SSC Transform

What is the role of music education in the 21st century? How can the creative process be leveraged as a vehicle for positive social change in our local community? What role does music play in developing the next generation of empathetic, articulate, and reflective artist-citizens?

With support from the Kathy O. Czerny Innovation Fund, SSC Transform is a multi-faceted initiative that reimagines the role of music education in the 21st century. Launched in 2020, the first cycle of SSC Transform was completed in July 2021, with the second cycle slate for 2023-2024.

Dr. Eric Laprade, Director
Director of Bands, The College of New Jersey
Managing Director & Artistic Partner, Summer Music Festival

A dedicated and passionate conductor, educator, and arts leader, Eric M. Laprade is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey, where he conducts the wind ensemble and concert band, and teaches courses in instrumental conducting and literature. He also serves as the Music Director of South Shore Conservatory’s Summer Music Festival in Hingham, MA and Managing Editor of the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research at the Eastman School of Music.

Laprade has conducted many of the nation’s premier wind bands, including The Eastman Wind Ensemble, The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, and the University of Michigan Symphony Band. Prior to his appointment at The College of New Jersey, Laprade served as the Visiting Director of Wind Ensembles at the University of Utah. Recent conducting engagements include a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat with the Duxbury Music Festival Chamber Players (Duxbury, MA). As a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music, he was a Frederick Fennell Conducting Fellow, Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Fellow, and recipient of the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. During his time in residence at Eastman, Laprade was assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Eastman Harmonie, and associate conductor of the Eastman Wind Orchestra. He served as assistant conductor on international tours to Europe and Canada, and was assistant producer on multiple wind ensemble recording projects. He taught undergraduate conducting and musicology, and served as a research assistant for the Institute for Music Leadership. While at Eastman, Laprade was a guest conductor for OSSIA New Music, the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, and Sunset Concerts.

Laprade is passionate about nurturing the next generation of music educators. In 2016 he launched the South Shore Conservatory Music Educator Retreat, a summer professional development program for in-service music educators. Now in its third year, the program has engaged nationally acclaimed clinicians and attracted participants from across New England. Most recently, Laprade developed and launched the SMF Teaching Academy, a fellowship program for pre-service music education students. Laprade also has been a clinician at schools throughout the United States and has served as the guest conductor of the 2017 Massachusetts Music Educators Western District Senior Concert Band, 2017 Augustana College Honor Band (Sioux Falls, SD), 2018 Massachusetts Music Educators Central District Junior Concert Band, and the 2019 Port Washington District Band Festival, and the 2020 Woodbridge District Honors Band.

Laprade has presented research on wind band history and artistic programming at the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Conference, the College Band Directors National Conference, The New Jersey Music Educators Association Conference, MICCA Summer Institute, and the LSDO Professional Development Series. His Doctoral Lecture Recital, “From Third Stream to New Streams,” focused on the roots of cross-over repertoire and modern artistic collaboration in Milhaud’s La création du monde. Laprade is a contributing author to the Eastman Case Studies series, having published cases profiling the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School, Carnegie Hall, University Musical Society, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and South Shore Conservatory.

From 2008–13, Laprade was a music educator for the Randolph, MA public schools, where he served as the K–12 Music Department Chairperson. During his tenure he was named one of “40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders” by the South Shore Stars organization and is credited with implementing new curricula, forging strong partnerships with community organizations, and greatly expanding the program. Laprade is also the founding music director of the Randolph Community Band.

Laprade holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music in conducting from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music in music education and tuba performance from the Eastman School of Music. During his undergraduate studies at Eastman, he was the recipient of the school’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate. His principal conducting teachers include Mark Davis Scatterday, Michael Haithcock, and Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and holds honorary memberships in Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Laprade is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, National Association for Music Education, and the College Music Society.

Dr. Fred Harris
Director of Wind and Jazz Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Frederick Harris, Jr. is Director of Wind and Jazz Ensembles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also has served as acting music director of the MIT Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Wind Ensemble, music director of the Summer Music Festival at the South Shore Conservatory, conductor of the Concerto Grosso Orchestra at the University of Minnesota, and he has guest conducted the New Hampshire Philharmonic and the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, among others.

Dr. Harris’ first book, Conducting with Feeling, was published by Meredith Music in 2001. His most recent book, Seeking the Infinite: The Musical Life of Stanisław Skrowaczewski, was published by CreateSpace in 2011. He is a strong advocate for the creation and performance of new music, having commissioned and/or premiered over 90 works for wind, jazz, and mixed ensembles. He has lectured on music in Canada and at many New England universities, as well as for the Minnesota Orchestra and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken. Recordings by the MIT Wind Ensemble include Waking Winds (2004), published by INNOVA Recordings of the American Composers, Solo Eclipse (2008), published by Albany Records, and Infinite Winds (2015), published by Sunnyside Records.

Dr. Harris’ ensembles at MIT have worked with artists such as Gunther Schuller, John Harbison, Michael Colgrass, Frank Battisti, Herb Pomeroy, Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Don Byron, Ran Blake, Guillermo Klein, Kenneth Amis, Magali Souriau Steve Turre, Jamshied Sharifi, and Evan Ziporyn. His conducting teachers included Stephen Massey, Frank Battisti, Gunther Schuller, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Malcolm Rowell, and Craig Kirchhoff. He studied percussion with Arthur Press, former principal percussionist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and jazz drums with Alan Dawson. Dr. Harris has conducted the MMEA Northeast, Central, and Western Senior District Concert Bands, and the Southeast Senior District Jazz Ensemble. He was awarded the 2010 Paul Smith Hall of Fame Award from the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association. This award is presented annually “to a Massachusetts music conductor who is a musical and personal inspiration to students, the community, and other professional conductors.” Nominated by his students, Dr. Harris is a 2013 recipient of the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for Excellence in Teaching in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at MIT.

SSC Transform 2021 commissioned composer: Dr. Nkeiru Okoye

Nkeiru Okoye is an internationally recognized composer of opera, symphonic, choral, chamber, solo piano and vocal works. She is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in music composition and is perhaps best known for her opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom; the orchestral work, Voices Shouting Out, composed as an artistic response to September 11th; and her suite, African Sketches, which is performed by pianists around the globe.

Dr. Okoye’s works defy categorization. They and are known for infusing a wide range of musical styles and influences that evoke all the senses and palpably conjure context for time and place. This results in an extraordinary musical experience that transports the listener to a specific emotion, event, or reckoning. One of her most recent symphonic works, Black Bottom, demonstrates this signature style, and The New York Times named it “one of the most engrossing musical portraits of Black history in the available repertoire.”

Dr. Okoye is a gifted writer of poetry, prose, essays, and lyrics. She pens many of her own libretti and writes lyrics, but also collaborates with noted librettists and writers around the world. She is in demand as a speaker and educator, particularly about community engagement and music as an agent of change.

Commission of Grayce and Sickle

Dr. Okoye expressed an interest in composing a piece that celebrated and highlighted the work of prominent woman in the Boston area. To that end, she chose to profile and highlight Dr. Paula Johnson, President of Wellesley College and world-renowned physician-scientist. The resultant work is Grayce and Sickle. About the piece:

Grayce and Sickle is the commissioned work of composer Nkeiru Okoye by South Shore Conservatory in tribute to Dr. Paula Johnson, President of Wellesley College in Boston. A leading academic and cardiologist, Dr. Johnson has a special interest in the research of the correlation between genetics and medicine. The title of the work is derived from Grayce, Johnson’s mother who encouraged and nurtured her, and sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that impacts mainly people of African descent.

The work for wind ensemble employs musical motives that represent significant influences in Dr. Johnson’s life and career. G-R-A-Y-C-E is a musical anagram using the notes G, Eb, Bb, C, A, F. The sickle cell motive, when plotted on the scale, is U-shaped, like a sickle, using the notes Bb, E, A, F#. Sickle cells block oxygen flow in blood vessels causing episodic attacks of pain. The attacks are represented by an ominous staccato motive of triplets. And the rapid turnover of the sickle cells is depicted in a perpetually repeated 8-note motive. Beautifully juxtaposed to the jarring sickle cell motives is the theme for Dr. Johnson, a reflective pause that portrays her elegant serenity, constant amid her tireless and trailblazing work.

Dr. Okoye notes, “Composing a five-minute tribute to one of the most impressive individuals I have encountered was a challenge. When South Shore Conservatory approached me about composing a work themed around social justice, I expressed my desire for a living subject who could be a role model, someone who transcends the stereotypical roles that depict African Americans. Dr. Johnson embodies all of this and more. At a time when people are protesting against things, she gives us someone to root for and admire. Beyond this, the work gave me an opportunity to bring attention to sickle cell disease, the need for a cure, and to advocate for more education about it.”

Program Details

People

SSC Transform In the News

Get Involved & Learn More