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Robert Rockabrand– Choir Member During the 1956-1957 Westminster Choir World Tour

May 12, 2015 By barnardc Leave a Comment

Eric Hung interviews Robert Rockabrand, Westminster Choir member during the 1956-1957 world tour. Rockabrand later went on to become a faculty member at Westminster Choir College, working closely with Warren Martin. He reflects on his sight-seeing adventures, how the tour influenced him personally, and his later conducting career.

  • 0:21 Musical training, overview of academic career from graduation to the present
  • 7:17: Upbringing and early musical memories
  • 10:07: Choral music at Principia College, outbreak of Korean War, relationship with Warren Martin
  • 15:03: Lack of vocal training before Westminster, trajectory from student to faculty member at WCC
  • 18:19: Finding out about the world tour
  • 19:52: Preparation for the tour, beginning tour in U.S.
  • 25:18: About the tour programs
  • 26:30: Leaving Princeton, contact with State Department
  • 27:33: U.S. leg of the tour
  • 28:43: First impressions overseas
  • 34:49: Food while on tour
  • 36:41: Communicating without a shared language
  • 40:45: Thanksgiving in Japan
  • 42:28: Sight-seeing and people in Japan and Korea
  • 45:42: Reconnecting with former friends while abroad
  • 46:21: Other countries visited, Christmas in Vietnam, New Years Eve in Malaya (now Malaysia)
  • 51:18: Change in plans– trip to Singapore instead of Indonesia
  • 52:23: Experiences in the Philippines, meeting royalty
  • 54:55: Watching movies on tour, Indian movies
  • 57:17: Free time activities
  • 59:50: Favorite sights and souvenir shopping
  • 1:05:30: Sights in Japan, India, Burma, and Laos, tales of travel
  • 1:18:10: Visiting a tea plantation with Dr. Williamson, Indian dancing in New Delhi
  • 1:21:27: Observing English colonial influence in India
  • 1:22:33: Performances in Iran and Iraq
  • 1:23:37: Multiculturalism in Lebanon
  • 1:25:06: Importance of his faith during the tour
  • 1:30:00: Encountering communism in Yugoslavia
  • 1:31:52: Being welcomed back onto campus
  • 1:35:28: Reflecting on the experiences he had
  • 1:37:06: Effects of the tour on his conducting career
  • 1:41:35: Return trips to India
  • 1:55:24: The lasting impact of the tour on his life, documents in Westminster archives, pictures from the tour
  • 2:04:05: Story about Dr. Williamson, picture of Rockabrand with von Karajan
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Samuel Steward– Shamanic Sound Therapist
Ron Standring- Westminster Choir Member During 1956-1957 World Tour

Filed Under: Classical Music, Music and Ideas, Oral Histories

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April 8-10, 2016 Westminster Choir College of Rider University Princeton, NJ "Locations and Dislocations: An Ecomusicological Conversation" seeks to bring together scholars, performers, and composers to further explore the relationships between music, culture, and the environment. The conference will tune to sounds as they fit or belong in the place they are heard, as they fit or belong in some other place, or as they have no ecological home, either built or natural. Among the questions at

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