August 19, 2025

Poet Lynn Strongin (’59) reflects on her foundational composition studies at Manhattan School of Music.

Interview by Dr. Justin Bischof (BM ’90, MM ’92, DMA ’98)
MSM Alumni Association Chair

Born and raised in New York City in 1939, Lynn began musical studies during WWII on a two-octave piano until she contracted polio at 12, confining her to hospital. She continued to play piano by lying on a plinth in the hospital auditorium. After returning home, she resumed piano lessons, also starting harmony and theory lessons with Ernst Oster and counterpoint lessons with Ronald Murat. She continued onto Manhattan School of Music from 1956-1959 as a composition major. Following those foundational studies at MSM, Lynn decided to focus on composing with words, relocating to California and earning a Master of Arts from Stanford University. As a poet, she has gone on to have 12 books published, as well as works in roughly 30 anthologies and 50 magazines.

Strongin during her studies at MSM.

What inspired you to attend Manhattan School of Music?

Lynn: I was a musical child, teaching myself on a broken two-octave piano during WWII. After polio at age 12, I led a rich inner life. At 17 what I wanted most was to create music rather than perform. So, I prepped all summer with violinist and composer Ronald Murat. I was thrilled to be admitted to the composition courses that autumn. This was the smallest major in the college, dominated by men.

Can you share with us your journey/connection between music and poetry?

Lynn: I went from ward to word. It was a long, often painful journey. Majoring in composition, it was natural for me to start composing poems. Going on to the vibrant Berkeley of the sixties, I met and later worked for Denise Levertov. I carried my rich musical training over into nocturnes, odes: typed lyrics on the open page, rather than staved.

Was there someone during your time at MSM who stood out as a mentor? Please share an experience(s) or some advice you received during your time at MSM that contributed to where you are today.

Lynn: I have two clusters of teachers who inspired me. The first are for the courses all composition majors took. These were Ludmila Ulehla (BM ’47, MM ’48) for ear training and form and analysis; Vittorio Giannini for composition, including the five species of counterpoint, motets, and sonata form; and Nicolas Flagello (BM ’49, MM ’50) for instrumentation and orchestration. Ms. Ulehla could be severe but inculcated in us the need to listen sharply, and to understand the profound impact of form upon the total effect of a piece of music. Finally, Nicolas Flagello taught us the tonal and physical range of each instrument in the modern orchestra, moving on from instrumentation to orchestration. We studied opera scores since he had a special regard for voice. My hospital childhood taught me patience, lying on my back for hours with a drawing board at an angle on a chain hung above my cot overlooking the East River. I transferred this form of copying music to hours at my drawing board in our New York apartment. Work’s lovely discipline colored all my years at MSM.

The second group included Michael Steinberg, vibrant, young who had escaped Nazi Europe on the Kindertransport like one of my composition inspirations, Ursula Mamlok (BM ’57, MM ’58). Steinberg had each student in his class of Modern Music history choose one composer per term to learn in-depth and to later lecture upon with examples.

Columbia’s ‘Super Prof.’ James P. Shenton lectured as through on stage boards. Two women, older than me, became inspirations too. Ursula Mamlok and Juli Nunlist (BM ’61, MM ’64) preceded me in studying under the same ‘Holy Triumvirate’ of teachers.

What advice do you have for our recently graduated class of 2025?

Lynn: My advice is to listen with an ear for form, tone and mood, and to pay attention to all the music you can. ‘Follow your bliss’ [famed author and literature professor] Joseph Campbell advises.