J. Bruce Ashton

From SAUwiki

Bruce Ashton (b. 1941) came to Southern in 1968. His primary responsibilities included teaching private piano lessons and courses in music theory. Over the years, these courses have included Orchestration and Arranging, Analysis of Musical Form, Compositional Techniques, Music Theory, and Aural Theory. He has also taught Music History, Listening to Music, Piano Literature, and Piano Pedagogy, even leading the choir for a year while a colleague was absent on a study leave. Most recently, he has revived the course Music in the Christian Church, which both introduces students to the great Christian heritage of hymns and considers current issues in music and worship.

In 1971, at the conclusion of a one-year study leave, Ashton completed the requirements for a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), writing a thesis entitled "Music for Left Hand and Orchestra" and performing Rachmaninov's massive Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor with the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra. During his time in Cincinnati, he was recognized with opportunities to accompany faculty and guest recitals and to solo with the Congress of Strings Orchestra. Ashton has served Southern as a faculty senator, a member (and chair) of the Faculty Affairs Committee, and chair of an accreditation subcommittee. His involvement with the Collegedale Adventist Church has included service as deacon and elder, chair of the Membership Committee, Sabbath School teacher, and director of the Master Chorale. He and his wife also led the McDonald Road Junior-Earliteen Sabbath School for nearly a decade, including several years during which he also filled the office of head elder for that congregation.

As a recitalist, Ashton has appeared many times on his home campus and has performed at a number of colleges and in various local concert series. He enjoys introducing young people to the rich beauties of the classical repertoire. Playing the great concertos of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and Rachmaninov, he has soloed with Southern's own outstanding Symphony Orchestra, in which he also plays viola. He and his wife are the only persons who have traveled on all of the Orchestra's international tours, beginning with the first trip to Asia in 1979.

The greater Chattanooga community has come to know Ashton through his leadership of the Chattanooga Music Teachers Association as well as his involvement with the Chattanooga Symphony - first as orchestra pianist and later as a member of the viola section. He has accompanied many student and faculty recitals at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and its fellow institution, Cadek Conservatory, as well as at Covenant College and Lee University. He has been called upon to accompany auditions for the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and has regularly adjudicated for scholarship competitions.

Ashton has also impacted the larger community through his preparation and presentation of nearly 300 hours of programs for WSMC. Music of Inspiration, Sanctus, and Gentle Hour of Inspiration (still heard every Friday at 8 p.m.) have all garnered a loyal following among listeners, introducing the Sabbath hours with a combination of reverent classical music and stimulating readings. In these programs, he has interspersed readings from Ellen White's Steps to Christ and Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing in their entirety over the air. In its day, the yearlong series Music of Inspiration was also broadcast over WAUS in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

As a composer and arranger, Ashton has responded to numerous requests by students and colleagues for original works to be included in senior or faculty recitals or for special arrangements meeting the needs of campus ensembles. His oeuvre includes settings for speech choir, for wind symphony, for solo mallet percussion, for clarinet and viola duet, and for choir unaccompanied or assisted by anything from solo cello to full symphony. A five-movement Gloria for children's chorus, mixed-voice choir, and orchestra has been presented twice on this campus. His music has been performed at weddings and professional meetings, and one pair of choral works was premiered in Carnegie Hall. His arrangement of Never Part Again was sung at the close of the 1985 General Conference Session, and Proclaim His Grace has been chosen as the official theme song of the General Conference session to be held in Atlanta in the summer of 2010.

As a family, the Ashtons have performed at many weddings, vespers programs, church services, and festivals of all kinds. Together they direct a high-powered Chamber Music Weekend on Southern's campus every summer, this year even adding a second program to encourage talented younger players in the enjoyment of their own unique gifts. Although he officially retired in 2006, Ashton seems almost as involved as ever, teaching three classes this year (fall 2009), overseeing the selection and presentation of music at WSMC over the Sabbath hours, direction the Master Chorale, and accompanying and performing frequently. With a long list of projects awaiting his attention, he is eager to continue the creative life that has brought him so much rewarding pleasure.

(Taken from the Special Award for Commitment to Excellence in the 2009 Alumni Weekend Bulletin)--Johonn 00:51, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

For more information about Dr. Ashton's music, visit his website at [1] or his bio on the International Adventist Musicians Association website at [2]