Head and shoulders photo of Dr. David L. Kaplan, Professor, Department of Music, from 1960-1991.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. David Leon Kaplan was born in Chicago on 12 December 1923 and grew up in a musical family. His father, Joshua Samuel Kaplan, played euphonium in a Russian army band and later in Chicago brass bands. His mother, Nettie (née Lurie), born in Lithuania, was a student of the piano. David Kaplan served with the United States Army Sothern Command Variety Ensemble from 1942 until 1946 under the direction of Major Wayne King, known as the “Waltz King of America”. Dr. Kaplan credited his wartime service for exposing him to new musicians and new musical styles, including jazz. Over the next number of years he earned a series of degrees - Bachelor of Music from Roosevelt University (1948), Master of Music from Oberlin College (1950) and a PhD in Music from the University of Indiana (1978). He taught music in Chicago, rural Illinois and West Texas State University before moving to Saskatoon in 1960 and a two-year term position at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Education. He remained at the U of S for the rest of his career and served as Department of Music head from 1966 to 1982, introducing several new programs. He taught courses in music history, theory and world music until his retirement in 1991. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Kaplan was very active in the music and social life of his newly adopted community. He conducted the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (SSO) from 1963-1969 and again from 1970-1971. He also composed music for plays and musical productions, adjudicated at music festivals, gave public lectures and wrote about the clarinet and music education. A number of organizations benefited from Dr. Kaplan’s involvement, including the Canadian Music Council, the Canadian Music Centre, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Nutana Rotary Club and the Saskatoon Multicultural Council. He was founding chair of the Saskatchewan Music Council in 1967. He co-founded the Saskatoon Festival of Faith bringing together people of different faiths, including Aboriginals, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others, to express their spiritual traditions through speech, music and dance. Dr. Kaplan was the festival’s music director from 1985 to 1989 and wrote five choral works on multicultural themes. An impromptu jam session at a bar mitzvah at the Congregation Agudas Israel synagogue led Kaplan to found Zmarim: the Saskatoon Klezmer Band. He went on to write more than 200 arrangements for the ensemble. The inaugural Saskatoon Klezmer Music Festival was held in November 2007. Dr. Kaplan was also an avid collector of musical instruments and donated his personal collection of almost 200 instruments to the U of S in early 2013. Dr. Kaplan received numerous honours, including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2006) and induction into the Order of Canada (2002). In 2009, he was named ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre in recognition of his life’s work. Kaplan Green, in Arbor Creek, a residential neighbourhood in northeast Saskatoon, was named in his honour. Dr. Kaplan died in Saskatoon on 6 April 2015 at age 91.

Head and shoulders image of Dwaine Nelson, Assistant Professor, Department of Music.

Bio/Historical Note: Dwaine Darold Nelson was born in 1926 at Coteau, Burke County, North Dakota, and began playing in the family band as a pre-teen. Nelson attended Minot State Teacher's College, Minot, North Dakota, where he majored in music and specialized in teaching brass. After marriage in 1954 he moved to Mohall, North Dakota, where Nelson became the choral and instrumental music teacher at Mohall High and Middle School. Under his direction, the band took many state honors. He was active in the community where he also directed the choir at the Mohall Methodist Church. During the summers he studied for his MA at Greeley Colorado State University. He was often called upon to conduct symphonics bands at the International Music Camp near the International Peace Gardens. Nelson then accepted a position as chairman of the music department and professor of music at Dickinson Teachers College, Dickinson, North Dakota, in 1958. There he founded the Tri-State Music Festival. In 1967 Nelson moved to Saskatoon, where he was professor of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. He won the Master Teacher Award in 1990 for his excellence in and dedication to teaching. Nelson was a driving force in the development of the Department of Music, forming instrumental programs which grew from near non-existence to hundreds of participants. In 1978 he founded UNIFEST which has become one of western Canada's major music festivals and which also attracts thousands of students annually. Over the years Nelson conducted over 300 concerts and clinic/workshops in western Canada and the United States, served as adjudicator or examiner at 80 music festivals and as guest conductor for bands, orchestras and choral groups. Nelson’s years as conductor of the Saskatoon Junior Symphony and the Saskatoon Symphony were times of tremendous growth. His Orchestral Development Program was recognized by the Canada Council as a "significant model of all of Canada". Nelson died of a heart attack in 1991, one year after retirement. The Dwaine Nelson Memorial Scholarship for Band, Conducting, and Orchestra honours Nelson.

Head and shoulders image of Alexander Reisman, acting head, Department of Music.

Bio/Historical Note: Alexander Reisman was born 11 October 1909.and graduated from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, New York, and earned degrees of Bachelor of Music, and Master of Music with further study at the University of California at Los Angeles. Reisman was both a cellist and arranger, and performed as a cellist with major orchestras and chamber groups. He was assistant professor of music at the University of Saskatchewan in the 1960s. Reisman was conductor of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra from 1960-1963. He played with South Bay Chamber Music Society, Inc., performing several concerts in 1964, much of their repertoire consisting of Classical composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert. Five years later, he returned to the SBCMS, this time as a member of the Lyric Arts String Quartet, in a program ranging from Franz Joseph Haydn to 20th-century American composer, Samuel Barber. As an arranger, he re-worked Johann Michael Haydn’s “Trio No. 1 in G” into a wind quintet, and boiled down Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Valse sentimentale” for cello and piano. A performance of this latter work can be heard on the Nathaniel Rosen/Doris Stevenson 1994 release, Orientale. Reisman died 24 January 1999.

Head and shoulders image of Arthur Collingwood, head, Department of Music, 1931-1947.

Bio/Historical Note: Arthur Collingwood was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England in 1880. He studied piano with Claude Pollard and Tobias Matthay, organ with W.H. Garland and Kendrick Pyne, and theory with Charles Pearce and Ebenezer Prout. Collingwood moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was the organist-choirmaster (1898-1930) of the Free West Church, conducted the Choral Union and Male Voice and Madrigal choirs, and lectured at Aberdeen University. He emigrated to Canada in 1931 and became head of the newly formed Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1932 Collingwood unified an informal group of Saskatoon musicians, thereby establishing the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted until his retirement in 1947. Collingwood was chairman (1934-1936) of the first Western Board of Music syllabus committee, gave radio lectures for Saskatchewan schools, and adjudicated music festivals across Canada. Collingwood retired to Montreal in 1947 as dean emeritus of the Department of Music, University of Saskatchewan. Collingwood's compositions (listed in the Catalogue of Canadian Composers) include choral, vocal, and piano works published by Paterson, J. Curwen, and Thompson. His essay titled 'Music in Education' (Queen's Quarterly, vol 44, winter 1937) reflected his experience in the field. Collingwood died in Montreal in 1952.

Group photo of the Greystone Singers, directed by Robert Solem.

Bio/Historical Note: Robert Solem retired from the Department of Music in [1999].

Head and shoulders image of Dean McNeill, professor, Department of Music.

Bio/Historical Note: Image appeared in 17 Sept. 1998 issue of OCN.

Bio/Historical Note: Dean McNeill holds music degrees from the University of North Texas (Masters), McGill University (Undergraduate), and Grant MacEwan University (Music Diploma), He has taught a variety of brass and jazz courses at the University of Saskatchewan for the past 23 years while performing and adjudicating throughout Canada and the United States. McNeill has led many music education special projects such as the U of S’s Brass Days celebrations & High School Select-Jazz educational weekend. McNeill has served as an educational contributor to the Saskatoon Jazz Society’s Jazz Ensemble Workshops (2013-2015), the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival’s Jazz Intensive student jazz camp (since 2000) and, the International Music Camp’s jazz week (i.e. conducting both student ensemble and IMC’s jazz faculty big band). McNeill is head of the Department of Music (2023).

Head and shoulders image of Garry Gable, Head, Department of Music.

Bio/historical note: Image appeared in 3 Sept. 1999 issue of OCN.

Head and shoulders image of Arthur Collingwood, head, Department of Music, 1931-1947.

Bio/Historical Note: Arthur Collingwood was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England in 1880. He studied piano with Claude Pollard and Tobias Matthay, organ with W.H. Garland and Kendrick Pyne, and theory with Charles Pearce and Ebenezer Prout. Collingwood moved to Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was the organist-choirmaster (1898-1930) of the Free West Church, conducted the Choral Union and Male Voice and Madrigal choirs, and lectured at Aberdeen University. He emigrated to Canada in 1931 and became head of the newly formed Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1932 Collingwood unified an informal group of Saskatoon musicians, thereby establishing the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted until his retirement in 1947. Collingwood was chairman (1934-1936) of the first Western Board of Music syllabus committee, gave radio lectures for Saskatchewan schools, and adjudicated music festivals across Canada. Collingwood retired to Montreal in 1947 as dean emeritus of the Department of Music, University of Saskatchewan. Collingwood's compositions (listed in the Catalogue of Canadian Composers) include choral, vocal, and piano works published by Paterson, J. Curwen, and Thompson. His essay titled 'Music in Education' (Queen's Quarterly, vol 44, winter 1937) reflected his experience in the field. Collingwood died in Montreal in 1952.

Series of photographs of Dwaine Nelson, professor of Music, taken outside of the Education Building. Possibly taken at the time of winning the Master Teacher Award.

Bio/Historical Note: Dwaine Darold Nelson was born in 1926 at Coteau, Burke County, North Dakota, and began playing in the family band as a pre-teen. Nelson attended Minot State Teacher's College, Minot, North Dakota, where he majored in music and specialized in teaching brass. After marriage in 1954 he moved to Mohall, North Dakota, where Nelson became the choral and instrumental music teacher at Mohall High and Middle School. Under his direction, the band took many state honors. He was active in the community where he also directed the choir at the Mohall Methodist Church. During the summers he studied for his MA at Greeley Colorado State University. He was often called upon to conduct symphonics bands at the International Music Camp near the International Peace Gardens. Nelson then accepted a position as chairman of the music department and professor of music at Dickinson Teachers College, Dickinson, North Dakota, in 1958. There he founded the Tri-State Music Festival. In 1967 Nelson moved to Saskatoon, where he was professor of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. He won the Master Teacher Award in 1990 for his excellence in and dedication to teaching. Nelson was a driving force in the development of the Department of Music, forming instrumental programs which grew from near non-existence to hundreds of participants. In 1978 he founded UNIFEST which has become one of western Canada's major music festivals and which also attracts thousands of students annually. Over the years Nelson conducted over 300 concerts and clinic/workshops in western Canada and the United States, served as adjudicator or examiner at 80 music festivals and as guest conductor for bands, orchestras and choral groups. Nelson’s years as conductor of the Saskatoon Junior Symphony and the Saskatoon Symphony were times of tremendous growth. His Orchestral Development Program was recognized by the Canada Council as a "significant model of all of Canada". Nelson died of a heart attack in 1991, one year after retirement. The Dwaine Nelson Memorial Scholarship for Band, Conducting, and Orchestra honours Nelson.

Walter C. Murray, first University President, standing with Margaret Patricia Kirkpatrick and Margery Lucille Wilson, graduates of Music, in front of the [College Building]. Taken during Convocation.

Group of people standing on the steps of the College Building, with J.M. Stevenson, president, back row at far left. Arthur Collingwood [adjudicator], chair, Department of Music, is third from left in front row.
[Annotated on back]: "Delegates to fourth conference, Western Canadian Festivals, Saskatoon, May 27, 28, 1929. N.J. Palmer - Secretary, Sask. Musical Assn. Lecture in Music U of S."