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School of Music Legacy Wall 2025

Celebrating Our Impact after 100 Years

This page gives additional detail, beyond the captions, for the images found on the Legacy Wall 2025, located in the South Commons of the Timashev Family Music Building. The page can be accessed via QR code provided on the wall. Visitors may use it as a resource while perusing the many photos found there. 

Except as noted, photos come from University Archives and the School of Music.


Timeline: 100 Years of the School of Music

1921: Royal D. Hughes was recruited to start a music program in the College of Education.

1925: The Department of Music was established. Hughes was named chairman.

  • Portrait photo of Royal Hughes: 1926.

1927: The Music Major was introduced, with a focus on training public-school music teachers. There were 11 faculty members by 1929.

M. Emett Wilson taught music history and appreciation. He gave popular lectures on WOSU radio.

  • Wilson and students in the WOSU recording studio. Photo: 1944. Not shown on our wall: the upright piano he is playing.

1920s–40s: Large ensembles rehearsed in a former animal husbandry building. Classes were crammed into the former home of the university president. Concerts took place in an elegant chapel.

  • College of Agriculture building on Neil Ave. Photo: 1907.
  • President’s House on N. High St. at 15th Ave., built 1856, bought by the university in 1871. Photo: 1934.
  • Chapel in original University Hall; used for concerts until Mershon Auditorium opened in 1957. Photo: 1900.

1930s: Choral director Louis H. Diercks formed the award-winning Symphonic Choir. Eugene J. Weigel developed the all-brass Marching Band, the Orchestra, and the Symphonic Band. In 1936 he invented Script Ohio.

  • Diercks conducting Symphonic Choir. Photo: 1950.

1938–43: Hughes died. Weigel was named department chairman. The department achieved membership in the National Association of Schools of Music. It offered bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education, Performance, Theory and Composition, History, and Pedagogy. (A church music major for organists existed 1945–85.)

1945: The department was designated a School of Music. Weigel was named director.

  • Eugene J. Weigel. Portrait photo: 1958 (just before his retirement).

1945: Music theorist and pianist Gertrude Kuehefuhs, appointed assistant professor in 1945, would become the first woman to attain the rank of full professor, in 1963.

  • Detail from a photo of a faculty piano trio, 1949; violinist and cellist stand on either side of Kuehefuhs, all perusing the score she holds.

1949: Weigel presided over the dedication of Hughes Hall (seen here from the old Armory).

  • Weigel at a lectern, June 4, 1949.
  • Undated photo of Hughes Hall (but Armory was demolished in 1959, after a fire).

1956–59: Shortly before retiring, Weigel charged musicologist Herbert S. Livingston with creating the PhD in Music.

  • Herbert Livingston, professor and head of the musicology program. Portrait photo: 1957.

1974–76: The DMA was introduced, as was the BM in Jazz Studies.

1979: Weigel Hall opened across the street from Hughes Hall. The school occupied both.

  • Weigel Hall. Photo: 1979.

1997: The MA/PhD in Musicology now included a concentration in ethnomusicology.

2006–07: New programs: certificate in Singing Health, supported by the new Helen Swank Lab; BS in Music, focused on the music industry.

2022: The Timashev Family Music Building opened, joining the Weigel concert hall to new, state-of-the-art spaces, and uniting the School of Music under one roof.

  • Timashev Family Music Building at its dedication, Oct. 23, 2022.

2023: The Hip Hop and Creative Practice in Popular Music program was approved.

Impact on Students, the Community, the Profession, and the World


Settings for Teaching and Learning

In addition to classrooms and library seminar rooms, the School of Music provides studios and labs, along with spaces for practice, rehearsal, and performance. 

Clockwise from upper left:

  • Thomas Wells, professor of composition, teaching in his studio, 2004.
  • Student practicing piano in Weigel Hall rehearsal room, 2001.
  • Jan Edwards, professor of music education, teaching at a smart board, 2009.
  • George Hardesty, professor of violin and orchestra director, rehearsing on the Hughes auditorium stage; instructor William Poland on the podium, 1955.
  • Two students (only one shown) working together in the Music, Media, and Enterprise lab, 2017.
  • William Poland, instructor of music theory and oboe (and future professor of music theory), backstage with a violin student, 1954.
  • Arved Ashby, professor of musicology, teaching a seminar in the Music & Dance Library, 2025. Photo: Katherine Borst Jones.
  • Karen Peeler, professor of voice, teaching in her studio, 2007.
  • David Frego, professor of music education, teaching eurhythmics, 2004.
  • Piano lab in Hughes Hall, instructor unidentified, 1966.


Alumni

Our alumni may be found in many professions: K–12 teachers, university professors, arts administrators, and librarians; instrument builders and sellers; solo or ensemble performers in chamber music, orchestras, musical theater, and the military; collaborative pianists, composer/arrangers, audio engineers … and others! Here we feature just four alumni superstars.

Left to right:

Soprano Ruby Elzy, BS 1930, among the very first students in Ohio State’s fledgling music department, had an illustrious career on Broadway and in Hollywood. She entertained First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House and was handpicked by George Gershwin to create the role of Serena in Porgy and Bess.

  • Ruby Elzy, in a 1942 photograph by James Abresch, reproduced in David E. Weaver, Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), courtesy of Ruby’s youngest sister, Amanda Elzy. Used here by permission. 

Audio engineer Jack Renner, BS in Music Education 1960, a pioneer in digital recording technology, was co-founder, CEO, and principal recording engineer of Telarc International Corporation. Telarc’s carefully engineered recordings of classical music and jazz were prized by audiophiles and won dozens of Grammy Awards, eleven of them going to Renner personally.

  • Jack Renner. Photo © Hewlett Packard, 1998. Reproduced in “Telarc’s Jack Renner Remembered,” Stereophile, Aug. 11, 2019. Used here by permission.

Clarinetist Richard L. Stoltzman, BM summa cum laude 1964, winner of two Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize, is a prolific orchestral, chamber, and jazz soloist and recording artist. He gave the first ever clarinet recitals in the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. He is seen here with Professors Hank Marr and Burdette Green, following a campus concert in 2003. 

  • Richard L. Stoltzman with Hank Marr, professor of jazz, and Burdette Green, professor of music theory, after a concert in Weigel auditorium, Nov. 12, 2003: “A Tribute to Benny Goodman,” guest artist Richard Stoltzman. Concert program may be seen as a backdrop.

Musicologist Tammy Kernodle, MA 1993 and PhD 1997, is University Distinguished Professor at Miami University of Ohio and former president of the Society for American Music. She is considered a giant in the field of African American music, especially on the contributions of women, and is sought after as a public lecturer and consultant, for instance by the Smithsonian, the BBC, and National Public Radio. 

  • Tammy Kernodle, in a library at Miami University of Ohio, 2018. Photo courtesy of Miami University of Ohio.

Graduates of the music education program, who are licensed to teach K–12 general, choral, and instrumental music in the state of Ohio, have gone on to serve as teachers and administrators in local, statewide, national, and international communities. Many have held leadership positions in professional organizations.

  • Maps of Ohio and the United States, showing cities where music education alumni have held positions.


Visitors

Over the decades, the School of Music has welcomed hundreds of distinguished performers, composers, musicologists, music theorists, and educators as featured guest artists or speakers, whether for conferences, festivals, and workshops, or for individual lectures, concerts, and master classes. 

Clockwise from upper left:

Prolific composer Libby Larsen enjoying a display of her compositions in the Music & Dance Library, 2006

  • Photo: Feb. 13, 2006. A concert in Weigel Auditorium that evening featured Larsen's music, including the premiere of her Trio in Four Movements, commissioned by the COSMOS Trio (Katherine Borst Jones, flute; Mary E. Harris, viola; and Jeanne Norton, harp). 

Star soprano Lucy Shelton with composer Donald Harris, professor emeritus and former dean of the College of the Arts, in spring 2013, as they worked on a newly texted version of Harris’s Letter from Home

  • Photo: March 31, 2013. In 2011 the Contemporary Music Festival in Harris’ honor featured the premiere of his Letter from Home. Harris then commissioned a new poetic text from Jeremy Glazier. The premiere of the new version took place in Weigel Hall in November 2013. Shelton, much sought after by contemporary composers, was among the performers on both occasions.

A concert program from 1952, showing celebrated composer-pianist Percy Grainger as the featured guest artist, performing with the Concert Band 

  • Concert program, Feb. 6–7, 1952. Grainger, as a solo pianist, played works by Bach (arr. Liszt) and Chopin, and his own arrangements of works by Richard Strauss and Gershwin; he performed Grieg’s piano concerto with the band, directed by Manley Whitcomb; and he conducted the band in several of his own compositions.

A master class with renowned flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, 1973

  • Rampal coaching a student, 1973. Rampal, an international superstar in the 1950s–70s, “was the first flutist to attain the kind of visibility and presence that previously had gone only to virtuoso pianists and violinists” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times). Photo: private collection of Katherine Borst Jones. 

Eminent music theorist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, the inaugural visiting speaker on the endowed William Poland Lecture Series, 1990

  • Nattiez, a prominent specialist in music semiotics, spoke on “Répons and the Crisis of ‘Communication’ in Contemporary Music,” April 1990. Portrait photo courtesy of the University of Montreal. 

I Gusti Agung Ngurah Supartha, renowned composer, choreographer, and actor, who presented Balinese gamelan and dance as a visiting artist in 2002        

  • Supartha, shown drumming for his dancers on the Oval during a brief visit in 1999. He returned for an extended teaching residency in 2002.  

Celebrated composer George Crumb, during his visit for the Contemporary Music Festival in his honor, 1996. This was the first of a remarkable series of annual festivals featuring world-class composers, made possible through the efforts of composer Donald Harris, dean of the College of the Arts.

  • Crumb, in a coaching session during his visit, February 21–22, 1996. The festival concluded with a concert by nine members of the faculty, presenting Crumb’s Madrigals, Book 1; Dream Sequence; and Night of the Four Moons.

Distinguished musicologist Richard Taruskin, who made several visits to speak on the Lectures in Musicology series

  • The scholarly interests of the late Richard Taruskin were wide-ranging, as was his impact on discourse on the arts. His visits to our lecture series, arranged by Margarita Mazo, professor of musicology, focused on aspects of Russian music. Photo courtesy of the estate of Richard Taruskin.


A Selection of Student Ensembles

First row, left to right:

  • “Made in America.” Wind Symphony, dir. Russel C. Mikkelson. Guest soloist, Caroline Hartig, clarinet; guest conductors, Scott A. Jones and Jonathan Waters. Music of Bernstein, Copland, Fillmore, Gershwin, Ticheli. Severance Hall, Cleveland, Feb. 12, 2013.
  • CD liner: At Home … The Music of Andrew Boysen, Jr. Symphonic Band, dir. Scott A. Jones; Women’s Glee Club, dir. Kristina MacMullen; Men’s Glee Club, dir. Robert J. Ward; Regan E. Tackett, soprano; Mark Thress, tenor. CD: The Ohio State University, 2017.
  • The final scene of Verdi’s opera Falstaff. Guest stage dir. A. Scott Parry; music dir. Marshall Haddock. Mershon Auditorium, May 4 and 6, 2012.
  • “Cadet combo,” Department of Military Science (precursor to ROTC), 1893. This quartet includes two violins (fiddles?), a guitar, and some sort of cornet. (Many thanks to Timothy Leasure, professor of trumpet, for pointing out a similar “shepherd’s crook” cornet made in France at around that time.)
  • Handel, Messiah. University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, dir. Louis Diercks. St. John Arena, Dec. 1963. Annual performances of Messiah had been a Christmas tradition since 1928. In 1963 the audience numbered almost 12,000.

Second row, left to right:

  • Verdi, Requiem. Combined choirs (Symphonic Choir, Chorale, Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs), dir. Kristina MacMullen and Robert J. Ward; Symphony Orchestra, dir. Marshall Haddock. Soloists: Chelsea Hart, Katherine Rohrer, Andrew Blosser, Jaman E. Dunn. Mershon Auditorium, March 8, 2015.
  • CD liner: Southern Harmony. Wind Symphony, dir. Russel C. Mikkelson; guest conductor, Richard Blatti. Music of Kabalevsky, Stevens, Grantham, Lauridsen, Copland. CD: Naxos, 2009.
  • A trio of trombonists, partially hidden by spring foliage outside Weigel Hall, 2007.
  • Poster for Franz Léhar, The Merry Widow. Opera/Music Theater, dir. Roger Stephens. May 1982.
  • LP sleeve: [Untitled.] Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, dir. Robert Gerle. Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1; Ravel, Alborada del gracioso; R. Strauss, Don Juan; Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire. Marilyn Neeley, piano soloist; Irma Cooper, soprano soloist. LP: United Sound, 1971. 

Third row, left to right:

  • Freshman Girls’ Glee Club, 1922. This charming photo reminds us that students made music together long before there was an academic music department. Men’s Glee started in 1875, Women’s Glee in 1904, and the Department of Military Science sponsored a marching band starting in 1878.
  • Drums Downtown II. Percussion Ensemble, dir. Susan Powell, in collaboration with the Department of Dance. Capitol Theatre at Riffe Center, Feb. 4, 2005.
  • LP sleeve: March Masterpieces. Concert Band, dir. Donald E. McGinnis. Marches by Sousa and others. LP: Mark Records, 1969.
  • Formal portrait of the Concert Band, dir. Donald E. McGinnis and assoc. dir. Charles Spohn. Mershon Auditorium, Feb. 11, 1962.
  • African Ensemble: koras from Mali, dir. Ryan Skinner, 2014. Other world music ensembles offered by the School of Music include the African Drum Ensemble, the Andean Music Ensemble, and the Steel Band.

Fourth row, left to right:

  • Men’s Glee Club, dir. James Gallagher, receiving the 1990 “Choir of the World” trophy at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales.  
  • CD liner: We Sing. Men’s Glee Club, dir. Robert J. Ward; Matthew Ebright, piano. A selection of classics and Buckeye songs, including some arranged by alumnus Tim Sarsany. CD: Mark Custom Recording Service, Inc., 2007.
  • The Marching Band in the stands at a football game. Ohio Stadium, 2002.
  • LP sleeve: [Untitled.] Jazz Ensemble, dir. Tom Battenberg. Tunes by McIntosh, Terry, Lloyd Webber, Grove, Levy, Ellis. LP: Mus-I-Col, 1972.
  • The Jazz Ensemble, dir. William “Ted” McDaniel, performing at the annual “Celebration Concert.” Mershon Auditorium, Dec. 5, 2003.


Greater Columbus

In spring 1951, several School of Music faculty members, led by violinist George Hardesty, began what would ultimately become the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. In fact, School of Music faculty, students, or alumni served as the founders of Chamber Music Columbus, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the Jazz Arts Group, Opera Columbus, and most recently the Worthington Chamber Orchestra. Individual faculty members continue to perform with these organizations.

Clockwise, from upper left:

Novelty LP produced for Ohio Music Education Association convention in Columbus, 1969

  • LP record, carved to show the skyline of downtown Columbus.

On Oct. 9, 1960, as the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s tenth season was about to begin, The Columbus Dispatch recognized the founding members. Six of those pictured were full-time School of Music faculty members.

  • “They’re veterans of 10 seasons.” The Columbus Dispatch, Oct. 9, 1960. Full-time Ohio State faculty pictured here: Gertrude Kuehefuhs at the piano, and standing (first, fifth through seventh, and ninth from the left), Donald McGinnis, William Poland, William Kearns, George Hardesty, and Robert Titus. Original clipping in the university’s Theatre Research Institute Library.

Irma Cooper, professor of voice, was co-founder of Opera Columbus in 1981. Here she participates in a School of Music event: "A Grand Night for Singing," 2000, where the guest artists were successful alumni. 

  • In addition to co-founding Opera Columbus, Cooper later helped create Opera Columbus’s vocal competition for young singers, now named the Cooper-Bing Competition. The photo was taken in Weigel Auditorium, Oct. 28, 2000. Featured alumni at the event included Barbara Daniels, Theresa Cincione, Diane Kesling, David Templeton, and Eric McKeever, supported by the symphony orchestra and choral ensembles. 

All the original members of the High Street Stompers Dixieland Band, formed in 1987, were on the School of Music faculty.

  • CD liner: High Society. The High Street Stompers Dixieland Band. CD: Hss Recordings, 1993. Original members: Tom Battenberg, trumpet; Gary Carney, trombone; Jim Curlis, drums; Bob LeBlanc, tuba; Jim Pyne, clarinet (replaced by the time this recording was made by Don Seelbach); Paul Robinson, banjo, guitar. 


Faculty: Research and Creativity

First column:

A screenshot from one of many recording sessions, out of which composer Marc Ainger produced an album: Sonic Arts Ensemble, Live from the Multiverse (2022). Musicians from around the world were able to play together in real time over the internet, thanks to software developed by ACCAD and the School of Music during the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Sonic Arts Ensemble screenshot, Nov. 21, 2021. Photo courtesy of Marc Ainger.

Two CD liners:

  • Caroline Hong plays Corigliano, Foss, & Vine. Fleur de Son Classics, 2005.
  • Chalumeau. Caroline Hartig, clarinet. Pieces by Thurston, Kovács, Donatoni, Bassett, Komives, Denisov, Bolcom, Gotkovsky, Penderecki, CPE Bach. Centaur, 2009.

In 1984 the musicology faculty welcomed its first ethnomusicologist. The next decades saw a gradual shift to an inclusive musicology curriculum that embraces anthropological, historical, and analytical study of classical, popular, and traditional musics of the world. Selected publications:

  • Arved Ashby. Experiencing Mahler: A Listener’s Companion. Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
  • Charles M. Atkinson. The Critical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval Music. Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Graeme Boone, ed. Music in the Carolingian World: Witnesses to a Metadiscipline; Essays in Honor of Charles M. Atkinson. Brepols, 2022.
  • Ron Emoff. Music and the Performance of Identity on Marie-Galante, French Antilles. Ashgate, 2009.
  • Danielle Fosler-Lussier. Music in America's Cold War Diplomacy. University of California Press, 2015.
  • Margarita Mazo, ed. Igor Stravinsky: Les noces: scènes choréographiques russes avec chant et musique. Chester Music, 2010.
  • Lois Rosow, ed. Jean-Baptiste Lully: Armide tragédie en musique. In Œuvres complètes, ser. 3 vol. 14. Olms, 2003.
  • Ryan Thomas Skinner. Bamako Sounds: The Afropolitan Ethics of Malian Music. University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
  • Udo Will, in collaboration with Martin Clayton and Rebecca Sager. “In Time with the Music: The Concept of Entrainment and Its Significance for Ethnomusicology.” ESEM CounterPoint, vol. 1, 2004.

Second column:

Since the very beginning, 100 years ago, the faculty has formed chamber ensembles. Here we feature three from the mid-20th century — the Hughes String Quartet, the Ohio State University Brass Quintet, and the Ohio State University Woodwind Quintet — and one that is currently active, the Pendulum Percussion Duo.

  • Hughes String Quartet: Michael Davis, violin; Jonquil Thoms, violin; Edward Adelson, viola; William Conable, cello. Photo: ca. 1970s.
  • Ohio State University Brass Quintet: Richard Suddendorf, trumpet; Robert T. LeBlanc, tuba; Paul Droste, trombone; Thomas Battenberg, trumpet; James B. Jones, horn. Photo: 1967.
  • Ohio State University Woodwind Quintet: Donald E. McGinnis, flute; William Baker, oboe; Robert Titus, clarinet; James B. Jones, horn; George Wilson, bassoon. Photo: 1967. Private collection of Katherine Borst Jones.
  • Pendulum Percussion Duo: Susan Powell and Joseph Krygier. Photo: 2023, courtesy of Susan Powell.

Annual series of concerts feature the entire performance faculty of the School of Music.

  • Brochure: “The 1999–2000 Subscription Series,” comprising the “Farewell to the Twentieth Century” series, Chamber Orchestra, Wednesdays in Weigel, and the Contemporary Music Festival.

Donald E. McGinnis, the distinguished director of the Concert Band (1953–79), was also a skilled composer. In 1954 he received a glowing fan letter from the celebrated composer Percy Grainger, showering praise on McGinnis’s Symphony for Band (1953), performed on an intercollegiate band concert that the two had recently co-conducted.

  • McGinnis, portrait photo, ca. 1942
  • Letter from Percy Grainger, dated May 9, 1954. From a photocopy in the American Bandmasters Association Research Center at the University of Maryland (with thanks to McGinnis’s daughter, Martha McGinnis Gamble, for tracking this down).

Stevie “Dr. View” Johnson, assistant professor of creative practice in popular music, performs a DJ mashup set, with the assistance of a student ensemble and in collaboration with Professor Alex Oliszewski of ACCAD. By blending textures and genres, both musical and visual, he merged music, digital technology, and storytelling (2025).

  • SOUSE event held in the Motion Lab at ACCAD, April 16, 2025. Photo: Lois Rosow.

Faculty in music education and performance are heavily involved in the annual conferences of the Ohio Music Education Association. They give lectures and clinics, present their research, lead performances by our student ensembles, and reconnect with our Ohio-based alumni.

  • Program: performance of the Symphonic Band, dir. Richard L. Blatti, in the Columbus Convention Center ballroom on Feb. 9, 2007, as part of the annual OMEA conference. Portrait photo of band on the steps outside the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Third column:

Since 1925, preparing music teachers has been at the heart of the School of Music. In addition to maintaining close connections with teachers in local schools, faculty in music education serve as consultants to statewide, national, and international communities. They are known for both pedagogical and empirical research. Selected research, teaching, and community materials:

  • Patricia J. Flowers. 2012 Senior Researcher Award Acceptance Address: “The Value and Community of Research in Music Education.” Journal of Research in Music Education 60, no. 3 (2012): 243–53. First page.
  • Cover of an issue of JRME.
  • Timothy Gerber and others. Music! Its Role and Importance in Our Lives. [Grades 9–12.] McGraw-Hill, 2000. Second of three editions.
  • Ohio Music Education Association: program for conference in Columbus, February 1995.
  • Robert Gillespie and others. Essential Elements for Strings: Violin Book 1. Hal Leonard, multiple editions since 1994.

William B. McBride, professor of music education, was president of MENC, 1956–58. Over the years, other School of Music professors have served as presidents of ABA, ACDA, AMS, ASTA, BTBDA, CBDNA, ICA, ITG, MENC, NASM, NFA, ΠΚΛ, SSCM, and SUC.

  • Portrait photo of William McBride, 1962.

For the dedication of our new building in 2022, the College of Arts and Sciences commissioned four compositions by living composers, performed by our major ensembles: Shining Pathways, Moving Mountains by Vince Mendoza; Earth (Holst Trope) by Libby Larsen; Legacy, Dedication and Progress by Kris Johnson; Music of the Spheres by Brant Adams.

  • Program: “Timashev Family Music Building: Dedication and Celebration Weekend Concert.” Mershon Auditorium, Oct. 23, 2022.

A CD liner:

  • Telemann for Bassoon. Christopher Weait, bassoon; with Margaret Barstow, cello; Nelson Harper, harpsichord; Katherine Borst Jones, flute; Craig Kirchhoff, flute. Ensemble sonatas and fantasias, some arranged. D’Note Classics, 1995.

Thanks to the generosity of Jack and Zoe Johnstone, we presented a series of annual mini festivals, each highlighting a different woodwind instrument. Each featured guest artists, a commissioned piece, and a composition competition. We engaged students, faculty, and a large public audience in performances, seminars, and master classes.

  • Program: “Johnstone Woodwind Master Series: 2007 the Flute.” Combined with the 24th Central Ohio Flute Festival. April 19–22, 2007.

A selection of books:

  • Mike Smith. In with the In Crowd: Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America. University Press of Mississippi, 2024.
  • Thomas Wells. The Technique of Electronic Music. 2nd ed. Schirmer Books, 1981.
  • David Bruenger. Making Money, Making Music: History and Core Concepts. University of California Press, 2016.
  • Robin Rice. Great Teachers on Great Singing. Inside View Press, 2017.

Fourth column:

The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during a performance in 2020 of Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire, with the composer’s vision for dynamic changes of color realized by music theory professor Anna Gawboy, in collaboration with lighting designer Justin Townsend

  • Two images from the performance: the theater saturated in red, and the theater saturated in blue. Photos: Lindsey Reymore.

For a half-century, the music theory faculty was known especially for its strong focus on music cognition, while it also nurtured broader research in historical and contemporary theories of music. Meanwhile, a generation of undergraduates learned from the pioneering software MacGamut, developed here.

  • David Butler. The Musician’s Guide to Perception and Cognition. Schirmer, 1992.
  • David Huron. The Science of Sadness: A New Understanding of Emotion. MIT Press, 2024.
  • William Poland. “The Perception of Sound as Music.” Psychomusicology 7, no. 1 (1987): 63–70. This was Poland’s last article, published posthumously. The issue includes an obituary by Ann Blombach and a prefatory note of appreciation for Poland’s work by Jack Heller.
  • CD-ROM liner: MacGAMUT 6 User disk. Designed and programmed by Ann K. Blombach. MacGAMUT Music Software, Inc., 2011. This final CD-ROM edition, available for PC as well as Mac, aimed for a broad audience: “not just for ear-training anymore.” 

Interacting with a concert audience:

  • Katherine Borst Jones, professor of flute, shows her instrument to audience members at a daytime concert for schoolchildren. Mershon Auditorium, 2004. 

Directors of ensembles have a long history of taking them on international concert tours. The Jazz Ensemble, seen here near the Great Wall, toured China in 2014, under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department. They gave concerts in Beijing, Xinxiang, Wuhan, and Shanghai.

  • William “Ted” McDaniel, professor of jazz studies, and his ensemble, dressed in their travel outfits for a visit to the Great Wall.

Credits

School of Music: Katherine Borst Jones and Lois Rosow (committee co-chairs), Timothy Gerber, David Hedgecoth, Michael Ibrahim, Emily Klepinger, Jonathan Mitchell, Tamara Morris, Mary Paydock, Karen Peeler, Coral Varian

Department of Design: Emily Holt, Borami Kang, Fabienne Münch, Yvette Shen

Music & Dance Library: Sean Ferguson

University Archives: Michelle Drobik, Jo McCulty