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Since the late 19th century, Rochester students have sung about 鈥渕any fair and famous streams鈥 as they give voice to 鈥淭he Genesee,鈥 Rochester鈥檚 alma mater. Most know it by heart.
But Jocelyn Trueblood 鈥66 keeps a copy tucked away in her genealogy papers. That鈥檚 because she is the great-granddaughter of its musical arranger, Herve Dwight Wilkins, who graduated from Rochester a century before her, in 1866, and became a church organist and music teacher in Rochester. He based the tune on an old English melody, and it has ever since accompanied the words of poet Thomas Swinburne, a member of the Class of 1892 who spent five years at Rochester but didn鈥檛 complete his degree.

Trueblood鈥檚 mother told her about the family鈥檚 musical history shortly before Trueblood left for college. Since then, she has read an account of Wilkins鈥攚ritten by his daughter, and her great-aunt, in November 1913, the year Wilkins died鈥攆rom which she learned of his belief in the 鈥渆xpressive power of music as a vehicle and aid to worship.鈥
You could say it struck a chord. 鈥淚 see music as an aid to meditation, to peacefulness within me, and in that way, I feel very connected to him, this creative force,鈥 says Trueblood, who majored in English and minored in psychology. 鈥淚 feel very grateful to him for passing that on.鈥
In 2009, she retired from a 30-year career in mental health in New York City. And now, as it has for years, music suffuses her life. For all four years on campus, she sang in the Women鈥檚 Glee Club, and she took piano lessons at the Eastman School of Music for credit. Now living in Tappan, New York, she continues to sing in a local choral group, although she says other members don鈥檛 necessarily share her reverence for timing, dynamics, and diction鈥攁 rigor honed at the University by Ward Woodbury Jr., the first director of music on the River 人妻少妇专区. She also once was directed in one of his own works by the legendary Howard Hanson鈥攆amed as a composer, conductor, and music educator, he led the Eastman School for 40 years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a joyful seriousness,鈥 Trueblood says. 鈥淚 love to be in the zone and not thinking about anything but the music that鈥檚 in front of me.鈥
Her great-grandfather likely knew that feeling well, too.
鈥擱obin L. Flanigan