Office Hours WITH PAUL NITSCH, D.M.A.
Te Carolyn G. McMahon Professor of Piano and Macavity Artist in Residence
Paul Nitsch, D.M.A. came to Queens in 1977 and has enjoyed a rich career of teaching music to students at Queens and throughout the community. Te Carolyn G. McMahon Professor of Piano and Macavity Artist in Residence resides on the second floor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, where there is ample space for two seven-foot grand pianos and a harpsichord, non-negotiables for a piano professor. Te 600-square-foot office also features a large window for Phil, Nitsch’s 43-year-old philodendron. “Everyone is really nice [at Myers Park
Presbyterian Church],” Nitsch said. I’m incredibly grateful, and I play for the choir a little bit, trying to be a good citizen.”
1. Phil, Nitsch’s 43-year-old philodendron, was in a package of plant seeds a student gave him for Christmas in 1978. Phil is the only one who survived out of the pack, and most of the credit for his longevity goes to Elizabeth Apple, one of Nitsch’s piano students. Apple, a stroke survivor, has studied with Nitsch for the last twelve years. Taking ownership of the plant, she replants Phil in a bigger pot about every three years.
2. The seven-foot-long Yamaha grand piano in Nitsch’s office arrived at Queens rather serendipitously circa 1985. Nitsch’s friend, the late David Pocock, had a brother who needed to sell it because it wouldn’t fit in his new home, and though Nitsch couldn’t buy it personally at the time, he thought that perhaps Queens could. He made an offer of $7,000 ($1,000 for each foot), knowing it was worth much more than that and proceeded to ask the late George Stegner, chair of the department of music at the time, how Queens could buy it. They made an agreement that Queens would purchase it and that Friends of Music at Queens would raise money to refund Queens for the purchase. It took approximately three years to pay off the debt.
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3. Nitsch’s whimsical Kit-Kat Klock is famous, as he’s had one in his office for as long as he can remember. It all began one Christmas when Nitsch and his friend, again the late David Pocock, were driving out to Colorado for the holidays because Nitsch’s family lived in the same town as Pocock’s wife’s family. They stopped at Foristell, a truck stop in Missouri, that happened to be filled with Kit-Kat Klocks. The two didn’t have enough money to buy one at the time, but they managed to purchase one on the way back. When his clocks break, Nitsch simply orders a new one from the internet. So far, he’s had a
red, black, white and yellow clock prior to his current green one.
4. Pinned to the bulletin board in Nitsch’s office is a poster promoting a performance by Malek Jandali ’97. Jandali, who is the inaugural Carolyn G. McMahon Composer in Residence at Queens, studied under Nitsch and received the Outstanding Musical Performer award from the university in 1997.
5. About 25 years ago, Nitsch visited a camera store on Central
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