the robert mcduffie center for strings of mercer university offers conservatory-quality music training in a comprehensive university setting. mcduffie leads the center and has served as distinguished university professor of music since 2004. the focus of the center, part of the townsend school of music at mercer's main campus in macon, georgia, is to provide highly talented string students the opportunity to learn with some of the nation's most renowned string musicians. the center's home is the bell house, an antebellum mansion built in 1855 and listed on the national