Alumni
Faculty member named to Signature Sinfonian class by Phi Mu Alpha, national music honorary fraternity
Muskingum University Lecturer in Music Leonard M. Thomas has been named to Phi Mu Alpha’s 2009 Signature Sinfonian class.
Phi Mu Alpha is a national honorary music fraternity which dedicates itself to the development of the best and truest fraternal spirit; the mutual welfare and brotherhood of musical students; the advancement of music in America. The Signature Sinfonian recognizes alumni members who have achieved a high standard of accomplishment in their field or profession.
Thomas, who graduated from Muskingum in 1952, is a member of the university’s Beta Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. Among professional musicians, he is best known for his 31-year association with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. He also has served as a primary adjudicator for the University of Michigan’s Festival of Music, as well as working as keyboard editor of the Shawnee Press, until his retirement in 2002.
At Muskingum, Thomas’s responsibilities include instruction in applied teaching and accompaniment, as well as working closely with the university’s Concert Choir, the Chamber Singers and the Musical Theatre Workshop. He also provides accompaniment for student juries and recitals.
As a Signature Sinfonian, Thomas joins the ranks of famous musicians that include Don Campbell, author of “The Mozart Effect;” world-renowned jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and the Grammy Award-winning singer and actor Andy Griffith.
