In 1991, more than 30 years after completing her last class at BSC, Marilyn Rowell ’60 took her first class at BSC’s Conservatory of Fine and Performing Arts.

“I just had that yearning inside to come back. It had been that way for a couple of years,” Rowell says of what inspired her to begin taking piano lessons. “I knew the reputation of the Conservatory was excellent, and I felt that I would get excellent training and begin to learn again. I wanted to truly learn the notes, the composers, and the dynamics.”

Even after taking lessons each fall and spring semester since she began at the Conservatory in 1991, Rowell is driven to learn more. She took piano for eight years as a child, but the lessons didn’t challenge her. At BSC, she works through baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary styles, and always feels like there’s more for her to explore and master.

Her late husband Dr. Andy Rowell ’61 encouraged her to take up lessons again, having always loved music himself. When he served as the Midfield Board of Education superintendent, he hired a church choir director to teach the high school music class when the program lost funding.

For their 50^th wedding anniversary, Rowell’s husband bought her a baby grand piano. She often practices on it, though she sometimes goes back to the 1947 Baldwin Acrosonic spinet piano that sits in her “room of antiques.” The spinet, a gift from her parents, was the one she played as a child.

Rowell used to play often at Westwood Baptist Church, and still does every now and then. If she had not taken lessons at the Conservatory, she says she never would have sought out the opportunity to play piano at her church.

The BSC Conservatory, which has been a part of the music department for more than 120 years, makes college-level music lessons available to students of all ages. No matter the experience level or musical interest, Conservatory Director Lucy Victory can pair students with the right teachers and performance opportunities.

“I didn’t have the confidence to play as much prior to taking lessons again,” Rowell says. “It didn’t satisfy. I wanted to get back into it, but I needed the nudge, inspiration, and patience from a teacher.”

This story was published in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of ’Southern, BSC’s alumni magazine.

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