A Collision of Music and Science with Susan Eddlemon
Susan Eddlemon, a Gem of a Teacher
Violin Player, Susan Eddlemon, taught my daughter music lessons for several years. I found Ms. Eddlemon to be a high tech violin teacher and frankly, classy. Ms. Eddlemon’s studio had a video camera mounted on the wall, videotaping my daughter in rehearsal for immediate review. In addition, she provided slowed down piano accompaniment tapes of violin pieces for home practice. This was so valuable for a violin player. As for classy, ballroom dancing is one of her hobbies, and she knows how to look elegant! Ms. Eddlemon currently plays in the Knoxville and Oak Ridge Symphonies in Tennessee. 1. Violettes: You with your husband, Scott, founded the The Isotone Concert Series, a Collision of Science and Music; which performs at venues like the Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge. The performances usually honor a scientist and their research. The compositions often utilize science equipment such as Gieger Counters or the Van de Graff Generator. Scott composes some of the music. You also perform commissioned music. Can you get grants to get the music commissioned for such a unique idea? What is on the horizon for this Series?Susan: Were planning to present a concert in New York City’s Symphony Space next season featuring highlights from previous concerts presented in Oak Ridge at the Museum and at the Pollard Auditorium. We have received grants to do the commissioned works from local sources (and other). This season we’re planning a concert for two percussionists, violin, and cello featuring the music of NYC composer and arranger Larry Spivack dedicated to the men and women who developed and operate the Sallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.2. Violettes: I believe you listen to the science DVD’s from the Great Courses Company. Many scientists are also accomplished musicians. From where does your interest in science stem? Did you have trouble choosing between music and science, or were your parents scientists?Susan: My husband Scott’s father, Joseph, first worked for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory before starting his own sales company, Pulcir, Inc. Scott works for his father in nuclear instrumentation sales for health physics and research, cancer treatment systems, and pharmaceutical refrigeration. The Eddlemon family counts Oak Ridge as its native soil! Science has been a part of their background both educationally and professionally. Scott and I both trained as musicians in our youth and young adulthood; Scott’s scientific proclivities emerged when we returned from living in Canada to the U.S. in 1989 and he began working for his father in nuclear instrumentation sales.3. Violettes: As a Violin Player, you have the distinction of being the first woman Ph.D. in performance violin from Juilliard School. Do you have any stories from this experience?Susan: In 1973, as a student enrolled in the Professional Studies program at Juilliard and as a Master’s graduate there, I won the school’s concerto competition. As a result of that and the Tully Hall performance of the Dvorak Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Theater Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, I was invited to enroll in the School’s new Doctor of Musical Arts program. At the time I was unsure whether to return for yet more years of study; so I took a year off travelling with the Boris Goldovsky Opera Company. The following spring I presented the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Elkhart (Indiana) Symphony, with no coaching or teacher nearby! It was my first experience taking full responsibility for my own performance! It frankly scared me sufficiently to cause me to decide to return to School and study several more years! For years I wondered what that performance had actually sounded like, since the whole experience had shaken me so! Several months ago this year a Board Member from the Elkhart Symphony contacted me saying he had unearthed a reel-to-reel recording of that performance and wanted to send me a copy. He insisted that it was very inspiring to him and he had distributed it to several of the other board members. Of course, I approached the hearing of that disc when it came in the mail with a great deal of nervousness! but I was amazed at what I actually done on that recording! How could some performance that turned out that well feel so terrible!4. Violettes: Tell us about your Ballroom dancing.Susan: We have suspended our study of Ballroom because of lack of time and money! but we look forward to reviving it in coming years. It still remains a companion to our musical interpretation and background. In my studio there is a picture of a couple dancing at a ball - as a reminder of the partnership of the masculine traits of leadership, initiative, cognition, and order with the feminine traits of intuition, nurturing, responsiveness, and release in musical study and performance. In ballroom, the man always leads, and the woman always responds to the lead.5. Violettes: As a violin player, do you have any new projects on the horizon?Susan: At this later stage of life, I find there are a few compositions which I have yet fully to study and perform - the greatest of which is surely the Chaconne of Bach. With three grandchildren to visit, travelling with husband on business, sitting for five different regional East Tennessee orchestras, and tending to the Isotone Concerts, learning and playing the Chaconne alone would be an accomplishment! Scott and Susan Eddlemon, founders of the Isotone Series, are graduates of the prestigious Juilliard Music School in New York City. Sue is an accomplished violinist, the first woman to earn a Ph.D. degree in violin at Juilliard and former concertmaster for the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra.
Another www.ViolettesbyBecky.com Interview.
