Ryan Turner
MUSIC
"Music may be the ultimate Harkness conversation."
B.M. Southern Methodist University; M.M. Boston Conservatory. Appointed 2006.
On Harkness teaching: "A community of musicians working together could be the definitive model of what Harkness is," says Turner, who was the tenor soloist at Carnegie Hall in Handel's Messiah in December 2008. "I want to lead a rehearsal where there is no speaking allowed by anyone, including myself, to test the idea that music is the ultimate Harkness conversation."
"Listening is an essential part of the Harkness method, and the most important thing you do as a singer."
Why Exeter: "There's such a tight-knit community of artists and intellectual minds that you're constantly learning something. Exeter offers many opportunities to be enlightened beyond your own field of expertise. It's as simple as going to Assembly, Meditation or a reading by the Lamont poet. Or walking on the pathway, seeing someone you know, and stopping to say hello."
Why he loves teaching: "At Exeter, we have a community of people going out for the same musical goal. Other than perhaps dance, I know of no activity besides music that combines intellectual ability, physical coordination and emotional connections. All three have to happen at same time, over a space of time, during a designated time."
Turner, who previously taught at the college level, loves the energy and enthusiasm of Exeter students. "They read music well and they like the challenge of complex music."
"The students give me great ideas – about bonding activities, what do to in rehearsals and new ways to approach the music. Yesterday, for example, the sopranos met for a rehearsal. We started spinning around to relax before singing. We were able to block out everything else and just focus on singing. It was great."
Teaching high point: Taking the Concert Choir and Chamber Orchestra on tour in California. Hear excerpts from the concert…
Other hats: Turner advises all of Exeter's a cappella singing groups, the Opera Appreciation Club, and is concert manager for the Music Department.
Off-campus he conducts the Concord Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, is a frequent guest conductor of Boston's Emmanuel Music, and freelances as a tenor soloist with orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.
For fun, he plays basketball with "The Lunch Buckets," a group of Exeter faculty and staff. Turner and his wife, Susan Consoli Turner, adjunct faculty in the Music Department and performing soprano, love to garden and kayak in local rivers.
Learn more about music at Exeter...
Watch student performances...
