miss armenta’s story in her own words

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE GATEWAYS MUSICIANS IN 2015

Thank you for coming to make the Gateways Music Festival a success. As its founder, allow me to share with all of you some of the experiences that helped in its creation.

Seventy-nine years ago, my mother was rushed to the hospital to give birth to me a month prematurely. That was the night Joe Louis, the great black hope of the sports world, had been knocked out by German boxer, Max Schmelling, who reportedly made disparaging remarks about Black people. It was more than my mother could take. She went instantly into labor. Having been born in crisis, I was then named "Armenta." That was a misspelled version of “Araminta” which is on my birth certificate. “Araminta” was Harriet Tubman's given name also. Now my legal name is Armenta Adams Hummings Dumisani, but I prefer to just be addressed as “Miss Armenta.” I think mom had the best name for me.

My parents, Albert and Estella Adams were amateur church musicians who played both violin and piano. Recordings of great musicians were played in the home on the old hand-cranked Victrola. I heard Marian Anderson, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler and others. At ages 4 and 7, my parents kept the home in Cleveland, Ohio, but took my brother Elwyn and me to Boston during the school year to study in the New England Conservatory’s preparatory division. My mother, who had only a third grade, one-room schoolhouse education, took lessons also and learned to play the classical composers. She was honored posthumously during the 2007 Gateways Music Festival. My brother graduated from the New England Conservatory and went on to win the Queen Elizabeth Competition for violin. My father, Albert Adams, also possessed creativity. He could disassemble a car and put it back together again. He built a brick home in Cleveland from scrap material taken from another larger home that had been torn down and started an automatic laundry business doing all of the plumbing himself.

The Boston experience taught me more than music. When I became a teenager my piano teacher, anxious to fit into Beacon Hill society, insisted on my walking behind her carrying a package so that our association would be socially understandable. But she was also a part of the “underground railroad” in that she taught me so well that I could decide at age fifteen to audition for Juilliard and, having sent for its catalog, learned many of the requirements on my own. I stayed in touch with her for forty years until she died.

To enroll at Juilliard, there were three days of exams beginning with the entrance exam and ending with the scholarship exam performance. My mother and I stayed three days in Grand Central Station showing a return ticket to any officer wanting to see one. My years at Juilliard were full of challenges, but they were nothing compared to what I would have to do to live as a Black artist after graduation. My international travel began with an invitation to be a part of the independence ceremonies of Sierra Leone West Africa. I had an opportunity to visit the University of Nigeria and saw a Black orchestra for the first time. I borrowed a violin and sat in reading a Haydn symphony. That made an indelible impression on my mind. I also had a chance to visit jungle areas where all is in the natural order. The fact that natural solutions work has stayed with me to this day. I take no medication.

When Juilliard began its doctoral program, I was invited to participate but declined to do so for the same reason I have never pursued a doctorate: Valuable time would have been spent explaining what I saw as a problem and even more time would have been spent discussing how best to fix it. Deciding not to pursue a doctorate has financial repercussions.

Prior to coming to the Eastman School of Music, I taught at Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T and Winston-Salem State University. Dr. Robert Freeman, who was then the Director of the Eastman School of Music, allowed me to write my own job description which I accepted along with a salary that amounted to little more than a stipend.

I refused the use of a studio on the Eastman campus because the black community did not have a positive view of Eastman and did not come there. The black graduates had not been back to the school. In order to reach the black community, and because I could not sustain reliable transportation for my instruments, I ended up walking to the sites, sometimes in severe weather, pushing a shopping cart and also pulling one with a cello strapped to my back After the departure of Dean Robert Freeman, funding for the Gateways Music Festival fell from $75,000 to $10,000. I was grateful for the $10,000 and asked the community to embrace the Festival and the rest is history.

Recruiting and listening to musicians across the country also was a challenge. I would buy a ten-day pass for a Greyhound bus and crisscross the country if necessary never going to bed. I have collapsed three times while working with the festival and am grateful to see it doing well without me.

My married name “Hummings” I share with my sons, who revere my now-deceased spouse. The name Dumisani means to praise God in the South African Zulu language.

No one can talk to me for long without my mentioning God. Give me a break. I came out of the Amen corner!

Miss Armenta
August 2015

THE SIDE EFFECTS OF MUSIC LESSONS

I came from a musical family. My parents were church musicians. Numerous aunts, uncles and cousins sang and played instruments. Recordings of great artists such as Jascha Heifetz, Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes and Fritz Kreisler were played in the home. They observed how my older brother, Elwyn, reacted to the violin recordings and began the process of nurturing that instinct. Three years younger, I took up the habit of "accompanying him," banging on the piano just to be part of the happenings. I was very enamored of the music I heard on recordings and on the radio but had no plans to be on stage. That was never my dream. There was some resentment in my early years because I did not understand what my parents’ dream of their son becoming a great violinist had to do with my having to take lessons on the piano as well as the violin. We had a church orchestra in which I played the violin. It was foresighted of them not to limit their children's knowledge of instruments to just one. My brother was able to accompany students when he later began to teach. My first job at Florida A&M University was the result of my being able to not only teach piano but also strings and chamber music. The reason why I had to take piano lessons instead of just continue banging on the piano became clear only after I was faced with raising my oldest son, Amadi, who liked nothing except music. He had to have a musical home in which to grow. The same questions came up in my other three sons' minds. Why are we learning to play instruments? They are now aware of one of music's most important side effects and that is the “D-word” – discipline.  They now appreciate the discipline music training gave them. They played piano/organ, violin, cello, trombone and sang in the Salem College Boys Choir. I remember being very concerned about my twins, Martin and Marcus, singing suddenly off key. Their voices had dropped and I had not noticed it. Once they got their range established they went on singing gloriously on pitch.

The side effect of holding families together is not to be minimized. The side effect of facing a challenge that requires all of your mental, physical and emotional control is transferable to other scenarios. It is an international language that breaks down geographical barriers. Having an international career and being able to see the world made me appreciate my early piano lessons. The price tag for success in the field of classical music is extremely high. My parents were willing to do their part. 

I ran across an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer about my family. It was entitled The Model Family and said “The heartwarming story of the Albert Adams family is an inspiring account of parents deeply aware of responsibilities that go with the custody of children. From humble backgrounds themselves, Albert Adams and his wife Estella quickly recognized in their children musical talents that, with development, gave promise of successful professional careers for son and daughter. With determination and unending sacrifice that required the parents to live apart for 10 months of the year for 16 years, Albert and his wife saw their daughter Armenta, a pianist, and their son, Elwyn, a violinist, reach high peaks of musicianship as concert artists of international fame. Not all children have talent, but all fathers and mothers would do well to pattern their careers as parents after that of this devoted mother and father. They saw to it that their children had every opportunity, no matter what the sacrifice, to make the most of their time and abilities to fit themselves for a useful place in society. 

To be continued… 

Armenta

One day I woke up, married with four sons to raise three of whom were in diapers. That ended my original desire to have 15 children.  Because I had embraced the mind-boggling challenge of performing Bach's Goldberg variations, I equated my plight with the performing of those thirty variations. If I could play four independent musical voices, perhaps I could raise four small children at once also. I will share the practical application of that theory in another setting. I did receive a mother’s day card from one of my sons that read "what does it take to be a good mom?” Several answers were offered such as a good cook, a psychologist, a nurse, etc. But the punch line was "a bullwhip and a chair." I think that meant I was forgiven. All parents need to be.

 FROM MUSIC LESSONS TO HEALTH

The side effect that took fifty-plus years to surface is the ability to be cognizant of the laws of nature which allow our bodies to perform the miracles they are designed to perform. There are no gimmicks involved. Bottom line is that being a freelance artist for most of my professional career, I did not have the health care benefits most people take for granted. The financial challenges of not having a steady job made me totally responsible for my survival. There was no way to fix the damage, only prevention was available. I do not have to reiterate a healthy lifestyle. Enough has been written about diet, exercise and positive thinking. Looking back on my life as a young adult, a mother of four sons who also were not adequately covered in terms of health care, and my present life as a senior citizen. I can point to just a few choices that have paid off for me and my sons. The use of natural remedies, immersion in physical activity (tennis, biking, baseball, basketball, football and swimming) and the spiritual habit of loving one's neighbors. Whenever I bought for my children, I bought for all of their friends. My children never knew we were living below the poverty level because I was a hands-on mom and did not work outside of the home. Being well requires the ability to appreciate whatever you have and to love even those who do not love you. I now look back over fifty years I have not had any medicine of any kind, prescribed or over the counter,  I am thankful for the gift of insight into what is required to make the most of one's natural healing power. My newest interests are climbing mountains, chess, and making videos of those musical works I have loved all of my life. I am presently training to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2014. That sounds a bit extreme, but music and mountains have something in common, the application of discipline. This country now has health problems that cannot be ignored.  Since the birth of my twins, I have lost eighty pounds that will not be returning. I am sharing my journey for the express purpose of giving my experience to anyone who wants or needs it.

DUMISANI

A South African name in the Zulu language that means "praise god."  No one talks to me for long before I begin to talk about God’s blessings. I believe that one's relationship with God is the most important part of his or her life. I was raised in the amen corner. Musicians often become ministers because they are looking for the ultimate level of perfection started with the demands of music. I do not plan to become a minister, but I do want to express my joy at being spared to live a life without pain and still be productive. And now I am done.