Hayes School of Music

Victor N. Mansure was born in Africa in what is now Zimbabwe, to Arthur L. and Marie E. Mansure who were missionaries there. After moving back to the United States of America, initially his family moved frequently, and his pre-school and elementary days were spent in Maryland, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio. In middle school they moved to beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona where Victor had eleven formative years as a teenager and young adult. In his pre-teen and early teenage years, Victor was very active in the Boy Scouts in which he earned the rank of Eagle at the age of thirteen.

Victor grew up in a home surrounded by listening to classical music because of his mother’s love of music. During her college days at Radcliffe College, Marie had the opportunity to sing in a chorus annually with the Boston Symphony under the direction of Serge Koussevitzky. Marie’s appreciation of music apparently came from her mother, Sylvia C. Wachs, who received a music degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1905. Victor was blessed to come from this family with a strong foundation in wonderful music from many eras of the past, but of course, as a teenager he also developed a strong interest in Rock and Roll!

Victor started private flute lessons in third grade, two years before beginning class instrumental instruction began in the public school. This “jump start” on playing the flute compared with other students in his class, helped him have the confidence that he might have some talent in this area. Along with the musical environment of his home, this encouraged Victor to continue taking lessons and practicing up through high school. Every year in high school, he received a “superior” rating in the regional Solo and Ensemble contest, and he was selected for the Arizona All-State Band one year and the All-State Orchestra another year.

As a senior in high school, Victor’s love of music was obvious as in addition to his church choir, in school he was in the band/marching band, jazz band, orchestra, chorus, and madrigal singers! However, like many other young people he was still trying to figure out what to do with his life for a career. He decided that he wanted to help people and that for him the best way to do that was as a teacher. Of course, with his love of music, being a music teacher seemed like the obvious choice even though it took him a little while to realize it was OK to help people not through some difficult sacrifice, but by doing something that you loved!

Victor earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree – Instrumental Concentration from Northern Arizona University. He then attended the University of Iowa where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Flute Performance. This degree required extra coursework and an additional recital beyond the Master of Arts degree. While at the University of Iowa, Victor taught private flute lessons for two years at Grinnell College. Grinnell College is a very high-quality private school, and while none of the flute students were music majors, they were all extremely dedicated and several of them could have very easily been music majors at a prestigious school. During his teaching at Grinnell College, he was able to double the number of students in the flute studio.

Upon graduating with his master’s degree, Victor taught in the public schools in Holbrook, Arizona. His main duty was teaching high school bands, but he also taught some middle school general music classes and high school general mathematics! While he enjoyed teaching the high school students and conducting bands, with his interest in many eras of music he came to feel that his true calling was in music history and higher education.

Victor chose to continue his studies at the University of Oregon for his doctoral degree for a number of reasons, but two of the top reasons were (1) at that time the curriculum required that if you majored in music history you had to minor in performance (and he did not want to stop flute performance) and (2) with his primary love of teaching he appreciated that the curriculum included courses in the pedagogy of teaching and supervised college teaching experiences (which was rare in doctoral curricula at that time). While at Oregon Victor had additional education at the Stanford University Baroque Music and Dance Workshop, (1984, 1985, 1987), and the Vancouver Early Music Program, (1985).

Victor’s doctoral dissertation is entitled, "The Allemandes of Johann Sebastian Bach: A Stylistic Study." This study examines Bach's allemandes in the historical context of the culmination of this genre and divides them into six stylistic groups. The analysis and classifications help illuminate the diversity within the form and offer some implications for performance. Victor was honored by being chosen as the “Outstanding Graduate Student for Academic Achievement” (chosen from the University of Oregon School of Music graduates from 1992-1993).

During his twenties and thirties Victor was very active as a flutist, performing in orchestras in Arizona, Iowa, and Oregon. Always wanting to learn, he was also a frequent participant or observer in flute master classes by many nationally and internationally known flutists. During this time, he attended 15 long-term (i. e., several days or a week) flute masterclasses by outstanding flute teachers such as Geoffrey Gilbert, William Bennett, Thomas Nyfenger, and Marcel Moyse, and 17 short-term (i. e., several hours) flute masterclasses by other renowned flutists. Victor’s primary flute teachers were Philip Swanson (private lessons in Arizona), Betty Bang Mather (University of Iowa), and Richard Trombley (University of Oregon).

Victor was thrilled to join the School of Music at Appalachian State University with its high-quality professors and student body in 1991. He was also happy to discover it was located in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. It is here he also met his wonderful wife, Margie. With a significant music history teaching load and helping raise a family, Victor had to put aside his flute for many years. As the first specifically trained musicologist in the school, he had the privilege of developing new music history courses for the curriculum. Victor oversaw the music history curriculum, taught the graduate music history class, and the undergraduate music history sequence of classes for 32 years. During this time, he served on 291 graduate comprehensive exam committees!

Victor frequently mentored undergraduate students who were interested in doing independent research or were considering going for a musicology graduate degree. He frequently took students to experience regional and national meetings of the American Musicological Society. He has had students he mentored present research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and pursue graduate music history degrees at prestigious schools such as the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Florida State University, Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, Stony Brook University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Teaching has been Victor’s first passion, including helping provide students with opportunities that go beyond the classroom. He co-taught in six study abroad programs, including four times in the “Culture and the Arts in Vienna” program. Victor has been honored with teaching awards including the “Outstanding Teacher in the Hayes School of Music, 1998-1999” and as a recipient of the “Board of Governors Appalachian State University/School College Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2005.”

Victor felt it was important to be involved in service to the University and the profession. He provided extensive university service including leadership roles within the Hayes School of Music (e. g., Chair of the Curriculum and Assessment Committee) and at the University level (e. g., Chair of Core Curriculum Committee and Deputy Chair of the Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures Committee). He served as the Coordinator of Graduate Studies for the Hayes School of Music for six years, 2016-2022. Victor was very involved in the Southeast Chapter of the American Musicological Society, serving one term as president two terms as secretary-treasurer, hosting or co-hosting meetings, and serving on many committees planning the meetings or evaluating student scholarly papers. He was flattered by being elected as a lifetime Honorary Member of the chapter in 2023.

Victor retired from the Hayes School of Music in 2023. As deeply as Victor cared about his teaching in the Hayes School of Music, the most important thing in his life is his family. He lives in Boone with his wonderful wife, Margie, and near their two terrific adult daughters Kathleen and Elaine. His interests outside of music focus on being in nature and the outdoors, such as through hiking and biking. In retirement Victor looks forward to spending more time outdoors, traveling, reading, organizing family photos/videos/memorabilia, and playing the flute.