Return to Lowell Mason Fellows by Year
2010 Lowell Mason Fellows
Lynn Brinckmeyer
Lynn Brinckmeyer is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Music Education at Texas State University. She served as President of MENC: The National Association for Music Education from 2006-2008. Lynn has also served as President for the Northwest Division of MENC, on the Music Educators Journal Editorial Board, and the Conn-Selmer University Advisory Board. In addition to chairing the Eastern Washington University Music Department for six years and conducting the EWU Concert Choir, she received both the PTI Excellence in Teaching Award and the CenturyTel Award for outstanding faculty. Other awards include the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame and the MENC Northwest Division Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Brinckmeyer founded the Eastern Washington University Girls’ Chorus, and was the Artistic Director of the Idaho State Children’s Chorus in Pocatello, Idaho and the South Hill Children’s Chorus in Spokane Washington. She is a co-founder of the Hill Country Youth Chorus in San Marcos, Texas and serves as its Artistic Director. Throughout her career, Dr. Brinckmeyer has conducted all-state choirs, honor choirs, lectured, presented master classes and performed in forty-seven states in the United States and eleven countries, including China and South Africa.
Florence Henderson
The youngest of ten children born to a tobacco sharecropper in Depression-era Indiana, Florence Henderson discovered singing as a refuge at a very early age. Her beautiful voice and love of performing led Florence to move to New York at age 17 to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts as a scholarship student. After one year at the Academy, she was “discovered” and became a protégé of Rodgers and Hammerstein, embarking on the national tour of Oklahoma! in the lead role of Laurey. Leading roles would follow in major productions of The Sound of Music, South Pacific, The King and I, and others. In the 1950’s, Florence Henderson became a mainstay performer on shows like “Ed Sullivan” and was the first woman to guest host for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” The role for which she is best known, Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch came along in 1969. The program struck an immediate chord with the television public, and though it ended production in 1974, has not left the airwaves in syndication since that time. Ms. Henderson was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and in 2008, was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute’s first permanent Entertainment History Exhibit as one of the greatest pop cultural icons of all time. Throughout her longtime association with the Mrs. America organization, Florence Henderson has spoken eloquently about the importance of music education for all. She further demonstrated this commitment in 2009 when she appeared at MENC’s Rally for Music Education during Music Education Week, speaking to an audience which included the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
L. Scott McCormick
L. Scott McCormick is the founder and CEO of the National Association of Music Parents – AMP, a grassroots movement designed to mobilize and unite parents of school-aged students and concerned citizens throughout country with great teachers and the music industry, to “turn up the volume and be heard” at the local and national level. From 1984-2010, Scott served as the CEO and President of Bands of America and Music For All, Inc., and is credited with transforming the nonprofit association into a multimillion-dollar organization through cutting-edge educational opportunities, social media marketing tools, and key alliances. Through innovation and quality programming, Bands of America created new experiences for students within diverse educational communities, while garnering crucial industry support. Scott expanded Bands of America into new areas that included the development of The National Concert Band Festival, international tours to Japan and Europe with performances at WASBE and the World Music Festival, and the appearance of the Bands of America Honor Band in the Tournament of Roses® Parade. In 2008, Scott received the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity Outstanding Contributor award; in 2010, the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association; and he was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and has served in Board and membership positions with the Indianapolis Consortium of Arts Administrators, the Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium, and the Marian University Arts Initiative Board of Visitors.
George N. Parks
George N. Parks, Director of the University of Massachusetts/ Amherst Minuteman Marching Band for 33 years, and founder of The George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, spent his undergraduate years at West Chester University as a music education/ tuba major. He was also drum major and student leader of “The Incomparable Golden Rams Marching Band.” Parks continued his education at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, earning a Master of Music Degree in Tuba Performance under Arnold Jacobs and John Paynter. Following his masters at Northwestern, in 1977 George became Director of the University of Massachusetts/ Amherst Minuteman Marching Band where he remained for his entire career. Under his leadership and vision, the UMMB grew to 400 strong, with members from almost every major area of study. The UMMB played for the 1980 and 1984 Presidential Inaugural Parades in Washington, DC, NY Giants, New England Patriots, the Montreal Allouettes, and Music for All Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, as well as numerous other parades and special events. In 1998, the Minuteman Marching Band was awarded the prestigious Sudler Trophy. For many years, George also served as chair of the University’s Commonwealth of Massachusetts Charitable Campaign. Shortly after starting at “UMass,” George founded the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy. The purpose of the “DMA” was to mentor student musical leaders in areas of conducting, musicianship, leadership, and showmanship. Since its start in 1978, the DMA has grown to offer high school drum majors professional drum majoring instruction from a staff of music educators and now prepares over 3,000 high school and college drum majors per summer at 15 locations around the country. Parks was recipient of the University of Massachusetts Distinguished Teaching Award, The Chancellor’s Award for Creative and Scholarly Service, Chancellor’s Medal, and the MMEA Lowell Mason Award. George was director of Music for All Rose Bowl Parade Honor Band in 2005 and 2009, received the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductor’s Award, Drum Corps Associates Hall of Fame Award, was named to Music for All Hall of Fame, Massachusetts Drum Corps Hall of Fame, and was eight-time DCA World Championship Best Drum Major for Drum Corps Associates among other awards and honors. Parks was also author of “The Dynamic Drum Major.”
