Professor emeritus inducted into music educators’ hall of fame

RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — He has always been exuberantly talented, and his exposure to the arts that put him in league with musicians, composers and authors and the like has shaped who he is today.

Don Collins also has navigated a bicycle with style, often seen zipping around the University of Central Arkansas on his way to teach memorable classes - music appreciation one of his best - humming and singing operatic arias as he went.

Collins, professor emeritus of choral music education at UCA, is basking now in the glow of an award he recently received - induction into the Hall of Fame of the Arkansas Music Educators Association, presented in recognition of his outstanding support and contributions to music education.

People who recognize his abundant skills were not surprised by the award, for during a span of 40 years the primary emphasis of his professional career, since he completed his graduate work at Florida State University in 1970, has been to support and promulgate educational principles that would keep young men singing as their voices changed during through puberty.

“Sadly, many young menstop singing and never return to music making during this period,” Collins said, “and this is from my perspective one of the most detrimental occurrences in their lives.”

He suggested that “few human characteristics bring more joy and satisfaction to makers and hearers than sharing a song. This is true with every culture on Earth, and I have approached my commission in this arena with an evangelical zeal over the years, publishing music that young people can sing with success and ease.”

His virtuosity has attracted young listeners in presentations about how to approach the changing voice - writing books and articles in professional journals and maintaining a Web site with helpful articles for music teachers. All these things demonstrate his empathy for the singing voice.

He talks warmly of the time in 1979 when he founded the Cambiata Institute of America for Early Adolescent Vocal Music. Here he grafted elements of music, matching phrasing and pitch to different music patterns, to meet the requirements of different kinds of music. The institute is now a subsidiary of the College of Music at the University of North Texas.

Collins thanks his many years of rigorous classical training and exposure in the arts for bringing research that has resulted in the publication of several books, one of his most enduring being the second edition of his textbook Teaching Choral Music released in 1999 by Prentice-Hall and used today in music educational methods classes in schools throughout the United States.

Graduate music education seminars and individual studies of students stand as his primary teaching assignments. He founded and was conductor of the UCA Chorale and Bel Cantos (a madrigal and show choir) and conducted the University Chorus at UCA. He also was founder and conductor of the Arkansas Boys Choir, which received national recognition for performances around the country.

Call him verbose if you will (he has a commanding voice that he uses effectively in classroom situations) because his energy and enterprise show up when he describes his work.

The Collins mystique is wrapped up in work he has done as an active composer, editor and arranger of both sacred and secular publications released by more than a half dozen houses, including the well-known publishing firm Prentice-Hall Inc.

Educated in Texas, he received a Bachelor of Arts degreein voice from Wayland University and a Master of Music degree from New Orleans Theological Seminary, after which he served as a music education specialist in Florida schools. He arrived at UCA in 1970 and immediately became a large presence on campus, handling music education programs in addition to teaching classes in graduate and undergraduate studies. He left UCA in 2007.

He is known in the music industry as an arresting artist who is uninhibited and who delights in revealing different presentations. He is inspired by many things; well-traveled, well read, well-versed in music and other art forms; many of these endeavors serving as inspiration points for his essence.

He continues his work at breakneck speed today during a period called retirement. But retirement has no meaning for him except to give him choices. And he chooses to keep pursuing work that gives him satisfaction and joy.

From his spacious home on Bruce Street a few blocks east of UCA, the Collins orbit continues to swirl as he turns out music for young singers.

Collins is married to the former Peggy Ann Smith, an organist, pianist and music educator. They have three children and six grandchildren.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 147 on 12/06/2009

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