Scripps College Logo

Close

About Scripps
At a Glance
  • Assessment and Institutional Research
  • Annual Financial Reports
  • WASC Reaffirmation Process
History
  • College Timeline
  • History of the Presidency
  • Scripps College Traditions
Initiatives
  • Centennial (Strategic) Plan
  • Diversity
  • Sustainability
  • Centennial Celebration
Our Campus
  • Scripps Merchandise
Administration
  • President
  • Board of Trustees
  • Senior Leadership
Claremont Colleges
Admission & Aid
Apply
  • First-Year Applicants
  • Transfer Applicants
  • QuestBridge Applicants
  • International Applicants
  • Homeschool Applicants
  • Veteran Applicants
Dates and Deadlines
Financial Aid
Visit
Why Scripps College
  • Scripps College Facts
  • FAQs
Contact Us
Academic Experience
Faculty
Majors & Minors
Academic Resources
  • Clark Humanities Museum
  • Department of Natural Sciences
  • European Union Center
  • Humanities Institute
  • Intercollegiate Feminist Center
  • Library
  • Registrar
  • Scripps College Press
  • Williamson Gallery
Post-Bacc Program
Research
Study Abroad
Life & Community
New Students
Creating Community
Leadership Center
Residential Vibrancy
Student Services
Contact Us
CARE@SCRIPPS
Career Planning & Resources
Title IX
  • Inside Scripps
  • Alums
  • Families
  • Careers
  • Giving
  • Events
  • Directory
Scripps Logo
  • Inside Scripps
  • Alums
  • Families
  • Careers
  • |
  • Giving
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Scripps
    • At a Glance
      • Assessment and Institutional Research
      • Annual Financial Reports
      • WASC Reaffirmation Process
    • History
      • College Timeline
      • History of the Presidency
      • Scripps College Traditions
    • Initiatives
      • Centennial (Strategic) Plan
      • Diversity
      • Sustainability
      • Centennial Celebration
    • Our Campus
      • Scripps Merchandise
    • Administration
      • President
      • Board of Trustees
      • Senior Leadership
    • Claremont Colleges
  • Admission & Aid
    • Apply
      • First-Year Applicants
      • Transfer Applicants
      • QuestBridge Applicants
      • International Applicants
      • Homeschool Applicants
      • Veteran Applicants
    • Dates and Deadlines
    • Financial Aid
    • Visit
    • Why Scripps College
      • Scripps College Facts
      • FAQs
    • Contact Us
  • Academic Experience
    • Faculty
    • Majors & Minors
    • Academic Resources
      • Clark Humanities Museum
      • Department of Natural Sciences
      • European Union Center
      • Humanities Institute
      • Intercollegiate Feminist Center
      • Library
      • Registrar
      • Scripps College Press
      • Williamson Gallery
    • Post-Bacc Program
    • Research
    • Study Abroad
  • Life & Community
    • New Students
    • Creating Community
    • Leadership Center
    • Residential Vibrancy
  • Student Services
    • Contact Us
    • CARE@SCRIPPS
    • Career Planning & Resources
    • Title IX
Close
Search Scripps College
Scripps College News News Releases Faculty Perfect Harmony

Close

Section Menu

  • Home
  • Student Life
  • Faculty Scholarship
  • Alum Newsmakers
  • Scripps In the News
  • Campus Updates

August 20, 2009

Perfect Harmony

  • Faculty

It was Bach’s B Minor Mass that hooked him.

Charles “Chuck” Kamm ’91 had always enjoyed music. He had studied piano as a kid and sung in the madrigal singers and concert choir all through his Earlham career, but he thought of music as a hobby and assumed he would end up earning a degree in physics or history. Then, during his junior year, he met Bach. “Singing that piece was definitely a highlight for me,” says Kamm. “I thought to myself, maybe this is what I really want to do.”

Kamm gained his first experience as a choral conductor at Earlham, working with Professor of Music Dan Graves and some other students, he completed a Ford/Knight student-faculty research project on choral conducting. Each student conducted a small chamber choir of student volunteers, and Kamm took to conducting easily.

“It felt very natural to me. I was fortunate to have a gestural vocabulary from the beginning.”

Graves recalls that shortly before the concert at the end of that project, one of the students in Kamm’s ensemble objected to the lyrics of one of the pieces the group was set to perform. The song was a centuries-old madrigal which portrayed women in an unfavorable light, and the student singer did not want to perform it. “In a small choir like that, you absolutely need every voice, so Chuck had to work out how to respond to this one student while also honoring the work that he and the choir had put into that piece,” notes Graves. “I don’t remember what happened, but Chuck found a solution. I think it was a good learning experience for him and the other student.”

After Earlham, Kamm earned a Master of Music degree at Michigan State University. He later earned Master of Musical Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Yale University. He is currently assistant professor of music history and director of choirs in the joint music program at the Claremont Colleges in California. He has previously taught at Vassar College and the University of Massachusetts at Boston and prepared choirs at Harvard University, at Yale University, for Finnish National Radio, for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria and at Xiamen University in China.

Kamm spent the spring semester of this year on sabbatical in Finland, where the Earlhamite reached him by telephone. In an interview he was soft spoken but passionate as he described the role of choral singing in the context of a liberal arts education.

“Choral music touches on the core of our humanity,” he says. “Music is part of what sets us apart from other species, the preparation for performing involves studying literature, poetry and history…”

“This type of singing requires a group of people to find common ground,” he notes. “It involves many of the true strengths of how to live as a human like listening and collaboration. Each person contributes what they have, and the resulting sound is more beautiful that what any one person could create.”

Kamm’s time away from campus is allowing him to devote more time and energy than usual to his work as a soloist. A tenor and countertenor with a passion for performing, Kamm has performed the Evangelist role in Bach’s St. John Passion as well as works by such composers as Samuel Barber and Franz Schubert. Past performances as a soloist range from Mozart’s Requiem to Monteverdi’s Vespers to the role of the Madwoman in Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera Curlew River.

He credits his career direction in large part to the ease with which students can try new things at Earlham.

“I had never sung in a choir before I came to Earlham,” he recalls. “When I did, I just fell in love.”

Reprinted with permission from the Summer 2009 edition of the Earlhamite.

Tags

  • Faculty
  • Newsroom
  • Spotlight on Faculty Series
About Scripps Visit Campus Request Info
Scripps college logo
1030 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-8000
  • Campus Map
  • Virtual Tour
  • Diversity
  • Centennial Plan
  • Employment
  • Scripps Merchandise
  • Emergency
  • Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
  • Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF)

The Claremont Colleges.

© Scripps College | Accessibility | Nondiscrimination Statement | Privacy