Эндрю Гленденинг назначен проректором по колледжу визуальных искусств NIU

Andrew Glendening was recently named the interim dean of the NIU College of Visual Arts after previously serving as director of the School of Music, but before obtaining his role here at NIU, Glendening had a background of many accomplishments, as well as a road to becoming the interim dean. Glendening discovered his passion for music when he was a kid after it was passed down from his father. His father passed down his old trombone, which his father played in his band. Glendening still has the trombone in his basement to this day.This led to him taking lessons, joining choir and playing in the All-State Band Orchestra. “Being involved in music was something my family did,” Glendening said. “My father played in Carl King’s bands out in Fort Dodge, Iowa, before the war. So I learned to play the trombone on his old trombone that he bought from Carl King, the March King.” While in his undergraduate program, Glendening didn’t originally plan to go into music; he was doing a double degree program studying physics. Glendening said he was interested in constructing higher quality instruments. “I was interested in building better instruments, concert halls and things like that,” Glendening said. In his junior year of college, he made the decision to fully focus on music but still holds an interest in electronics. “At that point, I just focused on music from there and then went to grad school and got into other things and so I’ve kept in touch with science,” Glendening said. Glendening was the first to complete a doctorate in trombone performance at Indiana University. Glendening said he received the news of this achievement through the mail while in his second year of teaching. “I was so busy at the time because I had already started teaching college,” Glendening said. “It sort of came in the mail actually, because I already was off on a career and didn’t do anything else.” A big influence in Glendening’s career are his teachers, one of them, Frank Chris Foley, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 50 years. “You build on the work of other people,” Glendening said. “I don’t think there’s a day that goes by when I teach a lesson or I play something where I’m not hearing something that they said to me in a lesson or a rehearsal or performance.” Glendening previously was dean of the School of Music at the University of Redlands in California before coming to DeKalb. Glendening said he took a lot of what he learned from his position at University of Redlands and applied it to his work at NIU. “I tried to bring some of the things that supported students in the other environment, some of the best of that, and tried to bring it to an environment like NIU,” Glendening said. After asking Glendening for any advice for NIU music students, he said he always gives freshmen the same answer. “We call it playing music. Not working music. It should be fun,” Glendening said. “If what we’re trying to do artistically matches, if we’re doing that well, it’s a fantastic career option. Glendening also said students should test different fields. “If you’re struggling with it, and it’s not what you want to do, go do something else that’s fun but put it to the test and that’s how you find out where you should be. It’s OK to change,” Glendening said. Glendening’s office can be located in the Music Building, Room 140.