Editors: A photo of Marcia Herman is available on the web at www.zanesville.ohiou.edu/pr/photos/herman.jpg
ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- The founder of the music program on the Zanesville campus, Associate Professor Emerita Marcia Herman, is one of those former Bobcats who, when they cut their hand, claim to "bleed Ohio University green."
Her association with and affinity for Ohio University has earned her the 2002 Distinguished Alumni award for significant achievements in the arts. Meryl Mantione, Director of the School of Music, presented Herman with the award at the Fine Arts Convocation on Oct. 4.
Herman's association with Ohio University began when she arrived in Athens. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Education and her Master of Fine Arts degrees from Ohio University, she completed additional work in theory and composition and has further studied at Indiana University and the University of Minnesota.
"I cut my teeth, becoming a person and an adult, at Ohio University," said Herman, a Toledo native and current resident of Zanesville. But more importantly, at Ohio University Herman also learned the many principles that led to her success as an adult. She persevered in establishing the music program at Ohio University-Zanesville, balancing teaching, administrative work and symphony memberships for 32 years.
After teaching for three years at Huron College in South Dakota where she started the string and chamber music departments, Herman came back to Athens for a visit. The "visit" ended with a one-year job offer at Ohio University in Athens, which led to her accepting the challenge to establish a music program at any one of Ohio University's regional campuses.
Herman commented, "It was worth it for me to leave South Dakota to come back for a one year job at OU. I knew even then that one year could turn into a career."
She had joined the viola section of the Columbus Symphony since arriving in Athens, so she was considering the campuses in either Lancaster or Zanesville to begin a music program. The scale tipped in Zanesville's favor because Elson Hall had just been completed, allowing classes to be moved from Zanesville High School to Ohio University's new Zanesville Campus. This meant Ohio University-Zanesville would be offering daytime classes, a necessity for Herman if she was to continue rehearsing in the evening with the Columbus Symphony.
In 1967, Herman established the music department on the Zanesville campus, and nurtured it over the years into what she modestly calls a "presentable class offering."
This included developing a choral union, finding adjunct professors for private lessons on any instrument students wanted, as well as teaching a variety of classes from theory, music education, music literature and folk music to private and class piano lessons, most of which continue to be taught today. She developed and continues to present seminars on Effective Practice Procedures and Rhythmic Notation Shorthand.
Her duties also extended to being Music Director for "Little Mary Sunshine," "Once Upon a Mattress," and "Kiss Me Kate," joint collaborations between the OU - Zanesville Music Department, the OU-Zanesville Theater Department and the Zanesville Community Theater.
During her tenure at the Zanesville Campus, Herman led or served on nearly every type of faculty committee and was Chair of the Faculty Council. She also served as a representative to the Ohio Faculty Senate, a statewide organization, when it was in existence.
Throughout the years, Herman continually engaged in professional activities. She has been an adjunct professor at Muskingum College in New Concord, OH, she served as a visiting lecturer at Texas A & M, as a music contest adjudicator in South Dakota, Virginia and Ohio, and she spent a summer in Austria with the American Institute of Musical Studies.
Herman is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, Kappa Delta Pi, American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and National School Orchestra Association (NSOA). She is also a former member of Music Educators National Conference (MENC), Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), College Music Society (CMS), and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Though teaching and her other duties required much of her time, Herman has remained committed to performing music. She has been involved in professional symphonies in Columbus, Mansfield, Wheeling, Charleston, Gallipolis, and Marietta/Parkersburg and also with organizations in Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. She has also participated in local symphonies in New Concord, Newark, Granville and Bexley.
Currently, in addition to her professional symphony commitments, she is a member of the Southeast string quartet in Muskingum County, is treasurer of the Zanesville Chamber Orchestra and serves on the Board of the Zanesville Concert Association.
Though Herman officially retired in 1995, she continued teaching on the Zanesville campus until 1999. Herman now enjoys traveling the globe to exotic locations; though she still frequently gives adult violin and viola lessons.
She also occasionally plays with the OU orchestra, maintaining that bond with Ohio University that began when she entered as an uncertain freshman, a bond which only intensified as she emerged a woman with poise, talent and perseverance.
