n
update on the indomitable Sister Hilary, aka "The Nun with the Golden
Horn." Hilary, who just celebrated her golden jubilee, has continuity in
the band program for parochial schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the
diocese of Baton Rouge, which she serves from Rosaryville. She deserves credit
for starting off hundreds of musicians through the years, some of whom have
achieved fame in their own right.
Written by Peter Finney Jr., August 4, 2007. Reprinted with
permission from the Clarion Herald.
 |
| DOMINICAN Sister Hilary Simpson has been
playing the trumpet since she was 5 and directing the archdiocesan band program
since 1967. (Photos by Peter Finey
Jr.) |
Hilary Simpson was a typically curious 5-year-old in the 1940s
when she picked up her father Sig's trumpet for the first time. During WWII, big
band and swing music dominated the radio airwaves, and Sig Simpson played
professionally with a group that performed each Sunday afternoon on WWL radio.
"It was just lying around the house, and it was pretty
battered – the front bell was held on with a piece of tape," she said.
Six decades later, the little girl from Gentilly who became fascinated with her
father's trumpet and later became known at Loyola University as "The Nun
with the Golden Horn" is still blowing clarion notes and spreading the
gospel of joyful instrumental music with elementary school students throughout
the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Dominican sister, who graduated from St.
Mary's Dominican High School and Loyola University and earned her master's at
Louisiana State University, has been an assistant and then director of the
archdiocesan band program since 1967.
Although she never performed with the Golden Band from Tigerland,
she did perform during the summers at LSU's outdoor amphitheater every Tuesday
night.
"They were called the Tuesday Night Starlight
Concerts," Sister Hilary said. "I played in my full habit. It was
awful – you talk about wilting. I ran into one of the teachers at Dominican
High School one day and she told me, 'I know who you are because my parents used
to bring me to those Tuesday night concerts.' We'd play a mix of tunes. We
always started off with 'Stardust' and we did a variety, from (Richard) Wagner
to (Duke) Ellington."
Sister Hilary's love of music has shaped her religious ministry.
For the last 27 years she has run a one-week summer band camp at Rosaryville
that brings together eager musicians in fourth through eighth grades. They
practice for five days and then play a Saturday concert for parents and
relatives.
"We offer them the opportunity for individual, ensemble and
full band experiences," Sister Hilary said. "We approach them at their
own performance level. One of the main purposes is to reinforce what their
teachers are teaching them on a day-to-day basis. The concert really surprises
the parents."
Sister Hilary says every research study she has seen indicates
students who participate in some kind of music program perform better in school.
"Students who have musical experience, especially on band
instruments and the keyboard, test higher on standardized tests in
general," Sister Hilary said. "It's memorization, discipline and
hand-eye coordination."
Sister Hilary began the archdiocesan band program in five
Dominican-staffed elementary schools and then expanded it throughout the
archdiocese. There are now 32 schools in the archdiocese and another six in the
Baton Rouge Diocese participating. The curriculum usually provides for two
classes a week. About 1,200 students participate in pre-band programs for
second- and third-graders and full band for third- through eighth-graders.
 |
| DURING THE mid-1960s, Sister Hilary and
nuns from eight different congregations got together for a concer at St. Mary's
Dominican High School. THey were joined by several professional players who
filled in some needed parts. "I still play for special congretational
occasions and once in a while for national conventions," she says.
(Photo by John E. Kuhlman) |
Among the hundreds of students who have gone on to teach band or
play professionally or for enjoyment, Sister Hilary has a soft spot in her heart
for one of her first students – New Orleans trumpeter Leroy Jones, who
attended St. Leo the Great School and has played first trumpet for Harry Connick
Jr. and performed internationally. "He practiced more than anybody
else," Sister Hilary said. "Leroy would take out his trumpet at recess
time, and all then kids would gather around and listen to him. That young man
has never put out a recording without acknowledging his experiences and his
beginnings at St. Leo."
Music education also has a way of nurturing a child's soul,
Sister Hilary said. "We can teach them the God's goodness, beauty and
truth," she said. "It puts them in touch with the aesthetic part of
our being and touches the soul."
