From staff reports
INTERLOCHEN -- Jon Petersen, the head of Interlochen's music department for 12 years and a member of the faculty for 32 years, died this week.
Petersen, who died Tuesday at age 76, studied piano at the University of Michigan, receiving his master's degree in 1957. He served in the U.S. Army for two years and was a composer and arranger for the 5th Army Band in Chicago. For several years after that, he played "lounges and backup gigs" in Las Vegas, mostly at the Tropicana, said his wife Evelyn, an early childhood educator and Record-Eagle parenting columnist.
Petersen joined the faculty at Interlochen in 1963, teaching piano and jazz piano.
Besides his role at Interlochen, Petersen was a visible part of the Traverse City music scene. He was part of Harry Hibbard's Riverboat 6, the Interlochen Jazz Quintet, the Sporny Big Band and, later, the Jon Petersen Trio and Petersen and Hayes duo with Bill Hayes. He also played with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.
Petersen retired from Interlochen in 1995.
For 25 years, Petersen was the musical director for the Rotary Show, taking the scores with him on his school vacations in March to prepare for the April shows, Evelyn Petersen said.
Roger Jacobi, president emeritus of Interlochen Center for the Arts, remembered jazz becoming part of the curriculum during his first summer as president in 1972.
"That was the summer I had the Interlochen Quintet play on the stage of the Kresge Assembly Hall the first week of camp," he wrote in an e-mail. "The quintet brought down the house. We filled the 4,000-seat auditorium and everyone went wild. It was clear that jazz would become a new and important part of the summer program. And (Petersen) was there to start it all."
Lisle Moore III, a former student who is now a composer and arranger for film scores, remembers Petersen telling a class to "just play something, anything. Make something up ... something that fits the mood."
"It was then that the spark ignited and made me want to write and create music," Moore said.
Petersen is survived by his wife Evelyn; three daughters, Heather, Karin and Kristin; and four grandchildren. Arrangements are being handled by the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home. A full obituary will be published in Sunday's Record-Eagle.
