Three visiting professors joined the music department this school year, while two professors are away on sabbatical.

Mark Douglass and Brad Holmes are filling in for Professor of Music, Choirs, and Orchestra James Holleman, and Michael Ruhling has taken over for Associate Professor of Music Derek Stauff.

Douglass is standing in as the conductor of Hillsdale’s Symphony Orchestra during Holleman’s sabbatical this semester. With a background in percussion, Douglass is the Director of Bands in the department of music at Spring Arbor University.

Douglass said he has great hopes for the orchestra in the current season as they work on Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” 

“It’s a staple in our literature,” he said. “I hope that we can understand what it is and find a great love for bringing it to life today in a community together.”

Sophomore Hillary Kuhlmann, a music major and violinist, said she appreciates Douglass’ detailed approach to rehearsals.

“I think he’s innovative with our orchestra, and he gets us to look at things in a different way,” she said. “He is very productive in rehearsals with how he breaks things down, and then puts them back together.” 

During Stauff’s sabbatical, Ruhling is the visiting assistant professor of music history. He is currently on sabbatical from his own institution, the Rochester Institute of Technology. At Hillsdale, he is teaching two music history courses, as well as two sections of the understanding of music course.

Ruhling said he has also been able to turn his background in 18th-century music, especially the works of Haydn, into a new opportunity for the music program. 

“They are having me do a few seminars related to my areas of expertise,” Ruhling said. “One of them is a chamber orchestra that will be playing 18th-century music, along with a seminar. In the second semester I will be teaching a musicology seminar on Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ and different musicological approaches to that piece.”

“The Creation” is an oratorio written by Haydn that depicts the creation of the world as told in the book of Genesis.

Ruhling said that his interest in Haydn started in high school when he had the opportunity to play the trumpet part in Haydn’s Symphony No. 104. 

“Later, as I got into college, I played some more Haydn, and I read more about Haydn as a person,” Ruhling said. “He became a fascinating individual for me.”

Ruhling said many people who study Haydn only do so in order to “get to Beethoven,” but that in isolating Haydn as an individual, one can find how fascinating he was as both a composer and a person. 

Hillsdale also has a visiting choral director to fill in for Holleman during his sabbatical. Brad Holmes taught choir for 31 years at Millikin University, and he later taught for a year at Baylor University.

He said an interesting difference in the culture between Hillsdale’s music department and the music departments of other universities is that even though many of the student musicians are not music majors, they want to be involved in ensembles. 

Holmes said he hopes that the singers can improve in their abilities both as individuals and as a unit. 

“My goal is to try to get them to go further in terms of their teamwork – to help them to improve as individuals, while also being able to create a sectional sound,” Holmes said.

Holmes said that there are many ways to achieve this.

“First, you have to think of pitch. Even though it seems obvious, everyone needs to be singing the same note,” he said.

Holmes said that people sometimes have a harder time hearing that they are singing a slightly different note, especially since so many factors can change the quality of a sound. 

“Vowels can also change the pitch, so they have to be matched,” Holmes said. “Volume, vibrato, and amount of resonance all affect how much the group is together.”.

Senior Annie Brooks, a music major and violist, said that she is excited for the opportunities the new professors will offer to the department.

“I think it’s good for the Hillsdale music department to have new ways for the students to be involved,” she said.