Retirement is music to her ears
Cougar Choir director Wendy Grice to conduct her final concert at IU Kokomo
By Danielle Rush
Communications Specialist, Indiana University Kokomo
Wendy Grice arrived at Indiana University Kokomo 10 years ago with a challenge: to rebuild the campus’s music programs.
One of her most difficult tasks was starting from scratch with the choir, which until that time was a community choir that rehearsed in the evenings.
“That first year I had no one at all,” Grice said, adding that then-Chancellor Susan Sciame-Giesecke wanted the new Cougar Choir to be a collegiate choir. Grice recruited two students, who rounded up another nine before their first concert.
“It was a little lopsided, because they recruited more women than they did men,” she said. By the next concert, “we had a nice group.”
This Friday, May 2, Grice will conduct the 32-member Cougar Choir for the final time before she retires at the end of the academic year.
“It will be bittersweet,” she said. “I would have to say my favorite thing about teaching at IU Kokomo is directing the choir. That’s the hardest thing to give up.”
The choir, along with the Sacred Chorus, the flute choir, and the IUK community band will perform its Spring Spectacular at 7 p.m. Friday in Havens Auditorium. Admission to the family-friendly performance is free and open to the public.
The Cougar Choir’s theme is “Hope,” while the concert band will feature songs from the World War II era in honor of the anniversary of the end of World War II.
“I’ve kidded the choir that this concert is a little bit ‘best of the Cougar Choir,’” Grice said, as they are performing several favorites they’ve learned under her leadership. The concert will end with the band playing IU’s alma mater, with all choir alumni invited to the stage to sing.
Grice feels she met many of the goals set for her when she arrived at IUK in 2014.
“There was a lot of work to do,” she said. “I came in and rolled up my sleeves and got to work.”
Her first challenge was upgrading the music minor to align with the minor offered at other campuses. Then she transitioned the community band to rehearse and perform on campus instead of at a local high school. After the music minor was approved, she collaborated to create the humanities major with performing arts concentration and added a minor in music education.
She’s proud of the quality of IU Kokomo’s music department, and of the adjunct faculty who teach music lessons.
“Our violin teacher (Joan White) plays in all the area symphonies,” Grice said. “Our cello teacher (Peter Kim) has his doctorate from IU Bloomington. I’ve tried to be particular when I select instructors, so even though we are a small campus, they are getting a quality music experience.”
One of those adjunct instructors is her husband, Garry Grice, who has taught voice lessons and led musicals during their time in Kokomo. Right now, her favorite of the shows they led is the most recent, Fiddler on the Roof.
“I feel really good about the quality of musicals we’ve been able to bring to campus,” she said. “We try to choose something each year where it will be a good educational experience for the students and entertaining for our audience.”
The Grices plan to live in West Virginia after retirement to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Wendy Grice will continue to teach as an adjunct online, while Garry Grice plans to return to campus to teach blocks of voice lessons for current students. Both look forward to finding opportunities to teach and perform.
“I don’t think musicians ever retire,” Wendy Grice said. “Garry and I don’t believe in retiring. We believe you go on to the next spot, wherever you are led, and you bloom where you are planted.
“I could teach longer, but I’m happy with what we’ve done, and hopefully it will keep on.”
Education is KEY at Indiana University Kokomo.