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Armstrong '78 presents 'Cherry' lecture

By David Gonnerman '90
October 13, 2005

Anton Armstrong '78, the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, presented the lecture "Vocation and Music Education: Our Calling as Pastoral Musicians" in Christensen Hall of Music, Urness Recital Hall. Armstrong presented the public lecture as part of the award-selection process for the prestigious Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

ArmstrongAction
Anton Armstrong has been teaching and conducting at St. Olaf for 16 years.
Armstrong is one of three finalists in the United States who are vying for the prestigious award, which will bring $215,000 to the winner. "I'm a little surprised to have been nominated," says Armstrong, who believes he is the first music educator ever nominated for the award. "But it's a great credit to St. Olaf," he adds, pointing out that the St. Olaf Music Department could win as much as $35,000 in addition to his earnings.

Armstrong says that although the lecture is autobiographical, it also takes a broad view of how music can serve others. "What does music offer us? How does art change the world for the better?" he asks. "For me, the music that I make with these young people [in the St. Olaf Choir] is a dynamic means of grace. Our music as we make it and as we share it has a role of ministering to others."

Armstrong cites the powerful feelings he experienced while listening to the St. Olaf Band and Orchestra while those ensembles toured with the Choir throughout Norway last summer. "[St. Olaf Orchestra Conductor Steven Amundson] was able to get those kids to play with a passion that every night was just stunning." And he recalls the "powerful statements" the St. Olaf Band made when it sang part of its program while conducted by his classmate, Timothy Mahr '78. "It's these things together that make St. Olaf very distinctive," he says.

"I want to talk about the role arts play in transforming society and bringing through a message of faith, hope and -- for many of us -- a message of healing," says Armstrong. He will repeat the lecture at Baylor University later this month.

With a deep appreciation for how his life had been changed by significant teachers, Baylor alumnus Robert Foster Cherry created the Robert Cherry Award for Great Teaching when he established the program to recognize excellent teachers and bring them in contact with Baylor University students. Individuals nominated for the award have a proven classroom record that includes inspiring and long-lasting effects on students, plus a record of distinguished scholarship. The first Cherry Award was given in 1991 and it has since been awarded biennially.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.