Clancy Miller
When Clancy Miller joined Clarke Pfleeger at Glassboro in 1956, the school was already known as a “singing college.” But what Miller accomplished in the next 36 years put the “singing college” on the international choral music map and qualified hundreds of music graduates to make their own singing history in schools, colleges, community choruses and professional performances.

Miller came to Glassboro in 1956 from Army duty as director of the Chapel Choir in Bremerhaven, Germany. Joining the faculty, Miller relished the challenge of building Glassboro’s music program. “When we were finally told we could have a music major, we felt a sense of terrific accomplishment,” he recalls. “But then we knew we would have to create a great program to stand up to all the other prestigious programs in the country. So we all came together and made it happen.”

Progress came at a feverish pace marked by many milestones. Miller founded the college’s first auditioned chorus, the Concert Choir, which would eventually sing on television and for at least three governors, as well as tour throughout the country, and perform at the invitation of prestigious music organizations and under contract with Pepper Music Co., one of the largest music publishers in the world.

In addition to helping craft the music curriculum for the new major, teaching voice and conducting, Miller established the Glassboro State College-Community Chorus, a group of more than 200 voices also known as the Choral Union. “We never worried about hours,” he says, “we just did what needed to be done.”

Miller’s influence on choral music in the state has been extraordinary and his publications benefit even more music educators and conductors across the country.
Miller has twice been president of the American Choral Directors Association and in more than 40 years, he is only the second conductor invited to lead the New Jersey All-State Choir, the New Jersey Region II Chorus and the All-South Jersey Chorus.

Still singing, guest lecturing and conducting, he uses a spade more often than a baton in summer and counts on his vegetables to grow as reliably as he expects voices to perform. Ever the exacting conductor, he alludes to lyrics from Broadway’s The Fantasticks, a musical he and his wife, Lois, have enjoyed: “I like gardening because when you plant a radish, you get a radish.” With Miller in charge of the garden, a fine performance is certain.

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Alumni can help keep the music program strong through support of scholarship funds and other investments. Donations can be made in honor of retired faculty or as unrestricted gifts to the music program. Call Anne Hagan at 856-256-5402 or visit the Rowan University Foundation.