Undine Smith Moore facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Undine Smith Moore
Prof. Smith Moore
Born	(1904-08-25)August 25, 1904
Died	February 6, 1989(1989-02-06) (aged 84)
Education	Fisk University, Columbia University
Occupation	Composer and Educator
Employer	Virginia State University
Spouse(s)	James Arthur Moore
Children	Mary Hardie

Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (born August 25, 1904 – died February 6, 1989) was an American composer and music teacher. People called her the "Dean of Black Women Composers."

She first learned to play the piano, but she mostly wrote songs. Many of her pieces were inspired by black spirituals and folk music. Undine Smith Moore was also a famous teacher. She once said that teaching felt like an art to her. Later in her life, she received many awards for her great work as a music educator.

About Undine Smith Moore

Her Early Life

Undine Smith Moore was the youngest of three children. Her parents were James William Smith and Hardie Turnbull Smith. Her grandparents had been enslaved. In 1908, her family moved to Petersburg, Virginia.

Her hometown, Jarratt, Virginia, had a large African-American population. Moore remembered the community singing and praying at the Morningstar Baptist Church. She said that "above all else, music reigned" in her childhood.

Her Education

At age seven, Undine Smith Moore started taking piano lessons. Her teacher, Lillian Allen Darden, later told her to go to Fisk University. There, Moore studied piano and organ. She also learned music theory.

Moore chose Fisk, a historically black college, even though she had a scholarship to another school. In 1924, the Juilliard School gave Moore their first scholarship ever to a Fisk student. This helped her continue her studies. Moore graduated in 1926 with high honors.

In 1931, during the Harlem Renaissance, Moore earned a master's degree in music. She got this from Columbia University's Teachers College. From 1952 to 1953, Moore studied how to compose music. She often went to workshops at the Eastman School of Music.

Her Career

Undine Smith Moore's teachers wanted her to keep studying at the Juilliard School. But she decided to work as a music supervisor in public schools in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 1927, Moore became a piano teacher and organist at Virginia State College. This school is now Virginia State University.

She also taught classes in music theory. People knew her for being especially good at this. The college made Moore the director of the D. Webster Davis Laboratory High School chorus. The school did not have much money, so Moore wrote her own music for the students.

In 1938, Undine Smith married Dr. James Arthur Moore. He was in charge of the sports department at Virginia State College. They often performed music together because James Moore was a trained singer. On January 4, 1941, Moore had their daughter, Marie Hardie.

In 1969, Undine Smith Moore helped start the Black Music Center. This center was at Virginia State College. It aimed to teach people about the music contributions of black people. Moore felt that starting this center was her most important achievement.

In 1972, the Black Music Center closed after Undine Smith Moore retired. Moore traveled a lot as a professor. She gave talks about black composers and led music workshops. She taught at Carleton College and the College of Saint Benedict. She also taught at Virginia Union University in the 1970s. She taught many musicians, including Camilla Williams and Billy Taylor.

Her Honors and Awards

In 1973, Undine Smith Moore received an award for helping people from Fisk University. In 1975, she was named the top musician of Virginia. The National Association of Negro Musicians called her an "outstanding educator."

Indiana University gave her a special degree the next year. The National Black Caucus honored her for her music. In 1981, Moore gave the main speech at a big meeting about women in music. She received a Candace Award in 1984. In 1985, she got the Virginia Governor's Award in the Arts.

Her Death

On February 6, 1989, Undine Smith Moore passed away at age 84. She had a serious illness. At her funeral, some of her spiritual songs were performed. She was buried in Petersburg, Virginia.

A composer named Adolphus Hailstork wrote a piece in 1989 to honor her. In 2010, a historical marker was approved for Petersburg to remember her. Moore was named one of the Virginia Women in History in 2017.

Undine Smith Moore's Music

Her Music Style

Undine Smith Moore said her early piano music sounded like Leopold Godowsky's music. At first, her music did not include any African-American elements. She did not write much music until 1953. Then, her style changed a lot.

Moore started writing down melodies her mother sang. This slowly inspired her to use African-American spirituals in her music. She said:

...the songs my mother sang while cooking dinner; the melodies my father hummed after work moved me very deeply… In making these arrangements my aim was not to make something ‘better’ than what was sung. I thought them so beautiful that I wanted to have them experienced in a variety of ways -- by concert choirs, soloists, and by instrumental groups.

In 1953, Moore wrote a strong piano solo called Before I'd be a Slave. This piece used many different sounds and harmonies. It was very different from her earlier, more traditional vocal music. Moore said her music almost always had a strong "contrapuntal" influence. This means different melodies play at the same time.

Helen Walker-Hill, a writer, said Moore's music was "freely tonal." This means it used musical keys but also explored new sounds. It often used sounds from the 20th century. Her music was also often like a recitative, which is a singing style that sounds like talking. It was always very "contrapuntal" and used black musical ideas.

Walker-Hill explained that Moore's "black idiom" included:

[Moore’s] ‘black idiom’ was the use of additive and syncopated rhythms, scale structures with gaps, call and response antiphony, rich timbres, melody influenced by rhythm, the frequent use of the interval of the third and, less frequently, fourths and fifths, nonhomophonic textures, and the ‘deliberate use of striking climax with almost unrestrained fullness.’

Carl Harris said Moore's music was influenced by ragtime, blues, jazz, and gospel music. However, Moore herself only said that black folk music and Bach truly influenced her. She said her music often showed the feelings of black people. It showed their strong desire for full expression.

Her Compositions

Undine Smith Moore wrote many different kinds of music. These included arrangements of spirituals, songs for solo singers, and music for small groups of instruments. She also wrote longer pieces for choirs, singers, and instruments.

She composed over one hundred pieces between 1925 and 1987. But only twenty-six were published while she was alive. Moore wrote over 50 pieces for choirs. She also wrote 21 songs for solo voice and 18 instrumental pieces. Most of this work happened after 1950. The 1970s were her busiest years for composing.

In 1981, Moore's oratorio Scenes from the Life of a Martyr was first performed. An oratorio is a large musical work for voices and orchestra. This piece was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. It has 16 parts and is about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Moore had planned this piece for at least five years. She thought it was her most important work.

Her Ideas About Music

Undine Smith Moore often spoke about her ideas on the Civil Rights Movement. She also talked about how it affected her music. When she was young, Moore lived through the Jim Crow era. This was a time of unfair laws.

Looking back at her life, she said:

One of the most evil effects of racism in my time was the limits it placed upon the aspirations of blacks, so that though I have been ‘making up’ and creating music all my life, in my childhood or even in college I would not have thought of calling myself a composer or aspiring to be one.

...all liberation is connected… as long as any segment of the society is oppressed… the whole society must suffer.

Moore strongly believed in promoting black music and art. She thought art could be a powerful way to bring about social change. Moore also pointed out that black music and art could be put into stereotypes. This was because of the social problems faced by African-Americans.

She said:

I use the term black music to describe music created mainly by people who call themselves black, and whose compositions in their large or complete body show a frequent, if not preponderant, use of significant elements derived from the Afro-American heritage. ...black music is, in its simplest and broadest terms, simply music written by a black person.

Selected Music Works

Piano Solo

• Valse Caprice (1930)
• Before I'd Be a Slave (1953)

Chamber Ensemble

• Three Pieces for Flute and Piano (1958)
• Afro-American Suite (1969)
• Soweto (1987)

Voice(s) and Piano

• Sir Olaf and the Erl King's Daughter (1925)
• Watch and Pray (1972)
• To be Baptized (1973)
• Lyric for TrueLove (1975)
• Come Down Angels and Trouble the Water (1978)

Chorus

• Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord (1952)
• Tambourines to Glory (1973)
• We Shall Walk through the Valley (1977)

Chorus and Orchestra

• Scenes from the Life of a Martyr (1981)

Recordings

• "Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord", on Steal Away: The African American Concert Spiritual (2016).
• Suite for Flute, Cello, and Piano on Songs for the Soul: Chamber Music by African American Composers (2010).
• "Before I'd be a Slave" on Soulscapes (2007).
• "Mother to Son" (1955), "We Shall Walk Through the Valley" (1977), "Tambourines to Glory" (1973), on Vocalessence Witness - Dance Like the Wind (2004).
• "To Be Baptised" (1973), "Set Down!" (1951), "I Want To Die While You Love Me" (1975), "Come Down Angels" (1978), on Ah! Love, But a Day - Songs and Spirituals of American Women (2000).
• "To be Baptized" and "Watch and Pray". On The Angels Bowed Down: African American Spirituals.
• "Come Down Angels and Trouble the Water" (1978), "I am in Doubt" (1981), "Watch and Pray" (1973), "Love Let the Wind Cry How I Adore Thee" (1961), on Watch and Pray (1994).
• "Tambourines to Glory" and "We Shall Walk through the Valley". On Dance like the Wind: Music of Today's Black Composers.

See also

In Spanish: Undine Smith Moore para niños