Colburn orchestra director, RIP
RIPWe have been apprised of the passing of Jim Kjelland, director of orchestras and coordinator of strings from 1984 at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. He was 76.
Kjelland write several manuals, including Teaching Stringed Instruments and the 3-volume Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra.
I had Dr. Kjelland at Northwestern University where he taught an excellent course on orchestral bowings. He was the only professor I’ve ever known to require you to buy the textbook he wrote and then pay you back for his share of the sale. He actually went around the room giving us all $5 bills to probe he wasn’t just trying to line his pockets by requiring his book. A very good man and excellent educator.
Jim hadn’t worked at Colburn since 1991.
I had the pleasure of performing under Jim’s baton while at USC. Such a nice man, whom I always recalled with a smile.