Detroit Conservatory of Music was a music school in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. It was considered one of the leading institutions of music in the United States.
[ It was founded in 1874 by J. H. Hahn]normal school
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...
training department in 1889.
It was located at 5035 Woodward Avenue. In 1909 the Detroit Conservatory Orchestra was organized at the school.[
Chapters of ]Mu Phi Epsilon
Mu Phi Epsilon () is a co-ed international professional fraternity, professional music fraternity. It has over 75,000 members in 227 collegiate chapters and 113 Alumnus/a, alumni chapters in the US and abroad.
History
Mu Phi Epsilon was founde ...
and Sigma Alpha Iota
Sigma Alpha Iota () is a women's music fraternity. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its m ...
existed at the school.
The school featured on postcards. The Detroit Historical Society
The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly lin ...
has a collection of documents from the school. The Detroit Public Library
The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in the U.S. state of Michigan by volumes held (after the University of Michigan Library) and the 21st-largest library system (and the fourth-largest public library system) in the Uni ...
has a photograph of a woman playing violin at the school.
Alumni
Notable alumni include:
* Antoinette Garnes
*Lou Hooper Louis Stanley Hooper (May 18, 1894, North Buxton, Ontario - September 17, 1977, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) was a Canadian jazz pianist.
Hooper was raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan and attended the Detroit Conservatory, where he played local ...
* T. J. Fowler
* Rachel Andresen
*Dennis Edwards
Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations
The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a serie ...
*Jean DuShon
Jean DuShon (born Anna Jean Harris, later Atwell, August 16, 1935 – July 19, 2019) was an American jazz and R&B singer, and stage actor. She was best known for her recordings in the 1960s, including the first released recording of the so ...
*Johnny Desmond
Johnny Desmond (born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone; November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985) was an American singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Biography Early years
Desmond was born Giovanni de Simone in Detroit, Michigan, ...
*Les Baxter
Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica ...
*Betty Carter
Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative inter ...
* Agnes Woodward
*Lucia Dlugoszewski
Lucia Dlugoszewski (June 16, 1925 – April 11, 2000) was a Polish-American composer, poet, choreographer, performer, and inventor. She created over a hundred musical instruments, including the timbre piano, a sort of prepared piano in which hamm ...
* Boyd Marshall
*Thomas Whitfield (singer)
Thomas Anthony Whitfield (April 30, 1954 – June 20, 1992) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, choir director and producer best known for helping to shape the fabric of contemporary gospel music with his elaborate chora ...
* Gaylord Yost (1904–1905)
* Patricia Terry-Ross
*James Frazier (1940–1984)
* Kenneth Louis Cox II
References
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Music schools in Michigan