Howard E. Covington, Jr.
Howard E. Covington Jr. was EMF board chair from 1991-1992. He is a well-known author who has written over a dozen historical books on Greensboro and North Carolina companies, and he was the editor of Spectator Magazine.
I don’t recall the year this happened, probably 1991 or 1992, and I had been involved with EMF for several years. Through my activity as a volunteer, I knew the basics of this remarkable summer program – talented young musicians coupling with energized professionals in a union that produced a summer-long calendar of great music to be enjoyed in a variety of venues. The real essence of the experience became fully apparent one evening when my wife, Gloria, and I discovered that the back of our minivan was just as good a place to hear talented musicians as our seats at Dana Auditorium.
It happened this way. Old friends stopped in to visit us at the start of the EMF season to let us know that they just deposited their daughter, a flutist, at Guilford College for her first summer at EMF. A few weeks later, we were loading her and five of her new musician friends into the car for the ride downtown to enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks. On the way to the display, and throughout the half hour or so we stood and watched, the group was no different from any other collection of teenagers. Their connection could as easily have been soccer as music. It wasn’t until we headed back to Guilford College that the magic happened.
The traffic was heavy on Friendly Avenue, and as we waited for lights to change and allow our car to move along, one in the group started whistling the familiar Sousa march, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” One by one, the others joined in, contributing in a pitch and sound that mimicked the parts that Sousa had written for their individual instruments. (They all played wind instruments, and evidently knew the tune from their high school band experiences.) In an instant, Gloria and I were an audience of two for the most meaningful rendition of that old march that we had ever heard.
When someone asks us about EMF, and what it means to me, and to this community, that story is always a part of our answer. The students who come to EMF are among the most creative and talented young people in the world. It is our job, as volunteers, to make sure that there is a place for them to perfect their talent and to create music that provides so much pleasure for us all.
Our friends’ daughter didn’t end up in a career in music. She is a practicing physician in Boston, but I am sure that her life, and the lives of those around her, is enhanced by her musical experience. And EMF had a part in making that happen.
Linda O’Briant
Linda O’Briant has chaired the High Point Pops concerts and served on EMF’s board from 2000-2007. She has been a Doncaster wardrobe consultant for 25 years. Mrs. O’Briant and her family live in High Point, NC, and she “loves being involved!”
My first memory of Eastern Music Festival is that first summer, 50 years ago, when I was just a young girl riding my bike on the campus with my best friend and hearing music flowing from the windows of Dana, filling the air with beautiful melodies!! It was magical!! We would stop and just listen … .knowing it was the “music campers” as we called them.
The first High Point Pops concert was held at Market Square. Jake Froelich’s mother was celebrating a 90th birthday. We had a violin student play “Happy Birthday” to her, and she never got over it; she was so touched and moved, as we all were! All of the Pops concerts were wonderful, well attended, and memorable, but the one that stands out the most is the time Rhapsody in Blue was played!! Absolutely, positively the BEST of all the rest.
Eastern Music Festival is a treasure that has enhanced the quality of life in the Triad all of these years. There is something for everyone! We need to dress up, show up, soak it up, and get involved to secure the future of this music for generations to come. Happy Birthday EMF – the BEST is yet to come…see you all there!!!
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