Robert Glover

Artist's Personal Statement

The hymns I played in church during my adolescent years still nurture and sustain me. They continue to have an important influence on my life, both spiritually and creatively.

In this album, I have drawn on the piano’s resonant, sonorous quality, its warm, “singing” tone, and its unusually wide dynamic and expressive range. The instrument’s variegated tone colors stimulate me as a composer/arranger and provide opportunities for special, “orchestral” effects.

Writing in different styles and genres is always challenging for me, but also great fun! I hope you will enjoy this diversity as much as I do!

Thanks for listening, and God bless you!

Robert F. Glover

Biographical Sketch

Robert F. Glover, known by many of his students and friends as “Bob,” has enjoyed a long-running and accomplished musical career as a private teacher, piano soloist, church organist, accompanist and composer/arranger.

A native New Yorker, Bob spent much of his youth in Flushing, Queens. At the age of fifteen he became a church organist in Brooklyn. He went on to study music formally, receiving Master’s degrees from Queens College and Columbia University in music education, music composition, and musicology. As a graduate student, Bob was presented with many honors, including a BMI student composer award and a Fulbright Grant for study in Vienna, Austria.

Inspired by President Kennedy’s idealistic vision of a new world and his appeal for young Americans to “ask what you can do for your country,” Bob decided to take his love for music abroad, joining the Peace Corps. He served in Grenada for three and a half years, developing a love for the Caribbean and its music while teaching music as a primary and second school teacher.

After his Peace Corps tour, Bob decided to remain in the Caribbean, first moving to Barbados, West Indies, where he married his Grenadian-born sweetheart, Patricia. Patricia and Bob then decided to move to the small island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where their daughter, Sarah, was born. Bob was a celebrated musician on the island, offering private lessons to many talented students, accompanying local singers, serving as a church organist and choir director for various churches, and working as a pianist for musical theater and locally-produced Broadway shows. Bob and Patricia spent twenty years on St. Croix, an island to which they still refer as “home.”

After Hurricane Hugo devastated St. Croix in 1989, Bob and his family decided to move to the U.S. mainland, settling in the university community of Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina. There, Bob was again fortunate to teach many gifted students. He also served as an accompanist for local singers and the Duke Chorale at Duke University, and as a solo pianist for various functions hosted by the University of North Carolina.

In 2005, Bob and his family decided to move again, this time to West Palm Beach, Florida, where Bob currently divides his time between composing and arranging music, performing as a piano soloist, serving as a church organist, and swimming at the beach.