Maestros of Ministry: Their Legacy in the Department of Music and Worship

MICHAEL DICUIRCI, SR. |  23 Church Music. Church Music at that time meant organ, voice, and sometimes piano with most graduates going into education or church music ministry. Developing a Symphonic Band was DiCuirci’s first charge as a faculty member. Although a band already existed when he began, it was not a strong or stable ensemble. While other challenges existed for the Band, DiCuirci faced confined and cramped rehearsal space in the Carnegie Fine Arts Building that also lacked air conditioning and heat. But he would not be stopped. DiCuirci brought a model from the University of Mich- igan with him: multiple players on a part. Equipped with this model, he sought to include non-majors as well as music majors in his ensemble. Within his first few years, DiCuirci had grown the Band from fifty to about ninety members. “I went out and recruited. I beat the bushes pretty hard. I sent out notes in those days. We didn’t have email so you had to actually write notes and put them in mailboxes.” It has remained that size throughout his thirty-seven years of service. When asked how he maintained the size, he answered, “I’ve always been able to attract big bands. Don’t know why, honest to goodness.” But his secret? “My charming personality.” Close on the heels of the Symphonic Band came an opportunity to build more morale and visibility for music ensembles at Cedarville. Don Callan approached DiCuirci one day regarding advice on improving the Pep Band. DiCuirci gladly jumped on the opportunity. He thought that whereas the Symphonic Band would draw a crowd of 100, the Pep Band could play before 1,000. Additionally, the Pep Band offered a more relaxed situation to try out new repertoire. In spite of warnings against “rock” and “jazz” in the Student Handbook, DiCuirci played “Hang On, Sloopy” at one of the Pep Band’s first games under his leadership. Although he faced some opposition from that, he had the support of Dixon, Matson, and Don Callan, so he continued. The Pep Band grew to 150 members, and at one time, he recalls, was the “talk of Ohio.” Because of his success with the Pep Band, DiCuirci earned a place in the Cedarville Athletic Hall of Fame. Another large sphere of DiCuirci’s ministry to Cedarville University was as Minister of Music for daily Chapel. At first, Dixon enlisted him to lead hymns as the song- leader and to schedule all of the special music, which at that time was almost daily. Within just a short time, DiCuirci also took over the responsibility for each of the three annual conferences that started every academic quarter. He developed a program for Memorial Day, and when that disappeared due to the move to semesters, he changed it to a Veterans’ Day program. He also directed the music for Charter Day, Community Christmas, and DiCuirci ministered the Christ he loved and worshipped to many students, faculty, and staff.