. [Laughter] And then when I was at\nDulaney High School, I had a group of about ten, and we did some country music.\nAnd went to, then Painters Mill. Had one performance there as an opening act. Yeah.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now was Tracy McCleary still the conductor when, was he the\nconductor when you were at the Royal, when you performed at the Royal Theater?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I don't know. I didn't get beyond just walking in the door,\nrehearsing, and then coming out and coming back for a performance. I didn't talk\nto anyone. Because of mama, don't talk to a soul. Don't talk to anybody at all.\nYou just follow, whatever his name was, the promoter, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I can't think of his name\nnow, but yeah, I couldn't go anywhere but with him, you know, and not talk to anyone.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What a thrilling experience that must have been. Were you ever\nallowed to visit any of the other clubs on Pennsylvania Avenue?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: No, I couldn't do that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Sounds like your mother would have been a little upset if you had.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Right. She ruled the roost. And that kind of thing was not for\nus, for me. Of course, mom never went to a club in all her life.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What inspired her love of music? What do you think shaped her\nand her interest in music?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: You know that's a good question. I don't know. There was no one\nin her family or my dad's family that was musical. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"No one. No one at all. What I\nsaid to you earlier about my life seeming to be preordained, God worked through\nmy mom. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"That's the only thing I can think. You know? Never thought about that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Was she involved in church choirs?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: No, she was not.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That is really interesting that she perceived that you had\nthis mission and encouraged you every step of the way.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yeah. I found myself as a youngster involved in clay modeling,\nsculpture, some dance, some painting, voice lessons with Fannie Newton Moragne.\nShe was my first voice teacher. Yes!\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Beautiful woman.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes. And was tough. Yeah. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She looked very serene, you know, and\nvery beautiful, but she was tough. I remember that, and she told me go home and\ntake a book and put it on your stomach, lay out on the floor, on the bed, and\nstart that breathing process, and you better see that book go up and down. And\nwhen I came to the next lesson, did it go up and down? I said yes it did. [Laughter]\n\nYeah, but she was wonderful. Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Where did you study with her?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh, I had a scholarship.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: At Upton, the Institute of Musical Arts at Upton?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I guess. Yes, indeed it was. Was there a German professor?\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Yes.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: How about that?\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Professor [Herman] Schwarz.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Schwarz, yes. Professor Schwarz. How about that. My mama read\nabout it in the newspaper, about the scholarships being given. And there we\nwere. Got a taxi cab and we went on down. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"How about that. Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: There were some fabulous people on that faculty. Hugo Weisgall,\nwho won the Pulitzer Prize in composition, taught theory there.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Right.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You had some good teachers.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yeah. Thank God for that!\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: How long were you with Miss Newton?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Two years.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Two years. She trained a lot of good voices.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Yes.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did you know any of her other students?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: No I did not.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Because several of them ended up coming here to Peabody.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Oh really? I know I had my lessons and then I was due back home\nat a certain hour. My mother's tough. You know. There was a routine that I had\nto follow. I'd go for my lessons, voice lessons, and then I was back home, and I\nhad to change my clothes and do my homework, and go get the food for the dog.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, all these chores. You know? And then that was it, bedtime. Or practice\nthe piano for Adah Jenkins and whatever. But it was very structured.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And, well, what was the neighborhood like for a kid growing up\nback then?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Wow. It was something else. I know in the very beginning we were\nvery poor. Yes. And my mom and dad they had egg crates for tables and stools.\nYeah. And then we moved to northwest Baltimore, Calhoun Street.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now where were you living before Calhoun Street?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: South Baltimore.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well Calhoun Street was quite a step up.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: It was quite a step. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And then Douglass High School was a block or\nso away from my house. And of course, there were temptations all around me.\nBelonging to the gang, you know. And I would say, my mama said that I can't\nleave the steps. You know. And so one smartie told me to tell my mama that I\ncouldn't get the steps to go with me so I had to leave them. You know\n\nthis kind of thing. And I thought about that for a while, you know, but I didn't\nsay that to her. I didn't say that to her. [Laughter]\n\nBut there were temptations. And belonging with the crowd, you know, the guys --\nthe jackets and all, all of that. But I didn't get involved. I was just afraid\nof my mama. I really was.\n\nI took a job in a bakery to learn how to bake bread and bake rolls and sticky\nbuns and stuff like that. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I was quite young. Really quite young. And my mama\nkept saying to me: isn't it against the law for you to be doing this? And of\ncourse I didn't know. And so anyhow, I would stay hours and hours, and wasn't\nmaking any money at all hardly. But still it taught me a work ethic.\n\nAnd then I worked for Cloverland Dairy around trucks. Early in the morning, five\no'clock in the morning I was running out there, and putting milk on the stoop.\nYou know. Running back to the truck. And all of that was good for me.\n\nAnd I'm trying to teach my children today the same kind of thing. And sometimes\nI win, sometimes I don't, you know, but I think I'm getting through. They walk\nwith a foot in two worlds, but they're developing. I know my fourteen year old\nis developing a work ethic. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I know that. He has this little thing in the\ncommunity. We live in a secluded community near Reisterstown, Glyndon, Maryland.\nAnd in that community in which we live, he has this little job. And he sits for\ndogs, cats, babies [laughter]. You know, waters plants or whatever. And so he's\ndoing his thing. He's learning. He's learning.\n\nAnd so, my daughter, who is, Joelle, who is older and working at a wonderful law\noffice in Washington, has traveled and worked with Jimmy Carter in building\nhouses and whatever all over the place. She just came back from South Africa.\n\nAnd so she is a role model for my younger ones now. You know. They just love her\nto death. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She travels a lot and comes back and they listen to her in the family\nroom on the floor. I never get to talk with her myself. She comes to visit and\nis my child too, but she's in the middle of my other children. And before I know\nit, she says, well, dad it's time for me to leave. Oh, yes. Nice seeing you,\nnice talking with you. So I have to call. I call her on the job and talk with her.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Have any of your children shown a desire to follow your\nfootsteps into the world of music?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: I think my son, my fourteen year old, is playing guitar. And I\njust thought that he will have it. My wife, Hollie, said buy him a guitar. I\nsaid all right. He'll have it for two days and then it will be it in the closet,\nbecause my ten year old had a flute and that's in the closet, whatever. And so,\nlo and behold, this guy accompanied a youth choir in church. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Little ones,\nages, what -- seven to twelve, something like that. And I'm sitting there on the\nfirst pew because I lead the singing, the cantor type thing, and he's\naccompanying this choir. My goodness.\n\nAnd so I went to him after the service. I said marvelous. Now what I want you to\ndo is to play with your teacher in church. He said, wow. So he's moving in that\ndirection with the guitar.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That is wonderful.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: When I left home today, he was sitting on his bed. He was picking\naway. My oldest daughter is also a model. She's done quite well. She has this\njob in this law office, but yet she models on the side. She's able to go back\nand forth.\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Now, my eight year old, Sean, swears that he is the next Michael Jackson. We\nhave to buy him everything, all the recordings and everything else. He has all\nthe moves. And I was told by a teacher in his elementary school -- you know,\nI've seen a side of him that I didn't know existed. And then the music teacher\nsaid that they had to stop class one day, and he had to perform. And it broke\neverybody up. He sings. So I don't know where we're going with that.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, we know where he got it.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: My job I guess is to open doors. And pay the bills.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I know sons don't often go to their fathers for advice, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"but if\nthis eight year old decides he has a path, or finds out he has a path like you\ndid, and turns to you for advice, what would you tell him?\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: Well, I think I would be able to evaluate his skills. You know,\nI've been out there myself for twenty years. I know enough people around the\nworld, in Nashville, New York and in Paris that are buddies. We can talk. And I\nwill let one of them see him do something. I'll provide that opportunity. And\nthen let that person be the one to tell him -- yea or nay.\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Very wise.\n\nWILLIAM MYERS: But I will support him. I really will. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475/transcript/38481/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Music has just given me\neverything. The sensitivity that I have, the love that I have for the outdoors,\nfor colors. I teach my kids, my local students, by using colors. By asking them\nto paint and imagine a canvas in front of them with their sounds. Thinking about\ntheir favorite color and thinking about the warmest color. Because it's all\nabout color.\n\n[END OF INTERVIEW]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44161/file/117475#t=1080.0,1140.0"}]}]}]}