Alumnus Frank Parce (shown here with friend Ellie Roberts) recently provided a gift that will name an academic services office in the expanded Imig Music Building.
A lot has changed since Frank Parce was a music education graduate student at the College of Music in 1965. Technology has changed. Music has changed. Even the building where Parce earned his MME is changing, and now the alumnus鈥� name will grace one of the administrative offices in the new wing of Imig Music Building.
Specifically, the academic services office will be named for the retired Denver Public Schools teacher, thanks to his $25,000 gift. 鈥淪omebody came to me and said, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 an opportunity to do something,鈥� and I鈥檓 in a position to do something to help people,鈥� Parce explains.鈥�
鈥淐ounseling is a much bigger deal across society than it was a long time ago. I would have benefitted from some advising or counseling as a kid.鈥�
The gift is a nod to that cultural evolution in teaching and to the importance of the one thing that Parce says children of all kinds need to be given.
Opportunity.
Musical roots
鈥淚鈥檓 from Denver. From a different century鈥攑ractically a different world.鈥�
Parce grew up in the now-trendy Highlands neighborhood of Denver, right by Edison Elementary. A graduate of North High School, he鈥檚 been playing music since grade school. His mother鈥檚 counseling pointed him toward the performing arts from an early age.
鈥淚 remember when I was 11 or 12, my mother decided that I should go to drama workshops at the University of Denver. That was a big deal,鈥� Parce says. 鈥淚鈥檇 ride the electric bus to downtown and transfer to the streetcar to DU.鈥�
Parce and his classmates would also board the streetcar鈥攁 fixture of Denver streets in the middle of the 20th century鈥攔ight outside Edison Elementary and ride downtown to attend symphony concerts. These formative experiences defined his young life both at school and at home.
鈥淚鈥檝e always had music in my life. I can鈥檛 remember not going to the orchestra, because my parents took me when I was little.鈥�
Growth through change
When college beckoned, the love of music grew. Parce attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. With little guidance from counselors, he says he had his eyes set at that age on leading musicians. 鈥淭hat was most of my undergrad鈥攆ocusing on being the world鈥檚 greatest band director.鈥�
Parce earned a music education degree from UNC and started teaching in rural schools in the area. But by the early 1960s, the tides of change had begun to roll around him, and Parce felt a responsibility.
鈥淐U was more world-conscious than Greeley. It was more open,鈥� Parce says. 鈥淚 went to CU during four summers to get my master鈥檚, then I ended up teaching elementary school general music in Denver.
鈥淚 was there almost coincidentally with the court-ordered racial integration program in the mid-60s.鈥�
Teaching in the same school district where he grew up was eye opening for Parce. Even then, his old neighborhood had morphed from middle class to working class. He says his role as a music educator almost took a back seat to his role as a player in the racial integration of Denver schools.
鈥淚 started there in 1967鈥攁 time of big change,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t was obvious to me because I started at a school in an African American neighborhood, then transferred to a school in a middle-class white neighborhood, and they were radically different.
鈥淚 kind of thought that talent and intelligence are not really delved out racially, and that any kid might end up to be something really wonderful given the opportunity. But that opportunity depended on race, unfortunately.鈥�
Now, nearly 30 years after his retirement, Parce鈥檚 neighborhood and school have changed again鈥攁nd so has his outlook on the role of music.
鈥淥ver the years, I forgot about being the world鈥檚 greatest band director and became more interested in opening people鈥檚 eyes and ears to various kinds of music鈥攅specially classical.鈥�
Full circle
At the twilight of his 25 years teaching in Denver Public Schools, Parce was already laying the foundation for his next job as something of an ambassador of classical music. 鈥淭he Colorado Symphony would send out a pamphlet about the upcoming concerts, and one year I looked at the program notes and said, 鈥楾his is terrible.鈥�
鈥淪o I called the symphony and told them I could write better program notes for them, and before I knew it, I was volunteering in the front office.鈥�
Parce and his daughter Amy Dennison's family, John, Ben, Andrew and Chris.
It was the start of a long-term gig as a volunteer with the orchestra, both as a front-of-house greeter and as a performer. For 22 years, Parce sang in the Colorado Symphony Chorus, performing with the New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras in Vail.
鈥淲e also performed Mahler 2 at Red Rocks one summer. That was awesome鈥攖hat鈥檚 a good word for it.鈥�
His experience as a volunteer, both with the Colorado Symphony and Opera Colorado, has brought Parce鈥檚 life in music full circle: He鈥檚 traded the youthful wonder of a child attending the symphony for the wisdom of a seasoned classical music veteran introducing a new generation of children to this world for the first time.
鈥淚 get sentimental over things like that,鈥� Parce says. 鈥淩ecently, the opera had a workshop, and we took children around to various stations backstage鈥攖he same spaces where I went as a child for symphony concerts. I met the kids at their buses in the same place I met volunteers as a child 70 years ago.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to be able to transfer that experience to kids today鈥攔egardless of which neighborhood they live in.鈥�
Parce, who is also a former member of the Music Advisory Board, is one of many in the College of Music extended community who has given generously to help turn our new wing into a home. For more information about the Imig Music Building expansion and to give yourself, visit the project page.
