Education is a partnership between students and teachers, a dance of minds and hearts, and so we pause in this graduation ceremony to present the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching…. It has taken 29 years for someone whose teaching takes a different form to win, despite the results of that work being on prominent display several times a year.
However, as the nomination letters make clear, this person fully embodies the command of the discipline, the enthusiasm and creativity in teaching, and the ability to foster maximum student development that marks the best of Gustavus teaching. The 1999 winner of the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching is Dr. Douglas Nimmo of the Music Department.
Dr. Nimmo came to Gustavus in 1987, having received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, his M.Ed. from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago, and his D.M.A. at Arizona State, and having taught instrumental music in Montana’s public schools for 13 years. Here at Gustavus, Dr. Nimmo is as associate professor of music. He teaches conducting and instrumental methods and supervises student teachers. But be had been most visible to the wider Gustavus community as the conductor of the Gustavus and Adolphus bands. Under his leadership the Gustavus Band has toured throughout the Midwest and Southwest United States, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, the Czech and Slovak republics, Poland, and Hungary. Dr. Nimmo is also active as a guest conductor, clinician, and writer.
In April 1995, Dr. Nimmo conducted the premier performance of David Holsinger’s The Easter Symphony. a work commissioned by the College. In a letter assuring Doug he would be happy to act as a consultant for Doug’s sabbatical next spring-his first in 12 years here-Holsinger wrote, “I will always be in your debt, not only for the performance, but for the initial insistence that the symphony was ‘meant to be.”‘ As one of his faculty colleagues pointed out, sacred band music is not easy to come by. That we have heard so much of it is due to Dr. Nimmo’s constantly being on the lookout. Indeed, as Holsinger’s letter points out, his belief and generosity have helped prompt some of it into existence.
But I suspect that Dr. Nimmo sees himself mainly as a teacher, and it is for his “devotion to his students,” to use the phrase of one of his student nominators, that we honor him today. The high quality of the band is partly due to Dr. Nimmo’s tireless recruiting efforts. As one student noted, not only does he send a postcard to each prospective student while on tour, but “they even say different things!” Once they are here, both Dr. Nimmo’s knowledge and that individualized care inspire the students. His student nominators mention his impressive knowledge of music, “in theory, in instrument technique, and in emotion and musicianship.” They cite his “creativity…in music selection and teaching styles.” But they all also emphasize Dr. Nimmo’s “energy” and “upbeat spirit” and especially his care and constant striving to communicate with all of his students. On tour he tries to talk to each student every day. As one of his students noted, “Dr. Nimmo goes out of his way to know his students on a personal level and can often tell who is having a bad day!” This student concluded her nomination stating, ‘1have probably learned more about life from Dr. Nimmo than from anyone else on campus.”
For the last couple of years, Dr. Nimmo has conducted his concerts mainly from memory, allowing him to internalize the music more deeply, but also allowing him to focus on his student performers. These are the qualities that allow Dr. Nimmo “to develop the talents of his students to the maximum, to draw from them extraordinary performances often under less-than-ideal circumstances, “to quote a nominator who has worked with him on his Scandinavian tours.
From his degrees in music education to his latest publication, which is titled “A Democratic Rehearsal-Creating a Healthy Musical Environment, “it is clear that Dr. Nimmo has devoted his career to teaching – teaching music, musicianship, and above all student musicians. Perhaps the quality of the music Dr. Nimmo has been able to elicit from his bands should speak for itself. But sometimes we need to be reminded that th.is is the result of teaching-the fruits of “the energy and creativity [Dr. Nimmo] brings to each rehearsal and performance,” to quote one final letter, “his calmness in the face of seeming chaos …his enthusiasm for his work and his students.”
Dr. Douglas Nimmo, for many years now we have been the beneficiaries of your teaching skills and devotion to students. Today we salute you at this festive occasion with the 1999 Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Congratulations!
Presented by Dr. Florence Amamoto
Associate Professor of English
1998 Recipient of the Edgar M. Carlson Award
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