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Hi, I'm Linda Mix Walker. I graduated in 82 from Brown College. I entered school in 77 as a very early member of the Shepherd School of Music. Now, Shepherd school students, you have got it so good over what we had back then because I, that was

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like the third or fourth year of the Shepherd school and they were just getting started. So, um all our classes were in Sewall Hall, um and the practice rooms were in the basement of Sewall Hall and the subbasement of Sewall Hall and uh there were instrument

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lockers there. So, uh it was not exactly uh state of the art, all the orchestra performances took place in Hammond Hall where the orchestra also rehearsed. Um and we barely had an orchestra. That was why I was invited to Rice was to be a violin player.

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And uh yeah, pretty different now. So, uh yes, Shepherd School students, you now have a glorious facility. I'm gonna go over and see the new opera house and uh just wanted to tell you a little anecdote from when I was here in the late seventies we

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had or maybe it was, you know, into the eighties, I can't remember which year but uh we had a massive thunderstorm come over. I was standing looking out my window at Brown College when suddenly there was a lightning strike just right on the center that controlled

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power from outside into the campus and it ended up frying everything. So there was no power on campus, which was interesting, but it got even more interesting when I realized that the whole campus was flooding. And my violin, my, you know, 150 year old violin was

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in the basement of Sewall Hall, which turned out to be flooding because the generators weren't working to keep the flood out. So I waded through uh b thigh deep water in front of what was in the President's house all the way over to Sewell Hall, not

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worrying about me getting wet. I was carrying a big trash bag with me all folded up and I rescued my violin from where it probably would have been. Ok. But I would have worried like crazy about it and I wr uh wrapped it up in the

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trash bag and headed back to Brown College through water which was now nearly hip deep in front of the President's house. Yeah, you've got it easy shepherd school students. Um I'm so happy that the Shepherd School has just turned into such an amazing organization, but y'all

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need to go over and look at the stage at Hammond Hall and think about putting an orchestra there. It was very different but we made great music.