State

Page Six THE STATE December 30, 1933 LAMAR STRINGFIELD j°hn marshall parham COMPOSER AND CONDUCTOR OF FIRST STATE ORCHESTRA IN AMERICA WII I L К on the c n in p u s of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, one might chance to sec a simply dressed young man wearing a black leather jacket ami green eyeshade. One might judge him to be “just one of the students — perhaps a med. stu¬ dent or an engineering student.” A thick folio is likely to be seen under bis arm and the guess is that ho is one of the Plnyinakcr group. As he walks around the old well and in the direc¬ tion of Davie Poplar, ho stops to play with a small dog while the chance onlooker smiles and wonders how “this student” could be in such a hurry and vet pause to play with a dog. Little would he guess this was Lamar Stringfield, nationally known composer and conductor. This “student" was largely instrumental in the successful organization of the first state orches¬ tra in America. He is a Pulitzer prize winner. He has been a guest conduc¬ tor in Aeolian Hall and Carnegie Hall. He is the conductor of the North Car¬ olina symphony orchestra composed of fifty-five musicians from sixteen North Carolina towns. The Institute of Folk music, aided by the University, was established by Lamar Stringfield. When the North Carolina Symphony Society was organized in March, 1932, he was chosen as its musical director. It was he who wrote the musical ar¬ rangements for Paul Green's Tread the Green Grass. North Carolina came near missing this boast of producing one of the lead¬ ing musicians of the country. Al¬ though a short time for so many ac¬ complishments, it was just about sev¬ enteen years ago that -Mr. .Stringfield decided to follow his love for music seriously. While doing service on the Western front in the same division with Paul Green, the leading figure NORTH CAROLINA has every right to be proud of Mr. String- field. We need more men of his type; to bring us to an apprecia¬ tion of some of the beautiful, cul¬ tural things of life. For the most part, we're too busy to pay much attention to them. It's time that we gave them some thought. - ★ - in Southern drama, lie would play upon his flute “when the shells weren’t so thick and the fighting had subsided for a while.” Today, he is considered as one of the three greatest flutists in the United States. Lamar Stringfield was the sixth child of a family of seven. He was born October, 1897, in u Baptist par¬ sonage near Raleigh. Ilis father, O. L. Stringfield, was largely responsible for the early success of Meredith College. ★ As a boy, he was inspired by his father’s skill as a violinist and the ex¬ cellence with which his mother played the piano. It wasn’t, long before lie could play every instrument used in a small orchestra. At Mars Hill Col¬ lege, he was given a place in the band and whilo at Wake Forest College, he exhibited marked ability in this direc¬ tion. But just prior to the World Conflict, playing in orchestras was just a hobby with him; he had decided to study medicine. The World War upset his medical career considerably. At nineteen, he went to the Mexican border. Later, he went to France with the thirtieth division. During his rest periods while on the Western front, he learned to play the flute. Immediately after the war, he went to Asheville, where lie studied under Emile Medicus, edi¬ tor of the Flutist. In 1920, he went to New York, where he took further instruction under Georges Barren* at the Institute of Musical Art. He, in addition, has secured a diploma from the American Orchestral Society for orchestral playing and conducting. During recent months, his concerts have become very popular in this and other states. His suite From the Southern Mountains, based on moun¬ tain folk themes and including the • 'ripple Creel suite, won for him the Pulitzer prize; thus he was able to study abroad for two years. While at Salem Academy in Win¬ ston-Salem, North Carolina, recently in an address before the student body and others, he paused in his usual oc¬ cupation to tpll them why he had mar¬ ried his wife: "Do you know why I married my wife? Well, because her hair is straight. I don’t like this frizzled hair that some girls have.” From this, we seo something of Mr. Stringfield’s hu¬ man side. He is human all the way through — there is nothing of the pop¬ ular conception of the eccentric artist about him. He is courteous, affable and interested in типу other tilings besides his music.