Nellie Cornish
Encyclopedia
Nellie Centennial Cornish (1876 - 1956) was a pianist, teacher, writer, and founder of the Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts
) in Seattle, Washington. She was influenced by the pedagogical ideas of Maria Montessori
as well as Calvin Brainerd Cady's ideas about teaching broader values through music education. Martha Graham
described her as "a small, round, plump little lady with the dynamism of a rocket". She founded the Cornish School in 1914 and served as the school's director for the next 25 years. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago.
Her middle name reflects the year of her birth, the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.
and then in Blaine, Washington
, as the daughter of the town's first mayor, lawyer Nathan Arlington Cornish. In her early teens, she lived about half a year in Portland, Oregon
, where she studied piano under Ebenezer Cook, a teacher of strong local reputation. Shortly after, her father's fortunes and her mother's health began to fail. Her parents moved to Spokane, Washington
, where her mother died two years later; Nellie stayed in Blaine much of that time, teaching fourth grade although still in her teens. Her father remarried to a woman she did not like, leading to a break with him. In her early twenties, she gave music lessons and did other tutoring in northwestern Oregon
.
She moved to Seattle in 1900, and took a studio in 1902 in the Holyoke Building (the center of Seattle music instruction at the time), which gave her a chance to meet nearly all of the city's leading music teachers. In 1904, she traveled to Boston
for the summer to learn the Evelyn Fletcher-Copp's Montessori
-influenced method of teaching piano to young children. From this, she evolved her own technique of teaching.
By 1911, when she left for Los Angeles, California
to study for six weeks with Calvin Brainerd Cady, she was a very well-established Seattle music teacher, with a suite of five studio rooms and two assistants. (She would later hire Cady as a faculty member at the Cornish School.) She returned to Seattle and modified her approach to teaching to incorporate Cady's ideas about using music education to impart a broader spiritual approach to life in general. However, the combination of disappointment in romance and a reconciliation with her father led her to turn over her studio to one of her assistants, Martha Sackett, and join her father in Alturas, California
, where he had somewhat recovered his fortune. A plan for father and daughter to travel together to Europe was scotched by the outbreak of World War I
; plans to study in New York City
also fell through, as did an effort to establish herself in Salt Lake City.
She returned to Seattle
, where she founded the Cornish School in 1914. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago. The curriculum soon expanded to include subjects as diverse as eurhythmics
, French language
, painting
, dance
(folk
and ballet
), and theater. She went on to serve as the school's director for the next 25 years.
Although she often moved among the rich and famous, Cornish did not have any particularly large sum of her own money, and was at times totally broke. Neither Cornish not the school itself owned the custom-built 1921 building now known as Kerry Hall: the school was a tenant renting the building, which in turn was rather heavily mortgaged by the group of supporters who owned it. In 1923, the entire financial arrangement nearly came crashing down, and only some last minute donations prevented the school from having to move to Los Angeles. The next year, the realty company that owned the building converted itself into a foundation to support the school, and took on its debts. However, there was no endowment, and finances remained precarious even through what Cornish called the school's "golden years" in the mid-1920s. This remained the case even after the mortgage was paid off and the building donated to the school in 1929, and financial difficulties inevitably grew during the Great Depression
. The Board neither raised an endowment nor otherwise put the school on a financial footing that would allow it to do more than "tread water." Ultimately, this led Cornish to resign her position as head of the school in 1939.
After leaving her school, Cornish spent three years of "rest and gardening" in California; spent half a year in an unsuccessful New York-based venture to improve children's radio programming; and then spent four years as head of the Pittsfield Community Music School (Pittsfield, Massachusetts
). She spent her last years mainly in California, and sometimes in Seattle.
Cornish never married. According to Nancy Wilson Ross, "Twice she was deeply in love and lost the men to other women…" She adopted the orphaned Elena Miramova
as her daughter.
.
Cornish College of the Arts
-Library:The library at Cornish College specializes in art, dance, design, music, performance production, and theatre. As of 2011 it holds 4700 CDs, 40,000 books, has 2,200 videos, and subscribes to 154 periodicals...
) in Seattle, Washington. She was influenced by the pedagogical ideas of Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
as well as Calvin Brainerd Cady's ideas about teaching broader values through music education. Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
described her as "a small, round, plump little lady with the dynamism of a rocket". She founded the Cornish School in 1914 and served as the school's director for the next 25 years. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago.
Her middle name reflects the year of her birth, the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.
Life and work
Born November 1876 in Nebraska, she grew up first in Arlington, OregonArlington, Oregon
Arlington is a city in Gilliam County, Oregon, United States. The account of how this city received its name varies: one tradition claims it was named after the lawyer Nathan Arlington Cornish; another tradition claims that the Southern inhabitants of this city had enough clout to rename the city...
and then in Blaine, Washington
Blaine, Washington
Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canadian border. Blaine is the shared home of the Peace Arch international monument...
, as the daughter of the town's first mayor, lawyer Nathan Arlington Cornish. In her early teens, she lived about half a year in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, where she studied piano under Ebenezer Cook, a teacher of strong local reputation. Shortly after, her father's fortunes and her mother's health began to fail. Her parents moved to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, where her mother died two years later; Nellie stayed in Blaine much of that time, teaching fourth grade although still in her teens. Her father remarried to a woman she did not like, leading to a break with him. In her early twenties, she gave music lessons and did other tutoring in northwestern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
for the summer to learn the Evelyn Fletcher-Copp's Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
-influenced method of teaching piano to young children. From this, she evolved her own technique of teaching.
By 1911, when she left for Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to study for six weeks with Calvin Brainerd Cady, she was a very well-established Seattle music teacher, with a suite of five studio rooms and two assistants. (She would later hire Cady as a faculty member at the Cornish School.) She returned to Seattle and modified her approach to teaching to incorporate Cady's ideas about using music education to impart a broader spiritual approach to life in general. However, the combination of disappointment in romance and a reconciliation with her father led her to turn over her studio to one of her assistants, Martha Sackett, and join her father in Alturas, California
Alturas, California
Alturas is the county seat of Modoc County, California, United States. Alturas is located on the Pit River, east of the center of Modoc County, at an elevation of 4370 feet...
, where he had somewhat recovered his fortune. A plan for father and daughter to travel together to Europe was scotched by the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
; plans to study in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
also fell through, as did an effort to establish herself in Salt Lake City.
She returned to Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, where she founded the Cornish School in 1914. Within three years it had enrolled over 600 students, and was the country's largest music school west of Chicago. The curriculum soon expanded to include subjects as diverse as eurhythmics
Eurhythmics
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, also known as the Dalcroze Method or simply Eurhythmics, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method, Orff Schulwerk, Simply Music and Suzuki Method used to teach music education to students. Eurhythmics was developed in the early 20th century by...
, French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
(folk
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
), and theater. She went on to serve as the school's director for the next 25 years.
Although she often moved among the rich and famous, Cornish did not have any particularly large sum of her own money, and was at times totally broke. Neither Cornish not the school itself owned the custom-built 1921 building now known as Kerry Hall: the school was a tenant renting the building, which in turn was rather heavily mortgaged by the group of supporters who owned it. In 1923, the entire financial arrangement nearly came crashing down, and only some last minute donations prevented the school from having to move to Los Angeles. The next year, the realty company that owned the building converted itself into a foundation to support the school, and took on its debts. However, there was no endowment, and finances remained precarious even through what Cornish called the school's "golden years" in the mid-1920s. This remained the case even after the mortgage was paid off and the building donated to the school in 1929, and financial difficulties inevitably grew during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The Board neither raised an endowment nor otherwise put the school on a financial footing that would allow it to do more than "tread water." Ultimately, this led Cornish to resign her position as head of the school in 1939.
After leaving her school, Cornish spent three years of "rest and gardening" in California; spent half a year in an unsuccessful New York-based venture to improve children's radio programming; and then spent four years as head of the Pittsfield Community Music School (Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
). She spent her last years mainly in California, and sometimes in Seattle.
Cornish never married. According to Nancy Wilson Ross, "Twice she was deeply in love and lost the men to other women…" She adopted the orphaned Elena Miramova
Elena Miramova
-Beginnings and training:Elena Miramova was born in 1901 in Tsaritsyn, Russian Empire , and emigrated to New York City with a brother who died when she was eleven years old...
as her daughter.
Other achievements
In 1921, Cornish led a successful fundraising drive to save the Seattle SymphonySeattle Symphony
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra's season runs from September through July, and serves as the pit orchestra for most productions of the Seattle Opera in addition to its own concerts...
.