Lansing MacDowell

MacDowell, Lansing

(John) Lansing MacDowell. Educator, organist-choirmaster, b Brockville, Ont, 30 Oct 1918, d London, Ont, 6 Nov 1987; BA (Toronto) 1942. A pupil of Charles Peaker in Toronto, he taught music and modern languages in high schools there and in Simcoe, Ont, until 1956. He conducted 1954-6 the Cockshutt Male Choir of Brantford. He moved to London, Ont, as music master 1956-65 at the London Teachers' College and organist-choirmaster at Bishop Cronyn Memorial Anglican Church. He was a music inspector and regional consultant 1965-78 for the Ontario Ministry of Education. In this role and as an adjudicator and examiner he worked particularly to raise choral standards. He was president 1950-1 of the OMEA, 1966-7 of the ORMTA, and 1976-9 of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association. With Vera Russell, John Wood, and Charles Winter he wrote volumes 3 to 8 of the graded elementary school text Songtime (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1963-7). He conducted two of the pieces sung and recorded (Gavotte LPG 100, 107) by the Associated Male Choirs of Ontario and America at the 1952 and 1954 Big Sing. He also conducted on a recording of the Music Summer School annual concert in 1977 sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Education (Audat WRC 276).

See also School music.