Oral History Program Roland C. Parry Interviewed by Harold C. Bateman 1973 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Roland C. Parry Interviewed by Harold C. Bateman Emeritus Professor of History 1973 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State College Oral History Program was created in the early 1970s to “record and document, through personal reminiscences, the history, growth and development of Weber State College.” Through interviews with administrators, faculty and students, the program’s goal was to expand the documentary holdings on Weber State College and its predecessor entities. From 1970 to 1976, the program conducted some fifteen interviews, under the direction of, and generally conducted by Harold C. Bateman, an emeritus professor of history. In 1979, under the direction of archivist John Sillito, the program was reestablished and six interviews were conducted between 1979 and 1983. Additional interviews were conducted by members of the Weber State community. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Parry, Roland C., an oral history by Harold C. Bateman, 1973, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Roland C. Parry 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Roland C. Parry (born 1897). The interview was conducted in 1973 by Harold C. Bateman in order to gather Mr. Parry’s recollections and experiences with Weber State College. HB: I am Dr. Harold C. Bateman, professor emeritus at Weber State College, and Director of the Oral History Museum. It is my great pleasure to interview Roland C. Parry, Professor Emeritus, and "Composer in Residence" of Music, who served on the Weber State College faculty from 1930 to 1965. I note that you said your name was Roland rather than Rawland; what is your statement in regards to that? RP: Well, Igor Gorin tacked that onto me for some reason or other; I don't know whether that's a translation into Russian or not. He and his wife always called me Rawland, and when they talked to us over the phone it would always be Rawland. HB: Where were you born? RP: I was born right here in Ogden at 1763 Washington Avenue, still own the home, that is the family does. HB: Would you mind giving the date? I know you're very, very young. RP: May 7, 1897. HB: And would you care to say anything about your parents? RP: Well, my mother lived to be 92 years of age, my father died at about half my age. HB: Were they interested in music? 2 RP: Not particularly, and often I wonder why I have had the urge to get into music. It seems to have been that way all through my life, even as a boy, a deacon, teacher, we would sing duets in church. And then, when I went on a mission, I began making up tunes in the Maori language. Four of us missionaries going out on horseback as a quartet used to sing these numbers to the natives. It has sort of followed me, this urge to do something from scratch in music. I've always been that way. HB: I noted that we said something about you having married Helen Talmage Parry. Is there anything you'd like to say about her? RP: Of course, we wouldn't have “All Faces West” today if it were not for the beautiful lyrics that Helen produced, and some of them were produced during a flood we had when we had to move out of our home. "Prairie Music" for instance, one of the most melodic things, was done while we were almost in a boat, washed out of our home. But she's been wonderful as a lyricist. HB: She wrote all the lyrics for “All Faces West”? RP: Yes. HB: Did she write any other lyrics for any of your other compositions? RP: Yes, some of the art songs, yes indeed. I have a book of art songs and most of them are as much hers as mine. HB: Of course, she is the daughter of one of the most intelligent apostles that the LDS Church ever had. [James E. Talmage] I think it would be all right for me to say that, I guess you would be a little too modest. He was very talented. 3 RP: Well, I can agree with you there, he was a wonderful man. The more I read about him, not only in his church books but in his diary, the more I admire Helen's father. HB: Was there anything else that you'd like to say about your wife, at this point? RP: Well, she's always been looking over my shoulder in connection with things: the scenery that we've used in “All Faces West”, different things that have been a great help all along the way. And, of course, as co-producer and co-writer of “All Faces West” and several art songs. HB: Roland, would you mind telling us where you got your elementary education? RP: Well, I first went to Mound Fort School which was out on 12th and Washington, quite different than the place is now. Then, when I was in the third grade, I went over to Dee School, which was on 20th Street, and of course isn't used as a school any more. Then I went to junior high up at the old, old high school that became the junior high school. It's the building that we took over at the college, right on the corner of Adams and 25th. HB: And then, from there, you went to Weber Academy which is where you got your high school training, I guess. RP: I got part of it there, but I'll have to admit something here. I used to love baseball very much and I played quite a bit of it and they had a championship team coming out of Ogden High every year, and I really wanted to get in on that. So I went up there; I graduated from Ogden High School. But we had a great time up there too. When I look back to 1912, when I was at Weber, I can remember, we had music then. It was a high school. Professor Ballantyne was our choir leader 4 and I sang in the choir with my friends. I was president of the freshman class. The old buildings that used to be there, the auditorium, I go by there and I almost weep now, to think of the good times I had which can be no more. HB: Yes, I guess you've had many classes in the old Moench building too. RP: Oh, my yes. HB: And I guess taught a lot of music there too. RP: Yes. We used to have an assembly every day except Friday. We'd meet at eleven o'clock for an hour, and I had to provide the music those first few years. HB: That's when you were a member of the faculty. RP: Yes. Every day we were there, we used to sing, we'd have the whole group sing, it was quite an intimate thing we had there. HB: After attending Weber College, you went to the University of Utah. RP: The University of Utah. HB: How long did you attend there? RP: I went there one year and then I went on a mission for four years. HB: New Zealand? RP: Yes. I became very interested in the Maori people up there and that interest has never left me. I've been out there since with “All Faces West”, giving live performances. HB: It was at the University of Utah where you met your wife wasn't it? RP: Yes, that's right. HB: Did you graduate there with your bachelor's degree? 5 RP: No, I went to Brigham Young. I got both bachelor's and master's the same year; I took them both together in one ceremony there. HB: You must have a high IQ. RP: Well, nothing extra. I have worked hard for everything I got. HB: Well, most modest people do. Then you went to the University of California at Los Angeles and also to Columbia. What did you study at those two schools? RP: I'll tell you, I really went to USC first, because Schoenberg was there. HB: Oh, you went to the University of Southern California too? RP: I went there to summer school, I wanted to be around Schoenberg and you know I missed meeting Gershwin, he was just about my age, by six months. He came down to take work from Schoenberg and I just missed meeting him by six months. I would have liked to have met him and seen how he worked. I know he did all of his composing at the piano and then he had someone else do his orchestrating which is harder, I think. HB: And you got some very fine musical training at USC? RP: Then when Schoenberg went over to UCLA, I went back there. I was on sabbatical leave then from the college. I had six months from him at that time. HB: And then you went to Columbia. Did you study music there? RP: Oh yes, it's always been music. I could have gone ahead and got a PhD. I had to make up my mind about the things that I wanted to do, whether I wanted to spend the limited time I had up there finishing a doctorate and staying up on campus so much of the time, or going down where I had some of my own work performed at Carnegie Hall and Radio City when NBC used to be in that building. 6 I would go to concerts; I'd go down to the opera as a standee. While others were doing things up on the campus, I spent quite a bit of time downtown. And, I think it's the best thing I could have done; I really do. Because I still got my full professorship from what happened after that. It would have been nice to get my doctorate degree but I never regretted that I didn't. HB: You have been very active in the community; as a member of the Exchange club, Rotary Club, and of Sigma Chi Fraternity. We have noted here that you've done work and extended musical activities in New York and Los Angeles, and you've received quite a number of honors: Exchange Club, National Golden Book of Deeds Award, member of the American Society of Composers, Publishers and Authors. In 1964, Governor Clyde cited you and your wife as the outstanding citizens in the State for “All Faces West”. That's a wonderful honor. And you've already mentioned here that you were a Latter-day Saint Missionary in New Zealand from 1918 to 1922. You were there four years as a missionary. RP: I was away from home four years and five months. Three years and nine months, there, and then I took the extra time going around the world, which I've never regretted. HB: I notice here too that you were producer-conductor of “All Faces West” in New Zealand in 1959, while you also carried on this multitude of responsibilities in Ogden from 1951 to 1955. Then you became advisor from 1955 to 1968. I would like to ask you again, how many years was “All Faces West” staged in Ogden? RP: Eighteen years, and I think it will be staged again one of these years. We've had it staged other places too, Salt Lake last year. But I have so many people ask 7 me: "When are they going to do it again?" Well, of course, one of the main reasons is that there's a lot of money tied up in producing a work like that. When you have the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and one of the great singers, Igor Gorin, it runs into thousands of dollars. HB: Well, you certainly had some very large crowds attending the production and I think it always paid out in good shape didn't it? RP: Multiply about an average of six or seven thousand by eighteen and you'd see how many people saw that. HB: Yes. RP: Besides the ones that saw it in New Zealand performances. HB: I had the privilege of seeing “All Faces West”. I think it's a very extraordinary production and I understand that there have been quite a few records made of the music of that production. RP: Yes. HB: How many? RP: This is one of those things that we had a little hard luck with, since at the time, they were changing from the 78 rpms to the 33's. I still have 78's but they're a thing of the past now. HB: Yes. RP: We had six of the 78 rpm records, that is six sides on three records, as an album. HB: Yes. RP: I still have some of them; maybe they'll be a collector's item one of these days! HB: Getting over to “A Child Is Born.” Did Helen write the words to that? 8 RP: She advised me on certain things. HB: You wrote “A Child Is Born,” you wrote that entire score? RP: Yes. HB: The words and all of it? RP: Yes. So much of it, of course, is right from the Bible. HB: Oh, I see. You couldn't get a better source than that, could you? RP: No. HB: You also wrote a book of songs, two piano books, and a book of strings, some of the lyrics were written by your wife. Also I note here you wrote a book of woodwinds, a book of brass, over 30 separate songs. RP: We tried to get into every area, every particular kind of music and work with it. It's something I've wanted to do. For example, the “Polynesian Symphonic Suite,” is similar to “All Faces West” in that it has the same format. About ten different movements, not too large, it lasts a little under an hour. I've taken and transposed some of that into band music from the symphony form, and that's a little different. I seem to want to get into new territory once in a while. HB: You taught in the Granite Schools in 1927. Did you get a leave of absence from Weber for that? RP: That was before I came to Weber. I was away from Weber for some time, but the music department during the 1920's, had some nice things going. William Manning and Lester Hinchcliff taught music, but it sort of petered out because of the lack of money. HB: Was Mr. Manning the one that wrote the school song? 9 RP: That's right. HB: What did Delmar Dixon have to do with that? RP: Well, he didn't have anything to do with that. HB: He didn't have anything to do with the school song? RP: No, he was in charge of the band and that was a nice thing; he was a real musician. HB: That was a later time wasn't it? RP: He changed over to English, but he was a fine musician. HB: Yes, I think he got tired of leading the band that attended football games; he wanted a change from that. I notice here too that you were in West Weber in 1928 and 1929, and I guess it was during that time that you came to Weber and had a chat with Aaron Tracy about the music at Weber College. RP: There wasn't any music at Weber College. There wasn't anything there at all. That's why I have the nerve to say that I pioneered the present music department, because there was no music when I came here; there hadn't been any for years. I don't know just how far back, I was away, but I was astounded to find that there was no music here in 1929. HB: You said they had had music, but it had kind of petered out. RP: Yes. Well, they didn't have the money to carry it on. And the list of subjects that we taught started in 1930. See, it used to be a different setup, but you look at the history of the music department and you find it was very scanty then, but it was very good. I think William Manning put on fine operas. HB: Is he still alive? 10 RP: I don't know. HB: You joined the faculty soon after that didn't you, in 1930? RP: Well, the first year, I taught one class from 5 to 6, and I told President Tracy: "I'd be glad to do it, that he wouldn't have to pay me anything." But Tracy, I must say, wanted to see the music department going again. And, as a result of what we did accomplish that first year, 1930, I was put on the faculty the following year. HB: Well, I would certainly say that from 1930 to 1965 you've certainly made an extraordinary record at Weber State College. I was a little surprised to note some of the talents that you possess; you taught voice at Weber from 1945 to 1967, dance from 1930 to 1940, and you were a composer-in-residence. RP: Do you know why we went into dancing? At that time, they weren't paying us much money at the college, we couldn't live on the amount, so we had to moonlight. So I began to teach tap dancing and I got my lessons from Fred Astaire on the screen! And I would write the taps down, and then I had to figure out how he made them. HB: You're built a little like Fred Astaire. I imagine you're quite a good dancer! Well, that's very interesting. You also noted a little while ago that you had a great interest in pitching baseball. I remember some years ago, I read an account by Al Warden that you fanned 27 men in one game? RP: Twenty-one. I was left handed. We used to call the curves differently. Now they say it's a curve ball whatever direction it goes. If it curved down, and in, it was a drop. 11 HB: I also note here that your works have been performed internationally over NBC, CBS, and in New York, in the Town Hall in New York, the Voice of Liberty. RP: That's something that they used to send over behind the Russian lines. HB: Oh, is that right? RP: I guess they still do it, but that went over there…. HB: And the Philharmonic, and also your songs were sung by Igor Gorin, I guess, all over the world. RP: Well he has been a great singer and he still is; he's not concertizing so much now; he's getting a little older you know. But he still has that wonderful voice, he sang Happy Birthday to my wife about a month ago, over the phone. [note: At this point, the question and answer session is concluded. The remainder of the tape consists of material taped by Roland Parry himself and then submitted to Dr. Bateman.] RP: You ask me: "Why did you choose music as a profession?" I guess I couldn't keep away from it. Twice I tried to break away from it during my youth, thinking that I could do better in business, but I had to come back to it. I love music, and right now, I'm trying to get some new compositions out in music. So it goes on and on. You ask: "What fields of music are you most interested in?" Composition comes first because it fascinates me to bring out new musical things, new sounds, new expressiveness. You know, music is the international language. I 12 remember when I was down in New Zealand, I came to a chief's house and low and behold, his daughter was playing the piano, using the same Chopin that my sister Lucile was using at home, 8,000 miles apart. That's a pretty good example showing the "internationality" of music. I feel like I can contribute more in the area of composing, that's why I like to do it. New melodies, and different harmonies, have been popping up in my mind ever since I can remember. Usually, my melodies have been ahead of my technical knowhow, but I feel that I have finally caught up to these ideas in the ability to orchestrate and arrange. It has been a most interesting and often a highly personal experience. And I take satisfaction in teaching young people, and many old people, to appreciate music. The last few years of my college teaching has been just that: teaching appreciation of music, while letting someone else take over the minutia of details having to do with being head of a department. Then you ask: "How do you compose music?" Good question. Well, if it happens to be something that is to be sung, I seek after a fine poem first of all. I look at the poem until I feel that I know its message. Then the music seems to come naturally. Often before the song is finished, I leave it for a while, a week, a month, or even a year, then I come back to it, and very often it's very quickly finished. Some music takes time for crystallization in your mind, the way you want it. And as time goes on, as in “All Faces West”, after you've done it so much year after year, you see where you want to change it here and there, just to make it different to the same audience year after year. Sometimes a song is finished in a few hours, sometimes in a few years. Often, two or three numbers are in the 13 process of composition at the same time. I finished four short comical solos, bass solos, last week along with a love song about spring. One does this in streaks it seems. Sometimes you just get the real urge to put something down; you hear something that makes you want to put it to music. And then everything else is put aside. Some of the very best musical writing has come without any encouragement. Right now, I have hundreds of melodies written down, and harmonies in pencil, but not arranged. Some will be instrumental and some will be vocal when, and if completed. When I come back to them, some of them I'll throw away, I won't like them anymore. Some of them I will complete. This is a never ending process; there's always something to finish. I'm rather funny about it though, I've never really tried to commercialize on this particular activity of mine, this music which means so much to me. I need a high pressure business manager, I guess. Professor Bateman, you ask me how I came to Weber College back in 1930; what brought me here. Well, as you know, we have to make our own opportunities in this world. Usually it is not just handed out to us. In the fall of 1930, I was teaching 7th, 8th and 9th grade out at West Weber. At the time, it had to be October 1930, after the school year, and colleges had started. I saw that there was no music being taught, and I wondered about it. There was no music activity whatever. No class work. They were needing it. I decided to have a talk with President Aaron Tracy about it. He was a quiet, kind gentleman, a wonderful man who was ready to listen to any suggestion that might better Weber College. I asked him: "Why don't I start a singing group here? Surely, you 14 must have some organized music going on the campus. I'll come here each evening at five o'clock, five days a week, and we'll organize a singing class. You won't have to pay me, let's see how it works out." My suggestion greatly appealed to him, and so the "Musettes" originated. They were a wonderful group of coeds. And we got together with these girls, and took up the name Musettes for them. There were 12 of them, talented, and very enthusiastic. Ready to go and do things. We soon had an enthusiastic vocal ensemble. Such beautiful old songs as "Sylvia", "Trees", "The Hills Of Home", "Here's To You My Alma Mater", "On To Victory", these were school songs. They became our repertoire. And I remember developing "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf", we made a skit out of that and things like that. We went all over northern Utah for the college. This was during the very first year, when things were really down as far as what was going to happen to music. The next year, I was a full time faculty member as a result of what was done the year previous, and that's how the present music department came into existence. There had been some wonderful music before in the 1920's, but it had died out because of the economic situation. We had no money with which to buy music during those first years so I had to get a copy of any song that we wanted to learn, make an arrangement of it, and write it on the blackboard we had in the old room of the Moench building. From there we'd memorize it quickly. That's a good way to learn a song really, put it on the board and then point out the weak spots and then work on it and soon you've got it. I used that method for a long time. The first inklings of the music drama, "A Child 15 Is Born", a Christmas music drama, were created in 1930. There had to be a special arrangement of "Silent Night" and an original ringing of bells. Then you asked the question: "What kinds of music did you compose in those days?" You had to do something to keep things going, you had no money to buy things. Well, I got in the habit of composing, arranging, developing, printing, and presenting new creations of our own. This happened in 1930. In 1931 it was a musical comedy, a new composition which took all evening to do called "Holes Abound". It played in Brigham City, Tremonton, Malad, Idaho, Weber High School and then in our own auditorium to thousands of people. Lou Wallace, a prominent attorney in town, wrote the libretto for that. It seemed that we were on our way musically by this time. And then President Tracy wanted a band. So, armed with about 35 scholarships, I canvassed northern Utah. I was alone in the department no one else there. I should say that Claude Anderson came in this year, in 1931, and did some beautiful work on the organ. Later, he took the Musettes over and we had to divide things up then. He did a beautiful job. At any rate, armed with these 35 scholarships, I canvassed Utah and gave out scholarships to talented young people, instrumentalists and vocalists, wherever I could find them. A large band was developed as a result of all this, which became quite an asset to the college through these critical days. We gave matinee dances once a week charging ten cents at the door, and I used to be on the door. And that's how we began to buy band books and music. My goodness, how things had changed. By 1932, our production was "The Colonel's Daughter", another musical comedy which had an extensive run in Ogden, Salt Lake City, 16 Brigham City, Weber High and Weber College. Thatcher Allred staged it for us. Our music drama, "A Child Is Born", began to take shape by 1933. "Song Of The Wise Men", "Ring Out the Bells", "Let The Angels Sing", "Unto Us", "A Child Is Born", "And His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful", "The Field Of The Lord", "Bow Down And Worship Babe", "Isaiah's Prophecy", "Isaiah's Lament", "Isaiah's Rebuke", all of these fell into place and we had a real Christmas presentation, witnessed by at least 6,000 people each year for the next eighteen years. Jack Larsen was our star singer at that time and many other fine singers helped too. That same year, 1933, "Rocky Road" was our own original semi-operatic show. We took a part of the repertoire out and we added some of our own for that particular one. It was a busy year, and our 90 piece band traveled to California with the football team. By the way, we had nice purple and white uniforms in those days too, a 90 piece marching band. We were heard over a national radio hookup out of San Francisco, the Musettes were with us at that time, this was before Claude had taken over the Musettes. He did all of the national hookups several times since. Believe it or not, the pressures arising from these situations at Weber made me compose more music not only for voice, but for the band, other instruments, strings. I wonder if I would have taken to composition as a first love if I had not become so involved with Weber College. Composing a great variety of music has happened steadily right up to the present time. I just completed "Polynesian Maori", this last year. It's a symphonic suite including dancing, narration, comedy, and all sorts of facets of the Maori culture. It's sort of a documentary of the Maori people of New Zealand. You may 17 wonder why I chose it. Well, I was down there for four years among the Maori. I learned the language. I loved the people and I'd been longing to do this work for a number of years. This symphonic suite, together with "All Faces West", and "A Child Is Born" are my completed major works. The first one mentioned has never been heard yet. There are two others yet to be finished. Of course, I'm just 76 so I've got lots of time yet. I've enjoyed composing in a variety of ways, the Book Of Art Songs, Book Of Brass Numbers, two books of piano music, the book of viola, violin and cello compositions, the book of comedy solos, the group of Maori songs, and a lot of others that I can't think of right now. I got a Christmas card last year from Bill Marriott it contained such beautiful thoughts about Christmas that a song came to me. That new number and two or three others like it have come just lately. It seems this thing composing becomes a habit, almost an obsession. It certainly helps to bring out white hair. I'm looking at the mirror! When Claire Johnson joined the faculty, he helped very much to solidify things and to tie things together. And you asked the question, Dr. Bateman: "Has your music been heard extensively?" Yes it has been heard all over the world. "All Faces West" was composed in 1951. My wife Helen wrote the libretto for this, and the lyrics. We were commissioned by the city of Ogden to do this. They said: "Put something out like a Christmas oratorio". A Christmas musical I like to call it, because they really have moving tableaux on the stage as they sing and they act things out and there's some dance and you get into the Christmas music drama. So I call it a Music Drama rather than a Christmas oratorio. It lasts about an hour and 20 minutes. Igor Gorin, the great baritone, was impressed with our great 18 music, or so he tells me, enough so that when he received it back there in New York, I didn't know the man, only by reputation, he cancelled a trip to Europe to come out here and take the role of Brigham Young. We were very fortunate to have a great singer join us. He brought many, many people into our lives, and others to Utah, to the college; it's been wonderful that we had him with us. He's still singing our numbers in his concerts in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada, and all over the United States. He has sung "Prayer For Saint Charity", "Prairie Music", "Come And Join The Dancing", "Then Shall The Desert Blossom As A Rose". I have been in New York, Washington, California, Oklahoma and Arizona where I've heard him sing these songs and he's used them so much. So we've had our numbers heard everywhere, you might say. We traveled to New Zealand when Gorin was with us, with our show; we gave nine performances in the nine opera houses in the cities of New Zealand. That was quite an experience. Our "Miracle of the Gulls" was presented in 1952 in the Town Hall of New York City, by the New York University music department. Gorin gave a fifteen minute presentation of our music on the Telephone Hour on NBC program in 1953. In another program with the U.S. Army band he sang numbers from "All Faces West" when they honored General Bradley with something special in Washington D.C. At the big festival in San Diego in 1961, our "Miracles of the Gulls" was performed in the bowl. And in 1962, Gorin and the Mormon Choir, conducted by Fredrick Davis performed "Then Shall The Desert Blossom Like A Rose" the big finale number, in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium. In 1971 and 1972, we presented two performances of "All Faces West" in Salt 19 Lake City. Our Christmas music drama, "A Child Is Born", was performed for 19 years. As part of Utah's Centennial celebration it was performed on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. And when the new Fine Arts building on the new Weber State College campus was dedicated, "A Child I Born" was again performed as part of the dedicatory service. Just recently, the Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed "Let Joy Resound In Song" over the CBS television network. You ask me: "Have you been recognized and received awards for your musical achievements?" Well, the Book of Golden Deeds award of the National Exchange Club was given to my wife and to me for "All Faces West" score, and what it had done for Ogden. I was installed as a member of ASCAP on the recommendation of Dr. Leroy Robertson and Igor Gorin in 1960. Governor Clyde of Utah presented us with the Special Citizens Award for this state, at a special "This Is Your Life", recognition banquet, at the Ben Lomond back in 1963. During the years 1969-71, I was composer in residence here at Weber State College, appointed by the State Board of Education. This last honor, coupled by a Marriott grant, has motivated me to a steady output of composition of things large and small. So I am still composing happily as my 77th birthday approaches. I'm wholeheartedly grateful to the Board, and to J. Willard Marriott and to President Miller for what has taken place. HB: This concludes our tape of Professor Roland C. Parry and we do want to thank him for making this very fine contribution to the Weber State College Oral History Museum.