November 20, 2023
By Brooks Clark
Last spring Natalie L. Haslam Founding Dean of the College of Music Jeffrey Pappas spoke at the retired faculty luncheon.
“We are becoming a college of music because of your legacies. Your students. Their achievements. A tradition of excellence in instruction,” said Pappas. “All we can leave is our legacy. Each of us will have to choose what that legacy will be. Never did I imagine that the legacy would lead to a College of Music.”
For many retired faculty members and their families, the idea of legacy has ascended to another level—endowed or estate gifts that will live on in the lives of College of Music students in perpetuity. Gary Sperl brought his passion for clarinet not only to his students in Knoxville but also to the students so close to his heart in Tanzania, Africa.
“Gary’s six-figure estate gift to support clarinet will have an impact both in Knoxville and Tanzania that simply can’t be measured,” says Director of Advancement Chris Cox.
Fay Adams created an estate gift to support piano.
“I had a wonderful opportunity working for 44 years at the department, then school, and now College of Music,” said Adams. “I want to give back to help many more piano students who want to fulfill their dream of music.”
In my own life nothing has meant more than the opportunity to study music and music education at the college level. I hope that this endowed scholarship will give future students that same opportunity.
– Cathy Leach
Likewise, Cathy Leach has shared her passion for the trumpet not only in her years of teaching at UT but also in her leadership of national organizations and now in an estate gift that will support trumpet students for decades to come.
“In my own life nothing has meant more than the opportunity to study music and music education at the college level,” said Leach. “I hope that this endowed scholarship will give future students that same opportunity.”
Jim Self taught tuba at UT in the 1970s and left to get his PhD at the University of Southern California, where he has taught for decades and played on some 1,500 movie soundtracks, including the latest Indiana Jones movie, the last three Star Wars movies, and the famous solo in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
“That’s the big bird in my cage,” said Self.
He has returned to UT as a guest artist and got to know Pappas, Cox, and tuba professor Alex Lapins. He created an endowment for the Volunteer Brass Quintet as well as a tuba scholarship. He and his wife have also decided to give 25 percent of their estate to UT.
“If I died tomorrow, UT would get a million dollars,” he said with his usual wry delivery.
Marvelene Moore, who taught music education at UT for 35 years, well remembers the financial aid that helped her pursue her studies and wishes to pay that generosity forward with her endowment for scholarships for music education students.
“You will never know how a bit of support can affect someone’s life,” said Moore.
See original story and more from Noteworthy, the College of Music’s magazine, at noteworthy.utk.edu.
