Lucinda J. Lawrence

University Bands Librarian

BM and MM (music composition), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ms. Lawrence is the head of the UIUC Band Performance Library. She administers the largest band performance library in the country that serves the entire UIUC Band Program (13 band ensembles), and reports to the Director of Bands. Prior to her appointment in the School of Music, Ms. Lawrence was the Music Director for the Department of Dance at the UIUC, 1979-1988. Between 1983 and 1989 she appeared as resident artist, guest faculty, and/or collaborating artist at the University of Michigan, the summer arts program at Stephens College/Perry-Mansfield in Colorado, the Middlebury College Electronic Music Studio, and Bowdoin College. Upon her return to the University of Illinois, Ms. Lawrence served as administrator, organizer, and fund raiser for ARTS2000, the UIUC Composers' Forum, and the UIUC Youth Opera Preparation and Education. Having secured numerous grants on behalf of the UIUC, she also provided grant proposal assistance to faculty and students in the School of Music. Ms. Lawrence has appeared as a vocalist and pianist on recordings and in concert, including solo appearances at Carnegie Hall and Chicago Orchestra Hall. She also was the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council grant for advancement in the area of music composition.

In addition to her primary duties with the University Band Library, she teaches MUS 442 Band Arranging. The UI Bands website includes results of her research: a searchable database of the collections; an online UI Bands Recordings catalog; and band resources with links to music publishers and distributors, program notes, band composers, copyright information, jobs, bands and band organizations, selected equipment and instruments, and music festivals: all these sites serve band musicians, scholars, and enthusiasts around the world.

Professor Lawrence’s recent creative efforts contribute to creation of a new musical theatre work in progress, 1787: We, the People, for which she is composing original music and setting lyrics to her arrangements of pre-existing music. The collaboration involves her writing partner Robert Picklesimer, founder of Creative Dramatics Workshop. As contributing partners in development of the work, members of the UIUC Opera Studio will present a semi-staged half-concert of selections from the new musical November, 2009, in Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, Illinois. The full work will be produced in 2011.

Teaching Philosophy
(1) Answers to one question provide my best resource and foundation for teaching: "What best serves the student(s)?" (2) For music practice, performance, composition - musicality is first, foremost, and always evident. (3) Since people have different strengths, weaknesses, and preferences for learning, I present each topic through at least two avenues. (4) I provide tools: experience of where to find information, familiarity with what to do with the information, practice in how to make their music happen, and skill in seeking good questions. Experience being the best teacher, students who work in my office or take my class all do a lot. (5) I place high value on leading students to learn through integrity, good manners, and effective language. (6) Questions about real situations stimulate students' discussion of issues not previously considered, and I encourage students to use their words wisely: effective language empowers people to become what they think.