Nan Trammell Herring Music Pavilion

One of the extra benefits of studying music at Furman is our in-house music library. With its impressive collection of music research materials, online databases and multimedia computer classrooms, the Robert J. Maxwell Music Media Center and Library offers a wealth of resources rarely found in a school our size. It creates a fertile environment for the study and creation of music, projects, and documents.

An extension of Furman’s main library, all music books, scores, recordings, curriculum, and periodicals can be found within the Nan Trammell Herring Music Pavilion. Along with several rows of gliding stacks, the library offers students a multi-station listening lab and a row of research computers. We also provide access to international music databases and an impressive array of monthly and quarterly publications.

In addition, the Maxwell Library has two multimedia classrooms: the Becky Tapp Daniels Classroom and the Edna Hartness Multimedia Seminar Room. The Becky Tapp Daniels Classroom is a 16-station computer lab and research center, each station complete with Korg X5 keyboard, iMac computer, and software such as Finale, GarageBand, Audacity, and Practica Musica. The teacher’s station, which is also available to advanced students after hours, has a Korg SGPro keyboard, Mackie 1202 mixer, MOTU 828 FireWire digital audio interface, and additional software, including Reason and Live. A presentation teaching system completes the classroom.

The Edna Hartness Multimedia Seminar Room is home to Furman’s Yamaha Disklavier piano and a full-featured workstation consisting of Mac Pro computer MOTU 828 digital audio interface, Korg SGPro keyboard, Mackie 2404 console, miscellaneous outboard gear, Tascam DA30MKII DAT, VHS and CD decks, Tannoy speakers, and Rode, AKG and Shure microphones. Software includes ProTools, Ableton Live, Digital Performer, Max/MSP, and Finale. The seminar room hosts a 5.1-channel surround-sound audio playback system, and also functions as the control booth for recordings made in the adjacent Elizabeth Stone Harper Hall, with complete audio and video monitoring capabilities.

The home of our choral ensembles is much more than a rehearsal hall. It’s actually a multimedia classroom, choral music library, recording studio, performance space, and rehearsal venue rolled into one.

Three portraits are seen in Rhame foyer: Nan Trammell Herring, as described above; Dr. DuPre Rhame, founder of Furman Singers in 1946 and Furman Singers director until 1970; and Dr. Bingham Vick Jr., (right) director of Furman Singers from 1970 to 2010.

The plaque next to the Herring portrait describes the cherished choral tradition of “Brown Eyes.” Sung at the close of every Furman Singers concert, “Brown Eyes” was a favorite folksong that Nan Trammell Herring learned while attending Greenville Women’s College in the late 1920s. She later introduced the song to the campus at a basketball halftime. DuPre Rhame, director of the Men’s Glee Club, arranged and copyrighted “Brown Eyes” in 1935.

There is a beautiful stained glass window on display in Rhame foyer and was presented to the Music Department by members of the class of 1956 in recognition of their 50th reunion. Relocated to the Herring Music Pavilion in 2006, the leaded window originally hung in Judson Alumni Hall, completed in 1900. Two metal sculptures were presented to the Music Department by Irwin Belk of Charlotte: one is Viola, located in Rhame foyer, the other, Harp, located outside at the sidewalk entry.