Caroline Lyon Tippin '84

My life still revolves around music, just as it did as an undergraduate. Only back then, I didn't realize the importance music would have in my life. After Dartmouth it took several forays into other careers before I realized that a graduate degree in music was what I needed.  I began by publishing my own choral arrangements, but needed more guidance.  At UT Austin, I flourished by learning some new styles, directing the Afro-Caribbean Ensemble, and forming an a cappella group and performing jazz and world music while getting my Master's in Ethnomusicology.  That led to teaching elementary music in the public schools, which then led to teaching music in a private school in New York City.  Now I am a music professor at a SUNY, which allows me time to keep learning and growing musically, and also add some new instruments along the way (soprano sax).  Teaching music has been an ideal way to incorporate marriage and family into my life, while maintaining an interesting balance. My Dartmouth music professors inspired me to pursue world music, composition, and to never stop learning. I would say that Dartmouth gave me the foundation upon which to build the career I have now.  The seeds were sown there on the Hanover plain: in the "Oral Tradition Musicianship" class; the music theory classes; attending the performances at Spaulding auditorium; singing with The Dartmouth Chamber Singers, and Handel Society, composing music for the drama department, and singing silly songs with the Outing Club!