Romance blossoms from nurtured friendship

When properly nurtured, friendships and relationships can form amongst those who have roots in Martin and UTM soil. When it comes to those relationships, Dr. Julie Hill, associate professor of Music and percussion coordinator, and her husband Dr. David Coffey, professor of History and chair of the Department of History and Philosophy, know all about just how they can blossom.

Hill was born in Martin and has a deep connection with UTM. Her parents, C. T. Hill and Brenda Harrison Hill, are both UTM alumni, although it was called University of Tennessee at Martin Branch, or UTMB, at that time. The two met in 1960 while attending UTMB when Harrison’s car broke down on University St. in front of the Administration Building. C. T. Hill gave Harrison a ride and the couple later married and was blessed with two children: Charles and Julie. Charles Hill, like his sister Julie, is a UTM graduate; however, he is eight years her senior.

Hill’s mother later became Dr. Baker’s secretary in the business office, allowing Hill the opportunity to attend Kindergarten on the UTM campus as one of the UTM faculty children. Years later she once again attended school on the UTM campus, earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Music degree in percussion performance. She then went on to earn her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

After earning her doctorate, Hill returned to UTM, this time as a teacher. Soon after returning to UTM, Hill found that she and her current husband, Coffey, were being invited to several of the same households by fellow colleague, Dr. David Carithers, associate professor of English and Modern Foreign Language. Hill believes this may have been an intentional setup by Carithers and his wife. Carithers and Coffey were playing music together at the time.

“David asked ‘What are you going to do this weekend?’ I said, ‘I want to try and learn how to put in a koi pond in my backyard.’ He said, ‘That’s sounds interesting,’ and he started coming over every day. One day it was pouring down rain and we were in the pond, in the mud bailing out water, trying to get the liner down. I just remember thinking that day, that this is not a normal guy. He’s a super-nice, dedicated guy that would do this for a friend. He didn’t even know me that well and he’s been like that ever since,” Hill said.

The couple did manage to put in a beautiful koi pond in the backyard of the 92-year-old house, originally purchased by Hill but now occupied by the married couple, in Union City, Tenn. Even now, Coffey continues to clean out the koi pond weekly. The couple has gone on to complete many more remodeling projects on the old house including turning the basement into a bar and contemporary band entertainment venue that is set up to be able to accommodate small concerts with seating up to 30 people. The couple enjoys a menagerie of animals at their home including: three cats and a fish indoors; a koi pond; three hummingbirds that are named Olive, Green and Red after their colors; a raccoon; and a bunny.

Hill is a low-fat Vegan by choice. She enjoys growing things, swimming, skiing, cooking, learning foreign languages, traveling with her husband and Zumba. She is a certified Zumba instructor and until her recent hip surgery was teaching four classes per week. However, she suffers from congenital bilateral dysplasia, or shallow hip sockets, and will be cutting back on the Zumba in the near future.

Hill has been teaching at UTM for nine years. She teaches hour-long private percussion lessons to 18 music majors who specialize in percussion, conducts the percussion ensemble and teaches a variety of specialized percussion courses including pedagogy, repertoire, history and recording techniques. In 2011, Hill was awarded the Cunningham Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Award and was awarded Drum Magazine’s Percussion Ensemble of the Year.

She is involved in many other avenues of music besides just teaching music at UTM. She performs as a member of the band 27bstroke6. She plays in a percussion trio called the Caixa Trio. She is in a new Brazilian Choro group called Pseudo Choro. She also serves as Vice President of the Percussive Arts Society.

Hill has a CD out with the Caixa Trio called, “Commissioned Works.” She also co-authored a book, with James Campbell, of etudes for multiple percussion called, “Music for Multiple Percussion: A World View.” She is currently working with Dr. Eric Willie on a project of percussion audition etudes that should be published in the spring of 2014 by Rowloff Productions. Hill hopes that many states with adopt the set of audition etudes and as a result, music standards for young percussionists will become more standardized throughout the U.S.

Working to make a difference in the field of music and in the lives of the students at UTM is very important to Hill.

“Go to class, go to class and go to class. Value your education and know by attending UTM that you are working with some of the very best people in the business. Take advantage of that and learn for the sake of learning and your own future skill set and not for a grade,” Hill said.

Coffey was born in New Mexico but grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. In his youth, his free time was mostly spent traveling with his two younger sisters, younger brother and parents, both journalists, exploring historical sites.

Coffey attended college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, where he completed his undergraduate, graduate and doctorate studies. While attending TCU, he spent a life-changing month in Oaxaca, Mexico, wrote his first book and edited an award-winning encyclopedia. He has always wanted to write a novel but has never found the time.

The writing gene is very strong in Coffey’s family. There are many writers within his family including his maternal grandfather, his mother, his father and his brother. His first book was “John Bell Hood and the Struggle for Atlanta” based on his master’s thesis. He also wrote “Soldier Princess: The Life and Legend of Agnes Salm-Salm in North America, 1861-1867” and “Sheridan’s Lieutenants: Phil Sheridan, His Generals, and the Final Year of the Civil War.” In addition he edited five major encyclopedia projects and co-authored another book. His latest project, which has a release date in September, is a multi-volume encyclopedia of the Civil War. It will be the most comprehensive and accurate work to date on that period.

Coffey, who was awarded the 2012 Cunningham Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Award, has been teaching at UTM for 13 years. He teaches several courses in U.S. History, including the Antebellum Era, Civil War and Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age; Latin American History; Mexican History; and Military History.

He enjoys sports, working around the house, playing in The House Band and doing an Americano singer songwriter duo with Carithers, listening to a variety of music and traveling.

Coffey feels passion for his work and hopes that others will find that for themselves.

“Care! Your college experience is so precious. You need to make the most of it. Learn for the sake of learning. Find your passion,” Coffey said.

Go to the photo gallery “Romance Blossoms from Nurtured Friendship to view more photos of Hill and Coffey.

Go to the video “The band 27bstroke6 performing ‘The Fixx'” to watch a video of Hill performing with her band the 27bstroke6.

Go to the video “The Caixo Trio” to watch a video of Hill performing with fellow Caixo Trio members.