Biographical Text
Professor Emerita of Music Joan Lynn White (July 10, 1940-) was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the only child of Mary and John Botsco. Her music education began at the age of eight, with the study of the alto saxophone. By the age of sixteen, she had added formal training on the oboe, flute, and clarinet and had attended the annual summer music camp at Ohio State University in Columbus, for three years. White graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Youngstown and received both a merit and talent scholarship to the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, where she pursued a major in both music performance and music education, as a woodwind specialist. She studied all the major orchestral woodwind instruments, adding bassoon to her performing repertoire. Her teachers, members of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony, included Bernard Goldberg and Walter Mayhall on flute, Eugene Chieffo and John Mack on oboe, Mark Dolliver and Charles Aurand on clarinet, and George Goslee and Jay Raven on bassoon. At the age of eighteen, White was selected to be the principal oboist in the Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra. During her college years, she also taught woodwind students at four public schools in the Youngstown area. It was during her senior year at Youngstown State University that Dr. White met her future husband, Elmer R. White, who had accepted a faculty position at the university as professor of trumpet and director of bands. He also became a member of the Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra. On June 3, 1961, Elmer and Lynn White were married at St. Dominic Church in Youngstown. They traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway on their honeymoon and spent two days in Boone, North Carolina, before heading east to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Whites had three sons: Elmer Russell III (February 17, 1962-April 22, 1989), Phi Beta Kappa (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), and a student in the Medical School at Duke University at the time of his death; Allan Stephen (January 31, 1963-), an Eagle Scout and commercial fisherman in Kodiak, Alaska; and Dr. Marc Michael White (August 6, 1964-), a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, and a professor of music at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. In 1989, Drs. Elmer and Lynn White established an endowed scholarship in the name of their deceased son at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, for deserving pre-medical students. Dr. White received her B.M. and B.M.E. degrees from Youngstown State University in 1962, and accepted a position on the faculty there, as an instructor of woodwinds. In July 1963, the Whites moved to Boone, North Carolina, where Dr. Elmer White accepted a position on the faculty of Appalachian State University as an assistant professor of music. Dr. Lynn White taught part-time at the university as an instructor of woodwinds. Both the Whites became members of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony and gave lessons to music students in the Watauga County public schools. In 1970, Dr. Lynn White was awarded the M.A. degree in music from Appalachian State University and performed on five woodwind instruments in her M.A. degree recital. The Whites spent several summers and the 1971-72 academic year in New York City. During her husband’s doctoral study at Columbia University, Dr. Lynn White studied with John Wummer on flute and Alfred Genovese on oboe and was a member of the Columbia University Orchestra and the Chamber Arts Ensemble (Manhattan, New York City). She also served as instructor of woodwind instruments at Bronxville High School, Bronxville, New York, and the School of Music Education in New York City. In 1977, White earned the rank of assistant professor of music at Appalachian State. She was a member of the university's summer Cannon Music Camp for sixteen years and founded and conducted the Appalachian State University Flute Choir. In 1980, she completed the Doctor of Education degree at University of North Carolina-Greensboro and was promoted to associate professor in 1981. Results of her acoustical research studies were published in national journals, and were presented at national conventions in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Antonio, Texas. Dr. White earned the rank of professor in 1985. White's publications include: • "Acoustical Testing of Flutes Constructed of Different Metals." The Muramatsu Flute News 3.1, p. 366 (Summer 1980). • "A Spectral Analysis of the Tones of Five Flutes Constructed of Different Metals." The Journal of the National Flute Association 6.3 (Spring 1981). • "The Acoustical Effect of Metals Used in the Construction of Flutes." Flute Talk 8.1 (September 1988). • "Flute Tone Quality: Does the Metal Make a Difference?" The Instrumentalist 43.10 (May 1989). During her thirty-five years of teaching at Appalachian State University, Dr. White established herself as a woodwind instrument teacher, performer, researcher, clinician, and adjudicator. She taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in woodwind instrument playing techniques and served on several university committees. Dr. White was a member of the graduate faculty. Her professional affiliations include the North Carolina Music Education Association, the National Flute Association, the International Double Reed Society, Pi Kappa Lambda, the College Music Society, the Society for Research in Music Education and Sigma Alpha Iota. She served as a research consultant for Muramatsu Flutes, International. During her academic career, Dr. White performed in solo recitals, as well as with the Appalachian Faculty Woodwind Quintet, the Cannon Camp Faculty Woodwind Quintet, and various faculty mixed ensembles. She served as adjudicator at numerous high school and higher education competitions throughout the southeast and presented woodwind instrument playing clinics/ workshops in North Carolina and South Carolina public schools. During their forty-two years of marriage, Drs. Elmer and Lynn White traveled extensively to thirty-seven states and to Canada, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Iceland, and Scotland. They shared a passion for classic cars and rode their Harley motorcycles together for ten years. The Whites performed together in many concerts, on and off campus, during their careers at Appalachian State University. Dr. Lynn White retired from Appalachian State University in 2001, at which time she was awarded the rank of professor emerita. Following her retirement, she and her husband established the largest endowed scholarship fund in the School of Music at Appalachian State University, the Elmer and Lynn White Wind Instrument Scholarship Endowment, which is awarded to four music students annually. Since her husband's death in January 2004, Dr. White has remained active musically, performing on her musical instruments, singing in her church choir, traveling, attending concerts and classic car shows, and visiting with family and friends. The Elmer R. White Jazz Trumpet Endowment was established in 2007, in his memory, by his wife. Source: Personal correspondence. -Dr. Kay R. Dickson
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