By: Anaya Miller
Ken Parsons leaned back in his chair as music from practicing students filtered into his office, a sound to which he has grown accustomed while teaching at Southern Adventist University for 26 years. Such memories will follow him after he retires in May.
Before coming to Southern, Parsons worked at Forest Lake Academy in Florida for 14 years and at Redlands Academy in California for two years, prior to getting his master’s degrees in music education and theology from Walla Walla University and a master’s degree in brass performance from the University of Oregon, according to Parsons.
During his years at Southern, Parsons has worked with woodwind and brass instrumentalists, in addition to launching new projects. He has directed a flute choir and a woodwind quartet and conducted the Jazz Ensemble and Wind Symphony. When the Southern Steel Band first began, he requested funding from the Administrative Council for the endeavor and has conducted the group for the last five years. Parsons also teaches trumpet in music education classes and is a coach and player in the Brass Quintet.
Having taught for so many years, Parsons could not point to a specific event as the high point in his career during an interview for this article. Instead, he commented on his favorite aspect of teaching.
“I think high points are when I see the light go on in a student’s eyes, or they say, ‘Oh, I get it now,’” Parsons said. “It’s learning about different ways of organizing sound, different ways of expressing your emotions through music and finding ways to make that kind of communication meaningful. In that sense, it’s exciting all along the way.”
Students from the Wind Symphony expressed in an email their enjoyment of learning from Parsons. Esther Kim, a senior nursing major, has been his student and has played flute for the Wind Symphony for four years.
“Mr. Parsons’ passion for music and teaching has made playing in the ensemble very special,” Kim stated. “His classroom, full of his dad jokes that mostly land, cultivates an environment of comfort and community. Whether in the rehearsal room or on tour across the country, Mr. Parsons consistently reflects God’s love.”
Franc Henry Madrio, a senior automotive service management major, has participated in the horn section of the Wind Symphony for four years.
“Mr. Parsons always knows how to keep band fun and engaging,” Madrio stated. “He loves cracking jokes and doing silly impersonations during rehearsals, but he always makes sure that we, the band members, are learning and getting better every day.”
Linton Feitosa, a senior computer science major, said he had a positive experience with Parsons in his three years playing French horn for the Wind Symphony.
“Mr. Parsons is a highly dedicated director and a superb educator,” Feitosa said. “In addition to carefully planning concerts, activities and tours, he shows deep concern for each member of the ensemble. He takes time to pray for the requests of the members and is always willing to engage in friendly conversation.”
After retiring, Parsons plans to stay in Collegedale and use his free time to continue his own musical career on the trumpet and to work on projects around the house while his wife, Kristi, continues her career as medical technologist at CommonSpirit Health Memorial Hospital. Once she decides to retire, Parsons said they plan to travel.
Parsons is the second professor in the School of Music to retire this year, as the department is currently looking for a new choir director after Gennevieve Brown-Kibble’s retirement.
Associate professor Laurie Redmer Cadwallader has been teaching nine rehearsals a week since Kibble retired. She is now in charge of the Voices of Southern—comprised of Bel Canto and Die Meistersinger—and I Cantori, in addition to the Symphony Orchestra.
Cadwallader also commented on Parsons’ retirement.
“Mr. Parsons and I came to Southern in the same year,” Cadwallader said. “His office is right there next to mine. We’ve shared a lot over the past 25 and a third years. It’ll be sad, but he’s looking forward to retiring, so we can’t feel sorry, and we can’t feel bad about it.”
Cadwallader said that during the search to replace vacant positions, the school creates a job description for each opening, advertises the position and sifts through applications and resumes before meeting candidates on campus.
“In this situation, we really need to see them conduct,” Cadwallader said. “Whoever comes in—if it’s a flute player, or a saxophone player, or a tuba player, it doesn’t matter what—we would want to see that person teach a lesson and conduct the Wind Symphony.”
Amid the search for a replacement, students and faculty voiced their gratitude for Parsons’ many contributions to the department.
“It is bittersweet to see him leave,” Kim said, “but I am very fortunate to have been his student for the past four years. Mr. Parsons, you will be missed!”
Parsons’ final concert with the Wind Symphony will be held April 12, and his final concert with the Jazz Ensemble will be on May 2.
