Kemp Stillings

Katharine Kemp Stillings was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and began studying violin from a very early age. She went to Berlin to study with Joseph Joachim, and to Saint Petersburg for further studies with Leopold Auer.[https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp+Stillings&pg=RA6-PA29 "Kemp Stillings Talks of Auer and Russia"] Musical Courier (August 16, 1917): 29.

Stillings performed in Russia and Finland before World War I.{{Cite journal|date=July 26, 1917|title=Kemp Stillings to Make First American Tour|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp%20Stillings&pg=RA3-PA24|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=24}} She played with pianist Frances Nash in 1917 and 1918, in New York and several other American cities, and was a guest soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.{{Cite journal|date=October 4, 1917|title=Frances Nash and Kemp Stillings to be Heard Jointly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp%20Stillings&pg=RA13-PA15|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=15}}{{Cite journal|date=October 6, 1917|title=Frances Nash and Kemp Stillings Already Booked for Long Season|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk80AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp%20Stillings&pg=RA20-PA33|journal=Musical America|volume=26|pages=33}}{{Cite journal|date=December 6, 1917|title=Kemp Stillings' Plans and Bookings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp%20Stillings&pg=RA23-PA29|journal=Musical Courier|volume=75|pages=29}} She toured in South America in 1920.{{Cite journal|date=May 1920|title=Music and Musical Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XB9HAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA167|journal=The Violinist|volume=26|pages=209}}

Stillings became suddenly blind in the 1920s, and after that focused on teaching.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40381612/kemp_stillings_1939/|title=Near-Blindness Halts One Career for Violinist, Launches Another|date=November 5, 1939|work=The Tampa Tribune|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=16|via=Newspapers.com}} "It has been a handicap, but also a blessing," she told an interviewer in 1940. "It has made my critical hearing ever so much more acute. Besides, something like this makes us so human."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40381208/kemp_stillings_1940/|title=Conquest of the Melodic Line|date=May 26, 1940|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=87|via=Newspapers.com}} She was on the faculty at the New Jersey College for Women from 1927 to 1952,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40382350/kemp_stillings_1927/|title=Pupil of Kemp Stillings, N. J. C. Music Instructor, Plays for President Somoza at White House|date=May 14, 1939|work=The Central New Jersey Home News|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}} and taught her own master classes in New York City,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40367578/kemp_stillings_1932/|title=Two Musicians to Present Program for College Club|date=December 6, 1932|work=The Central New Jersey Home News|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}} which were modeled on the pedagogy of Joachim and Auer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40382526/kemp_stillings_1937/|title=Kemp Stillings to Present Master Class in New York|date=September 2, 1937|work=The Central New Jersey Home News|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}} Her students included conductor Walter Eisenberg.{{Cite news|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=ARW19531009-01.2.61&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0--|title=Hit it Hard|date=October 9, 1953|work=The Arrow|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=6|via=Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection}}

Stillings published violin exercise books for children, The Great Adventure (1928), At the Crossroads (1929), and The Giant Talks (1929),{{Cite journal|last=Merz|first=Otto|date=1929|title=Review of The Giant Talks|journal=Music Supervisors' Journal|volume=15|issue=4|pages=98|doi=10.2307/3382335|jstor=3382335|s2cid=144812186|issn=1559-2472}} and wrote compositions with titles like "Take a Little Eighth Note", "Tick Tock", and "Double Meaning".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBNhAAAAIAAJ&q=Kemp%20Stillings&pg=PA223|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions|date=1945|publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office.|pages=152, 223, 228, 240, 680|language=en}} She also took an interest in cookery, sharing recipes for fruit dishes with a newspaper in 1940.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40381930/kemp_stillings_1940/|title=Food Flash! New Recipes for Fruit|last=Turner|first=Grace|date=February 18, 1940|work=The Indianapolis Star|access-date=December 10, 2019|page=63|via=Newspapers.com}}

Kemp Stillings died in 1967, at her home in New York City.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/05/02/83589285.html "Kemp Stillings, 78, Violinist, Teacher"] The New York Times (May 2, 1967): 47.

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• Cora Cooper, [https://www.violinmusicbywomen.com/blog/kemp-stillings-the-famous-violin-teacher-youve-never-heard-of "Kemp Stillings: The Most Famous Violin Teacher You've Never Heard Of"] (May 27, 2012) and [https://www.violinmusicbywomen.com/blog/kemp-stillings-part-2 "Kemp Stillings: Part 2"] (June 7, 2012), [https://www.violinmusicbywomen.com/blog/kemp-stillings-the-finale "Kemp Stillings: The Finale!"] (July 17, 2012), and [https://www.violinmusicbywomen.com/blog/update-on-kemp-stillings-article "Update on Kemp Stillings Article"] (August 14, 2012), at Violin Music by Women: A Graded Anthology . Four blog posts about Stillings.

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Category:1888 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:American violinists

Category:American women classical violinists

Category:American classical violinists

Category:People from Roxbury, Boston

Category:Rutgers University faculty

Category:Blind musicians

Category:American blind people

Category:American musicians with disabilities