Spartan Stories
Tales from the UNCG University Archives
music
The Crescendoes: UNC Greensboro’s Lost Folk Music Group
by Stacey Krim UNC Greensboro student music ensembles historically have been classically-based. Although Woman’s College can be proud of its very own all-female 1940s “big band,” the Darlinettes and Rhythmettes, it was not until much later in the school’s history that the music curriculum experimented with popular music. Consequently, what some might consider the state […]
Buddy Gist, the Man Behind the Miles Davis Trumpet
by Erin Lawrimore The Miles Davis Trumpet is listed on the UNCG Bucket List Passing through the atrium of the Music Building, it is easy to overlook the modest exhibit featuring a trumpet. It is in a small case, dwarfed by its surroundings. Even upon reading the plaque, it is difficult to believe that the […]
Tate Street: Evolving to serve a changing community
by David Gwynn Tate Street, UNCG’s original “campus strip” was originally two streets: Tate Street north of Walker Avenue and Lithia Street to the south. By 1923, when most of the area’s commercial development was beginning, both sections shared the same name. The shopping area was targeted at a pedestrian population and included chain grocery […]
The Birth of the North Carolina State High School Music Contest-Festival
by Erin Lawrimore Over the next two weeks, UNCG will play host to hundreds of students attending Summer Music Camp. The Summer Music Camp, which began in 1983, has grown to be the largest university music camp in America. In two one-week sessions, students are instructed in band, mixed chorus, orchestra, and piano. But the […]
Ronald A. Crutcher: from Cellist to University President
by Stacey Krim Ronald A Crutcher, 1989 It is always heartwarming to see musicians ascending to high places in academia. Dr. Ronald A. Crutcher served as professor of cello and head of the strings department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1979 to 1988. At age 17, he won the Cincinnati Symphony Young […]
Jazzing-Up the Campus with Ray Gariglio
by Anne Myers This blog post was authored by Anne Myers, Library and Information Studies practicum student at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, December 2015. Ray Gariglio, 1975 Raymond J. Gariglio came to UNCG in 1966 as a Professor of Music and became the bandmaster for all UNCG performing band ensembles, […]
Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Walter Clinton Jackson, and Segregated Facilities at WC
by Erin Lawrimore February is Black History Month. To celebrate, our Spartan Stories this month focus on remembering important people and events related to the history of African Americans and UNCG. Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was a prominent African American educator who, in 1902, founded the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, NC (in eastern Guilford […]
Darlinettes and Rhythmettes: Big Band Sounds at the WC
by Erin Lawrimore In 1942, big band music from the likes of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman were all the rage, but local big bands were hard to find. Most of the musicians in these groups were male, and they were being drafted into military service during World War II. But a group […]
Buddy Gist, the Man Behind the Miles Davis Trumpet
by Stacey Krim The Miles Davis Trumpet is listed on the UNCG Bucket List Passing through the atrium of the Music Building, it is easy to overlook the modest exhibit featuring a trumpet. It is in a small case, dwarfed by its surroundings. Even upon reading the plaque, it is difficult to believe that the […]
The Motown Invasion of 1968/69
by Stacey Krim 18 year old Stevie Wonder during his1968 UNCG performance (p. 54) In the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, the advancing struggle for civil rights infused nearly every facet of the UNCG and the Greensboro community. The Greensboro environment of this time, while being a volatile scene for race relations, enjoyed […]
