by Blair Eberhardt-Ladd ’04

He enjoys decorating his unique home and loves shopping for things that will fit in with the eclectic style of his home, which means anything he likes to look at. “I don’t go to auctions to shop for antiques for my house because I wouldn’t know an antique if I saw one,” Dr. Blaine Shover, professor of music, confessed.

Home, when not at the university, is an 18th Century house in town. “Parts of the house were built in the 1750s by settlers and in the 1790s, there was an addition put on by a silversmith. It was originally a trading post. Then years later the house was restored by a former Shippensburg University history professor,” he explained.

The truth is Blaine has little free time to spend accessorizing his home since he spends most of his time at the university. He arrived at Ship in 1971, when he was hired as conductor for the concert choir. His involvement with the music department has become multi-faceted. He teaches a variety of courses, conducts the Madrigal Singers, a small group of vocalists selected through audition, and serves as the musical director for music theatre.

One of the more visible tasks Blaine has taken on is being the director of the Festival Chamber Orchestra series each summer. Since 1986, the festival has been under his artistic direction. Each summer, the Festival Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of professional musicians from all over the East Coast, and the Festival Chamber Chorus, (founded by Shover) of about 25 professional vocalists present a series of concerts. After selecting the programs, the musicians receive their music a month before the festival to begin practicing.

Then come July, they arrive for the concerts which are held on three consecutive Thursday evenings. This year, Shover will be conducting the third concert that will feature the Festival Chorus performing works by Mozart and Vivaldi. Despite the hard and time-consuming work associated with the job, Shover admits he loves the responsibility. “It’s a pleasure to work with the festival. The university has been very helpful sponsoring weeklong residencies for the composers who have been involved with the festival. This includes Aaron Copeland who spent his 75th birthday at Ship. He was an incredibly kind and gentle person, not at all pretentious. It was like being with your grandfather, even though I was completely awed by him.”

Love of music was evident at an early age. Blaine began taking piano lessons in elementary school. “By junior high my tolerance ran out and I quit taking lessons because my piano teacher made me a nervous wreck,” Shover said. “Due to the influence of my uncle, who was my high school choral director, I continued to play piano.”

His passion for music led him to get his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in music education, his Master of Music from Temple University, and his Doctorate of Music Arts from the University of Illinois. “Right after my undergraduate days at Penn State, I spent many summers literally ‘following’ Robert Shaw (former conductor of the Atlanta Symphony and recognized as perhaps one of the greatest choral conductors of the 20th century) from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, hoping to learn everything I could from him,” Shover recalled.

It was in the middle of his educational voyage that he arrived at Shippensburg. “I enjoy teaching all of my classes, but I especially enjoy those times when the class has a lot of energetic and enthusiastic students who are not afraid to speak out.”

Blaine has two children, 19-year-old Chelsea and 21-year-old London. “I am incredibly proud of both of them.” His daughter, Chelsea is transferring from Ship to Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the fall, where she will study merchandising. His son London, has acquired his father’s musical obsession. He writes music and plays in a rock band known across campus as London File. When asked what it is like having a son in a band Shover admitted he loves it. “I think his band is excellent.”

When he isn’t working at the university or decorating his home, Blaine spends his time doing crossword puzzles and, of course, listening to music. “I have no all-time favorite composer,” he said. “My favorite must always be the one whose music I am conducting at the time.”