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Born: December 11, 1930 - Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Died: May 7, 2009 - Denver, Colorado, USA |
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The American bass and choral conductor, Jerald Lepinski, earned two master’s degrees - in music theory and voice - from the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.
Jerald Lepinski came to Denver in the early 1960's. He was on the faculty of Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park and taught voice and music theory and conducting the chapel choir at Colorado Women’s College. He was also a member of the music faculty of Temple Buell College.
During the 1960's, Jerald Lepinski established himself as one of the new crop of talented and stylistically imaginative yound choral conductors. He established and directed Denver’s Classic Chorale from 1960 to 1984. The chorale first presented itself to the public in 1960. Its purpose was to establish a new concept of the adult amateur chorus, to prove it could achieve artistic exellence and find an audience for programs where fresh and less familiar literature outweighted the "old favorites". Under the guidance of Lepinski, the Chorale premiered new works, collaborated in resurrecting old ones from centuries of obscurity, prersented music, which had long been prohibitively difficult for other groups, and included many favorite masterworks. Happily this attracted an entusiastic following. The chorale, which ranged from 35 to 50 members, performed throughout the state. The Classic Chorale sang with the Denver Symphony, at the Aspen Music Festival, at the Air Force Academy and in various churches. Lepinski was a founder of KVOD classical radio station’s annual fundraising drive for the Denver Symphony, now known as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He set high standards, made (the study of) music interesting and was an extremely good role model. He was dedicated to getting music to everyone. He made a professional chorus out of amateur singers. The choir presented some of the most sublime music from a local concert stage all season. Chorale members not only sang but got voice lessons, classroom work and sight-singing.
Jerald Lepinski pioneered a new idea for music notation: how the notes are placed on the page. He called it the Meloz (Greek for melody) Music Tablature, and it involves the black keys being noted on the page as triangles and the white keys as circles. Sharps and flats are gone, and black keys are named Z-R-I-O-U, letters not used in the traditional music literature. Some local schools have used the Meloz method. Lepinski, who got a $275,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Education to perfect the program, believed the system was easier and faster to learn than the traditional way music is put on the page. Though he worked years to sell the idea - even speaking to Colorado legislators - Lepinski never got overwhelming support for Meloz-notated music. Still, thousands of students have taken classes using the method.
Jerald Lepinski had a voice studio in his home and often gave recitals himself. He also taught voice at St. Thomas Seminary (now the John Paul II Center). For the last 20 years of his life, he taught his Meloz method.
Jerald Lepinski married Martha Powers in 1965. He died on May 7, 2009 of esophageal cancer. He was 78. In addition to his wife, he was survived by his daughter, Sarah Lepinski Kozlowski of New York City; his son, Paul Lepinski of Denver; two grandchildren; and two brothers, John Lepinski of Omaha and Frank Lepinski of Hayden, Idaho. |
