David Glismann
It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of Director of Choral & Vocal Activities at Grossmont College instructor, David Glismann. David was a faculty member for many years in the Grossmont College Music Department and is deeply missed.
BIO
David Glismann
(1923 -2015)
(written by daughter, Heidi Lynn)
For 20 years beginning in 1970, David Glismann was the driving force behind the choral department at Grossmont Community College. He conducted the 90 voice Concert Choir, a 40 voice Chamber Singers and the Grossmont Chorale. Voice, piano and theory classes rounded out his full teaching schedule. Under David's direction, the choirs and orchestra performed dozens of masterworks, chief among them, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. Many of his students went on to enjoy highly successful music careers in San Diego and elsewhere.
Born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma in 1923, David spent his life in the belief that the world was improved by the presence of music, especially vocal. He received his Bachelor's Degree in vocal performance from Northwestern University and graduated with a Master's in Music Education from Columbia University. While in New York, David spent several years singing on radio and television with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians and as baritone soloist for several New York churches. Moving to Los Angeles to pursue doctoral studies at UCLA and USC, David began his teaching career at UCLA and became assistant to the renowned conductor Roger Wagner. For the next thirty plus years, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Los Angeles City College and finally at Grossmont Community College, David championed the art of singing, establishing choral programs that endure to this day.
Active as a church choir director, David's passion for excellence in church music was unparalleled. He held Minister of Music positions at some of the prominent churches in the Western region of the U.S., including Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Boulder Presbyterian Church, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and La Canada Presbyterian Church in La Canada. When David joined the faculty of Grossmont College in 1970, he also became the choir director at College Park Presbyterian (now Faith Presbyterian Church) and after a dozen or so years left there and joined the staff at First Presbyterian Church of El Cajon where he directed the choir until his retirement. David believed in the indisputable capacity of music to enhance worship and its ability to bring people closer to God. It was his life's work.
He had a genuinely unique blueprint for making music; to approach it as honestly and as enthusiastically as humanly possible. He truly believed everyone could sing and if you'd give it a try, he was positive you'd love it--pure and simple!
David Glismann is survived by Etheleen, his wife of 35 years, his daughters Heidi Lynn and Heather Stone, grandson Andrew Stone, and Etheleen's children, Scott and Rex Carroll and Barbara O'Carroll.
"THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC”
― Kurt Vonnegut
David Glismann's Memorial Service was held Saturday April 18th at Foothills United Methodist Church in La Mesa: