Million dollar pledge to USC’s School of Music

In the hearts and minds of those associated with the music program at the University of South Carolina, James K. Copenhaver was already special.

He was demanding. He was frugal. And he cared.

Copenhaver, 68, gave his life to USC’s School of Music, serving as director of bands for 34 years. Thursday, he gave more — a $1 million pledge to the university that will be used to pay for scholarships for music students.

It is the largest gift in the School of Music’s history, and, according to those who know Copenhaver, it is entirely in keeping with his dedication to the music program at USC.

Tayloe Harding, dean of the music school, called the gift “transformative.”

“Jim Copenhaver’s generosity will ensure that more students have the opportunity to pursue a college education with band music at its heart and also will establish a means for perpetuating excellence in band music performance in a way that matters most to Jim,” Harding said.

At a press conference USC organized to announce the gift, Copenhaver demonstrated that he is not a man of flowery excess. Asked how a former band director could afford to pledge $1 million, Copenhaver smiled and said: “The university paid me well.”

Copenhaver, who was earning $100,000 a year when he retired in mid-2010, added the music program at USC was central to his life.

“My career at USC has been wonderfully rewarding,” he said. “I’ve been married to my work all my life. I never got married. I don’t have children.”

Copenhaver’s gift will take USC one step closer to its goal of raising $1 billion by 2015. Each department at the university has been assigned a fundraising goal, and Copenhaver’s pledge will cover 10 percent of the School of Music’s target of $10 million.

“I owe a lot to USC, and I hope that my estate gift will inspire my former students and friends of the Carolina Band to join this mission in the endowment of band scholarships,” Copenhaver said.

Harding said it is the music community of South Carolina that now owes Copenhaver a debt. The dean estimated that somewhere close to half of the band directors in the state were taught by Copenhaver. Many thousands more have rich memories of honing their musical craft and marching with their band mates onto the field at Williams-Brice Stadium to perform at halftime of football games.

“There are hundreds of outstanding music teachers across the Southeast because of him,” said Matt McCord, an Atlanta attorney who was marching band drum major from 1992 to 1995. “He believed in us. He expected more of us than we thought we could give, and he would not settle for anything less than excellence. He set the standard.”

Kirk Randazzo, an associate professor of political science at USC who played saxophone in the marching band in the early 1990s, agreed.

“He had very high expectations for his students and, because of that, he expected students to do their very best every single time,” Randazzo said. “If you made a mistake, he would be there to encourage and to give advice on how to do better the next time, but he always expected that you would work to improve.”

Copenhaver said the students he taught always were eager to do their best — and that brought out the best in him.

“Music students are some of the most dedicated and bring lots of skills,” he said. “You’re dealing with the cream of the crop.”