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Joan Cochran Sommers
Joan Cochran Sommers established the
accordion degree program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Conservatory of Music in 1961. It was one of the most comprehensive
accordion programs in the world where performance majors, secondaries,
and non-music majors used the accordion to earn Undergraduate and
Graduate, Baccalaureate through Doctorate, degrees. Upon her
retirement from full-time teaching, she was voted the title Professor
Emerita due to her distinguished university career.
Professor Sommers
has been honored numerous times by the American Accordionists’
Ass’n., the Accordion Teachers’ Guild, Int’l., the
Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes, as well as
other musical organizations for her ongoing dedication and contributions
to the field of music, especially that of the accordion, an instrument
she began playing at the age of nine. She earned the right to represent
the USA in the Coupe Mondiale in both 1955 and 1956,
events that undoubtedly developed her interest in accordion activities
worldwide. As a performer she uses the piano accordion, but she teaches
all types of systems regardless of arrangements of keys or buttons.
Many of her students play both chromatic and keyboard instruments.
Courses she designed
and taught at the Conservatory of Music were: Applied Private Accordion,
Accordion Orchestra, Accordion Chamber Music, Arranging for the
Accordion, Accordion Literature, and History of the Accordion. In
addition she taught Accordion Techniques, a specially designed course
for the non-accordionists majoring in music education or music
therapy. There was always a great emphasis on sight-reading as well as
orchestra and chamber music since Professor Sommers believed the skills
developed in those areas helped prepare the performer for the
professional world of music.
Her students have
won numerous top awards, including the U.S. Championship competitions in
both the AAA and the ATG, and have been candidates to the Coupe
Mondiale many different times over a long period of time. Foreign
students under her instruction have also represented their countries in
the Coupe Mondiale at various times. Some of the most
outstanding accordion professionals, both men and women, have been her
students and have earned music degrees at the UMKC Conservatory of
Music.
Accordion orchestras
under her direction have won innumerable First Place Awards in many
competitions and have presented concert tours throughout the world,
including Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Russia, Germany,
Switzerland, England, Scotland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria
and, most recently, Italy. She has performed with other groups under
her direction in Greenland, Nova Scotia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, The
Philippines, Guam, Okinawa, and Korea. Professor Sommers has taught and
adjudicated in many other countries, including Great Britain, Germany,
Denmark, Poland, France, Norway, The Netherlands, and the People’s
Republic of China, as well as throughout the United States and Puerto
Rico. The UMKC Accordion Orchestra has released several recordings,
the most recent being a set of six CDs. A new CD will be released
soon.
Joan Cochran Sommers
served as Assistant Dean in the Conservatory of Music for 12 years as
well as Professor of Music for 40 years. After retirement in 2001, she
continues to teach part time at the Conservatory and be actively
involved in presenting workshops and conducting accordion orchestras in
many different venues. She has held elective and appointed offices in
both national and international accordion organizations and is the newly
elected president of the Accordionists’ and Teachers’ Guild,
Int’l., a post also held in several previous years. Professor
Emerita Sommers is also the Vice-Chairman of the Music Committee for the
Confederation Internationale des Accordeonistes.
Dr. Sommers is now getting ready
to go to Portugal and Spain to adjudicate the world competitions. In
December 2005, Dr. Sommers has been asked to adjudicate in
Moscow for Russia's international competition that they sponsor every 5
years. She is really excited about going.
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Contact:
Professor Emerita Joan C. Sommers
University of
Missouri-Kansas City
Conservatory of Music
4949 Cherry
Street
Kansas City,
Missouri 64110-2229 USA
E-mail:
sommersj@umkc.edu |
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