{"id":303,"date":"2021-11-30T22:08:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T22:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/?p=303"},"modified":"2022-01-20T18:47:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T18:47:36","slug":"amateurism-and-accreditation-in-the-robert-r-miller-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/2021\/11\/30\/amateurism-and-accreditation-in-the-robert-r-miller-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Amateurism and Accreditation in the Robert R. Miller Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Local Archives, Global History: Post 4 by Chandler Hall <\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many\u00a0famed\u00a0musicians have passed through the music program at the University of North Texas (UNT), but has\u00a0anyone ever\u00a0heard of\u00a0UNT\u2019s\u00a0accountant-to-organist pipeline? One alumnus\u00a0who came down it was\u00a0Robert R. Miller,\u00a0who\u00a0graduated from\u00a0what\u00a0was then the\u00a0North Texas State College\u00a0(NTSC)\u00a0in 1950 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration.\u00a0Boxes in UNT Library\u2019s small Robert R. Miller Collection reveal his unique career path:\u00a0accountant by day and organ consultant and substitute organist by night\u2014or by Sunday.\u00a0Miller\u00a0may\u00a0have been the only accountant-organist in the area at the time, but he\u00a0was far from the only organ consultant in the Metroplex. For instance, famed musicologist and organist Helen Hewitt supervised the renovation of the\u00a0M\u00f6ller\u00a0Organ in the UNT Main Auditorium, and Robert Anderson, Chair of Organ Studies at Southern Methodist University, acted as consultant on several organs, including St. Stephen\u2019s United Methodist Church in Mesquite and First Presbyterian Church\u00a0in\u00a0Dallas. How could Miller hope to compete with these pedigreed, well-known, and highly credentialed figures? His archival traces offer some clues.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an urban area chock-full of professional musicians with enough degrees to fill a stadium, Miller spun his amateur status as an asset. By positioning himself outside of institutions, he demonstrated to his clients that he was above the politics of the organ world, independent and unable to be bought. His integrity became his selling-point. By focusing on his character, Miller was able to skirt around the subject of his credentials (see figures 1-4). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\"the\"the\"a\"Written\n

Figures 1-4: 1986 Recital program for the dedication of the restored 1925 Kimball Organ at Grace United Methodist Church, Dallas. Miller was the organ consultant for this project (box 1, folder 11).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take, for instance, this response to a 1951 letter in which a woman asked\u00a0for advice about her church\u2019s organ. In the letter, Miller reaffirms that if he were\u00a0hired as a consultant, he would ensure that the church receives a well-designed organ. He\u00a0goes on to cite his non-musical career and his independence from builders as assets:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cYes, I am an Organ Consultant. This type of work is in addition to my regular work at the Magnolia Petroleum Company.\u00a0As you can well realize, one could not hope to make\u00a0alliving\u00a0[sic] at this sort of thing since the calls are few and far between. The reason I do it is that as an organist and a great lover of the organ, I want to help churches obtain the most and best for the money they\u00a0have to\u00a0spend\u2026 I know of several instances where a church might of [sic] had a better organ if someone that knew about such matters\u00a0had been called in to go over the plans, rather than just let an organ man or company rebuild the organ as it was.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In this letter, Miller glosses over his qualifications. By claiming to know of \u201cseveral instances\u201d in which a church would have benefitted from a consultant, he comes across as knowledgeable without needing to acknowledge his\u00a0relative\u00a0lack of formal training.\u00a0Additionally, by mentioning that\u00a0consulting is not his main career, Miller\u00a0implies that he is not in the pockets of any business that would incentivize him to deliver an inferior product.\u00a0According to Miller, his supposed interest\u00a0was\u00a0the church, not\u00a0the industry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Miller's

Figure 5: Miller’s business card from Tellers Organ Company (box 1, folder 18).<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course, one does not need certain formal credentials to be proficient in an area of expertise; earning a music degree is not the only way to learn music. Although Miller did take some organ coursework at NTSC, he also took lessons before college, played substitute organ at various churches around the Dallas area, and had a (possibly brief) stint as the Southwest Representative for the Tellers Organ Company based in Erie, Pennsylvania.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Figure 6: Miller’s duties as an organ consultant as outlined in his letter to Rabbi Annes (box 1, folder 15).<\/p><\/div>\n

These experiences\u00a0certainly helped Miller gain expertise\u00a0regarding\u00a0how various organs function and sound. Another 1951 letter to Rabbi\u00a0Pierce\u00a0Annes of Temple\u00a0Emanu-El\u00a0in\u00a0Dallas, offers further insights into how Miller may have trained as an amateur consultant.\u00a0In the letter, Miller writes that part of his service as a consultant includes creating tonal schemes\u00a0(the\u00a0list of pipe sounds to be used in the organ)\u00a0and sending them to several organ companies to obtain quotes. Some of these tonal schemes and quotes survive in the\u00a0collection. In some, a company representative offers Miller suggestions to improve his submission. Other documents in the archive, such as catalogs, design guides, marketing materials, and tonal\u00a0schemes from hundreds of organs, likely served as reference materials for Miller as he planned projects for his clients.\u00a0Even as Miller professed his independence from builders in his private\u00a0correspondence, he clearly relied on them as part of his training.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s attitude toward institutions was quite different when his audience was\u00a0public facing. For instance, a worship bulletin at First Presbyterian Church, McKeesport, Pennsylvania, includes a brief biography of Miller\u2019s organ career. This is the church where Miller grew up, and he played substitute organ there just before Christmas 1962, perhaps while visiting family for the holidays. Although it is unclear whether the biography of Miller was written by him or by someone on his behalf, it emphasizes his accreditation as tied to institutions, including NTSU and the American Guild of Organists (AGO). It is\u00a0not unusual for biographies such as this to list a performer\u2019s musical pedigree and awards, but\u00a0Miller\u2019s sole accolade by 1962, a \u201cService Playing Certificate\u201d\u00a0issued by AGO,\u00a0is neither\u00a0particularly impressive\u00a0nor necessary, considering\u00a0that\u00a0the congregation could judge his skill. Rather, the biography is a testament to Miller\u2019s status as a professional on the periphery.\u00a0By engaging with rhetorical conventions of the profession, Miller attempted to \u201cfit in\u201d as a bona fide musician despite struggling to fill the template. This is not to suggest that a musician needs a music degree or prestigious awards. Rather, the biography highlights the disparity between Miller\u2019s training and what the field and the public expected.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This disparity is at the fore in a 1977 report on the NTSU\u00a0M\u00f6ller\u00a0Organ. Miller compiled the report but concluded\u00a0it with a reflection on his own qualifications: \u201cSome may wonder why a B.B.A. graduate of N.T.S.U. is writing the survey of the organ instead of a music student or graduate.\u201d Indeed, Miller\u2019s path is curious. His parallel work in accounting, organ consulting,\u00a0and organ performance forms an unlikely combination, and he capitalized\u00a0on thwarted professional expectations to brand his identity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local Archives, Global History: Post 4 by Chandler Hall  Many\u00a0famed\u00a0musicians have passed through the music program at the University of North Texas (UNT), but has\u00a0anyone ever\u00a0heard of\u00a0UNT\u2019s\u00a0accountant-to-organist pipeline? One alumnus\u00a0who came down it was\u00a0Robert R. Miller,\u00a0who\u00a0graduated from\u00a0what\u00a0was then the\u00a0North Texas State College\u00a0(NTSC)\u00a0in 1950 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration.\u00a0Boxes in UNT Library\u2019s small Robert… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musicking-in-the-sandborn","tag-local-archives-global-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}