Hanging with Dr. Carney

Tim Carney never thought of music as a future career.

Originally from Upstate New York, he began playing the violin while he was young. Soon after, he was able to successfully teach himself how to play the piano.

After acquiring a desire for more of the musical world, Carney eventually began to sing in choirs. In addition, solo singing had also become another one of his hobbies. He eventually began to take part in solo contests and was able to win several of them. Along the way, he was able to take part in musical training as well.

“For me music was about enrichment,” he said. “It wasn’t a career path, at least at that point. So, I did that.”

But for the last 15 years, Carney has turned his love into a successful career as a music professor at Chaminade. He has been involved in a number of musical performances with Chaminade as well as choirs on the mainland.

Although he enjoyed his musical pastimes, Carney was skeptical of whether or not his hobby would be able to earn him a living.

As a result, he began to major in Economics at Hamilton College in Upstate New York. Afterwards he had planned on doing pre-law to further solidify his attempt at pursuing what he thought at that time was a realistic job.

Even though he had begun a more traditional field of study Carney was still able to fit in a few musical classes to appease his artistic appetite. Carney was a complete success in his music class, and decided that he would focus on that field as his new major. Soon, he would join the college’s traveling choir and go to England, Scotland, and Whales. This was the cause of his desire for a musical career. He had made the final decision on pursuing music during a tour with the choir at the Lincoln Cathedral.

“The light went on (snaps finger), and I said you know I don’t want this to end,” he said. “This experience you know singing, and choir, and performing this music, I don’t want it to end.”

Carney then went on to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Knoxville. He then taught briefly in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Afterward, the pursuit of a doctorate took him to the University of Illinois. In time, he had received phone calls for job offers.

“I got a call one day from the University of Hawaii,” he said. “I said, ‘Well OK. It’s the middle of winter so I would be happy to fly to Hawaii.’”

He taught at the University of Hawaii for 15 years until he had decided to work at Chaminade. He has been at Chaminade for 15 years as well. Since his hiring, Carney and Bro. Gary Morris have collaborated about 13 or 14 shows so far and will continue to do one every spring.

Claire Paul, senior at Chaminade, has worked with Carney in several productions on Chaminade. From her past experiences, she feels like he creates a pleasant work environment. Paul also said that her peers, who also had experience working with Carney, were able to mesh well during their encounters.

Carney is helping to put together the Black history month celebration on Feb. 21 this spring. It will be featuring: Chaminade University Chorus, Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, and among others performers and speakers.