KORI BARKLEY
Staff Writer
“The more you know, the more you can do.”
Karolyn Stonefelt, head of Fredonia’s percussion area, has immersed herself in many areas, both inside and outside of music, and has proven these words of hers to be true. But it is because of her work, within the field of music, that Stonefelt was recently appointed as a State University of New York Distinguished Professor.
According to documents released by Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor of the Members of the SUNY Board of Trustees, “the distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research [of] literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the arts. The candidate’s work must be of such character that the individual’s presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond [this] person’s academic field.”
Stonefelt was chosen for the Distinguished Professorship, as she has a highly reputable presence in both national and international settings of the arts. She began her endeavors as an undergraduate at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music, studying percussion. During her years as a student, she spent her summers in Aspen, CO., where she was principal percussionist in the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra — an event that helped her recognize her true potential.
After that, one thing led to another.
Immediately following her undergraduate studies, Stonefelt participated in numerous orchestral ensembles throughout the United States, including the Baltimore Symphony, where she served as one of the first full-time female percussionists to be on contract with a major symphony orchestra.
“Getting a job with the Baltimore Symphony was one of the most significant moments during my career,” Stonefelt recalled. “During that time, they were only hiring women as extras, so that was certainly a key landmark for me.”
Following her time at Baltimore, Stonefelt moved the New York City, where she performed in over 20 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Some of her most memorable and exciting experiences were in the Off-Broadway scene, including “Wanted and Promenade” from the Judson Poets’ Theatre; “From Berlin to Broadway” with Kurt Weill, supervised by Lotte Lenya, Weill’s wife; two of the longest running Off-Broadway productions, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and “Dames at Sea;” and two of the shortest runs, “Ambassador” and “Good News.”
In 1982, Stonefelt felt it was time for a change.
“Crime was high [in New York City], the economy was awful and the shows closed,” Stonefelt said, explaining her reasoning for deciding to leave the city and move to Indiana.
For the following 10 years, she studied ethnomusicology and jazz history at Indiana University and received her Doctor of Music in Percussion Performance degree in 1992.
Throughout the pursuit of her doctorate, she performed in Germany, France and the former USSR with the Stuttgart Opera Orchestra, while holding positions as an Associate Instructor of Percussion at Indiana University and Lecturer in Percussion at Fredonia.
One year later, Stonefelt received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Grant to Ghana, West Africa. While there, she worked with the Ghana Dance Ensemble studying xylophone styles of the Dagara people, as well as various indigenous drumming patterns of Ghana. According to her biography on Fredonia’s School of Music page, “In return, Stonefelt was able to share her knowledge of contemporary music through a course that she taught at the University of Ghana at Legon on music in the twentieth century.”
The same year (1992), Stonefelt joined the Fredonia School of Music as a faculty member.
With her passion for ethnic culture and percussion instruments, Stonefelt has enhanced the school’s multicultural awareness and world music performance by initiating African xylophone and drumming style classes, Mexican Marimba Ensemble and creating a program for students to travel to Ghana for three weeks to learn the language, history and life lessons that are passed down through West African music and dance tradition.
Due to the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, this year’s trip to Ghana has been postponed. Instead, Bernard Woma and members of the Saakumu Drum and Dance Ensemble will visit Fredonia on Jan. 13-16 to bring the Ghanaian culture to Fredonia.
Participants from all backgrounds are welcome to attend the six-day intensive workshop of traditional drumming, gyil (African xylophone), song and dance, culture and history.
The schedule will accommodate professional educator’s schedules, as 37.5 credit hours of continuing education will be awarded. The workshop will also count as a three-credit undergraduate music course.
“My goal was to have a cultural experience — an alternative way of thinking and learning about music,” Stonefelt explained. “For any musician, things that deal with rhythmic divisions can only enhance our understanding of rhythm and how we play. Playing with your hands on a drum in front of you, it’s pretty hard to separate yourself away from the feeling of the music, so we begin to internalize rhythm. The dance incorporated into the classes also gives you body movement-awareness.”
In addition to teaching, Stonefelt is the timpanist with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra and the percussionist for Fioretto, a Finnish ensemble dedicated to performing medieval and renaissance music.