Frances D. Johnson, 1904
B.A., Denison University
Parkersburg, W.Va.
Citation awarded on Saturday, June 6, 1959
Frances D. Johnson has spent a lifetime devoted to the discovery and development of musical talent as a private teacher of piano.
After her training at Denison, Miss Johnson studied for a year in New York City with Ellen Ransom, while at the same time teaching in the David Mannes Music School Settlement. Returning to her home community, she has continued through 54 uninterrupted years, longer than any other Denison Conservatory graduate, to develop in her pupils the fundamental musicianship which must be acquired at an early age if later musical competence is to be achieved. Her students have gone on to college conservatories and prominent musical careers. In the depression year of 1929 she introduced the teaching of group piano in the public schools so that music education could continue despite economic conditions. She still meets with a large class in her home.
