Doc Carlson inducted into Hall of Fame
Posted by Judy Korn on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006
Event Date/Time: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006
The Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) has bestowed its highest honor on Jim “Doc” Carlson ’65, professor of music at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Carlson will be inducted into the MMEA Hall of Fame on Friday, February 17, 2006, during the MMEA winter banquet. The award recognizes Carlson’s excellence in teaching and the many contributions he has made to music education during his career.
While Carlson was amazed that he was selected for the honor, his colleagues, students and friends were not surprised. “Music lovers, and especially jazz fans, at the University of Minnesota, Morris and throughout the region, have long recognized the many and important contributions of Doc Carlson,” stated Sam Schuman, chancellor. “All of us are delighted at this honor for a UMM graduate and master teacher.”
Carlson began his UMM career in 1978. Since then he’s touched thousands of students with his gift of music and his contagious capacity to enthuse. Terri Jo Schuft ’06, Stewart, plays in Jazz I ensemble under the direction of Carlson. “Doc’s an amazing teacher,” stated Schuft. “He brings a sense of humor into everything. He inspires you to achieve things you never thought possible. Doc would do anything for his students and is a perfect model of what a teacher should be.”
A positive influence on future music educators
The MMEA honor recognizes Carlson’s direct contributions to teaching music and also his positive impact on future music educators. Brian Lukkasson ’03 is director of bands at Spring Lake Park High School. He shared: “Doc Carlson has been one of the most influential people in my life. He influenced the way that I look at music education, students and my own musicianship. His commitment to excellence and love for music is so infectious one cannot come in contact with him and not be changed. Doc deserves to be in the Music Educators Hall of Fame not only for his devotion to students, learning and music education, but also because he has influenced a multitude of music educators to teach with the same passion that he does.”
Chris Porter ’00, teaches at the Brooklyn Center High School. She shared these comments about her mentor, Doc Carlson: “The success I’m currently having as a high school band director is the direct result of his positive influence. What a wonderful example he is of the selfless ‘students come first’—‘do it for the kids’ mentality. When I am tested as an educator and faced with something difficult, I literally think, ‘What would Doc do in this situation?’ and that answer is always the right one.”
UMM’s annual Jazz Fest
In 1979, Carlson established an event that has become synonymous with the University of Minnesota, Morris—the annual Jazz Fest. The high-energy musical event brings world-renowned jazz musicians to campus for three days of clinics and performances, providing a learning opportunity for not only UMM students but also students from throughout Minnesota to benefit from the instruction of professional jazz musicians. This year, guest artists Reggie Watkins on trombone and Nestor Torres on flute will conduct workshops for over 900 junior and senior high jazz musicians representing 40 bands. The guest artists, Alumni Jazzers and UMM’s Jazz Ensembles perform in the evenings. The 28th annual Jazz Fest is scheduled for April 6-8, 2006.
Experiencing jazz throughout the world
Carlson is also credited with enhancing the UMM music program by incorporating travel to world-renown international jazz venues such as the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Study abroad opportunities such as these, as Carlson shared, “…provide a new perspective of the world. It’s an eye and ear opening experience.” Carlson’s students have the opportunity to perform at these events and to attend performances of the world’s best jazz artists.
One of Howard Hecht’s favorite memories of Carlson was captured at the 1991 Montreaux Jazz Festival. The 1992 graduate remembers: “We played a sizzling set on a mountain top overlooking Lake Geneva, and afterwards Doc was sitting on a bench with one arm around his wife, Kay, his daughter, Kim, sitting on the other side and a huge grin laced his face with a look of accomplishment, pride and satisfaction. The interesting thing is that I know the accomplishment and pride were not in himself, but in all of us around him.”
Hecht, who makes his home in Rosemount, also points out another characteristic that has garnered Carlson the respect and affection of many, his caring personality: “Every time I visit my alma mater (usually for Doc’s creation—Jazz Fest), he welcomes me with his trademark golf sweater and patented smile, and spends several minutes with me to catch up on the latest news about my wife, my children, and myself. Doc doesn’t care about padding his résumé. He cares about giving every student their money’s worth in education, in musical experience and in preparing them for life. Doc has been an important person in my life. He took a young, green freshman of average musical talent from rural Minnesota with a cheap-looking trombone and a slide that was barely greased, and turned him into a young man who five years later was ready for the real world, to have a career, a family and a continued pursuit of musical interests long after leaving the University of Minnesota, Morris.”
A lifetime commitment to music and teaching
In addition to MMEA Hall of Fame honors, Carlson has received numerous awards throughout his teaching career, including the MMEA Educator of the Year in 2000 the UMM Faculty Distinguished Research Award in 2000 University of Minnesota Academy of Distinguished Teachers in1999 the Horace T. Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association Award in 1993 the Minnesota Legislature Exceptional Teaching Skill Award in 1993 the National Band Association Jazz Award in1990 and the Minnesota Jazz Educator of the Year Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators in 1988.
Carlson, a 1965 UMM music education graduate and a native of Glenwood, Minnesota, began his teaching career in 1965 at Hancock High School in Hancock, Minnesota. He received a master of arts in music from Moorhead State College in trumpet performance in 1968, and completed a doctorate in music education at Indiana University in 1972.
