Faculty Distinguished Lecture Explores Music’s Power to Connect Across Time

In the 2024-25 Faculty Distinguished Lecture, Professor of Music Kent Lyman shared vignettes that explore the life and work of musicians from the past. In the lecture-recital, held on February 27, 2025, Dr. Lyman showed the power of music to connect people across time.

Among the topics explored were the passion and creative energy of Beethoven, the meticulous attention to detail in the piano teaching of Chopin, and the tragic story of Lili Boulanger, who was destined to become one of the great composers of the 20th century before her untimely death at age 24. 

Dr. Lyman showed manuscripts and images in each part that helped bring these important artists to life. In the section about Beethoven, Dr. Lyman shared examples of how the composer’s handwritten notes brought the score to life in ways that a printed copy does not.

“When I look at these markings on the score, I can imagine Beethoven, scribbling away at his writing desk or at the piano, trying to get the notes down on paper as the ideas flood through his mind,” Lyman said.

As he discussed Frederic Chopin, Dr. Lyman emphasized Chopin’s work as a teacher. 

“An area of Chopin’s professional life that receives less attention than his composing is his work as a teacher,” Dr. Lyman said. “Since we are gathered here at an institution of higher learning, it seems appropriate for us to explore [his] teaching career. His reputation as a teacher spread throughout Europe, and students came from far and wide to study with him.”

Chopin’s students kept the scores of the pieces they studied with him, and many of these have survived to the present day. 

“In some cases, we can see notes that were made in Chopin’s hand on the score, indicating how certain passages should be played, fingering solutions, instructions regarding phrasing, articulation – much the same as piano teachers do today,” Dr. Lyman said. 

The final composer Dr. Lyman featured was Lili Boulanger, who at 19 became the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome competition. 

“There are many students here tonight who are similar in age to this remarkable young woman,” Dr. Lyman said. “I hope you can imagine yourselves doing amazing things, even in the face of challenges that seem insurmountable.”

Along with an exploration of each of these artists, Dr. Lyman played some of their works. 

The program ended with a surprise performance between Dr. Lyman and a “younger version” of himself.  They played a duet based on “Doing the Time Warp” from the cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  They used a Steinway Spirio piano loaned for the event by Hopper Piano Company in Raleigh. The Spirio piano uses technology that enables it to record and play back precisely what is played into it, creating the illusion that Dr. Lyman was playing with his own ghost, dressed as a rock musician from the past, specifically 1977, the year that Dr. Lyman graduated from high school.

The Faculty Distinguished Lecture is presented by the Convocation Committee and co-sponsored by the Meredith College Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Lyman was invited to join Meredith’s chapter.

About Kent Lyman
Dr. Kent Lyman is a professor of music and director of keyboard studies at Meredith College. A Steinway Artist, he has traveled extensively as a performing artist throughout the United States, and in South Korea, China, Brazil, and Italy. He has appeared with orchestras in the Carolinas and Florida and has collaborated with many of the leading musicians in North Carolina and elsewhere.

Dr. Lyman is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, from the Music Teachers National Association, and has been inducted into the Steinway International Artists Roster and into the Steinway Music Teacher Hall of Fame. He also received Meredith’s Pauline Davis Perry Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement. He holds a Doctor of Music and Master of Music from Indiana University-Bloomington and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Utah.

About the Faculty Distinguished Lecture
The Faculty Distinguished Lecture was designed to represent a significant achievement of research by a Meredith faculty member. The first lecture was presented in 1964 by Professor of English Norma Rose.