MUSIC EDUCATION FACULTY
FACULTY BY AREA
Bands
Brass
Choirs
Composition and Technology
Conducting
Jazz Studies
Keyboard
Music Education
Musicology
Orchestras
Percussion
Strings
Theory
Voice, and Opera
Woodwinds
Richard Bundy
Ann Clements
Norene Ferris
Robert Gardner
Anthony Leach
Joanne Rutkowski
Linda Thornton
O. Richard Bundy joined the University Park faculty in 1983. He is director of the Penn State Marching Blue Band. In addition, he teaches courses in conducting, marching band techniques, instrumental music education, and band literature.
An active guest conductor and adjudicator, Bundy has conducted ensembles and presented clinics throughout the eastern United States and Canada. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), Music Educators National Conference, Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, Phi Beta Mu, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is a past president of the Eastern Division of CBDNA and Phi Beta Mu, Nu chapter.
He received his undergraduate degree in music education from Penn State and, after receiving a master's degree from The University of Michigan, returned to Penn State for his doctoral degree. Prior to his appointment to the faculty, he served as trombonist with the United States Continental Army Band and as band director/instrumental music instructor in the Iroquois School District, Erie, Pennsylvania.
Ann C. Clements, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of music education in the Pennsylvania State University School of Music. She received both her doctorate in music education and a master of arts in music education from the University of Washington (Seattle), and a bachelor of music in music education from the University of Puget Sound.
An active researcher and clinician, Clements has directed ensembles and given presentations throughout the United States and in New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and Canada. She has published in the journals Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME), Journal of Research in the New Zealand Performing Arts, General Music Today, The Mountain Lake Reader, and the International Society for Music Education (ISME) Pacific Region Proceedings. She is a contributing author to the textbook series Making Music, published by Scott Foresman/Silver Burdett, and The Choral Cookbook, published by Meredith Music, a Hal Leonard publication.
Her primary areas of interest include secondary general music, middle school/junior high choral music, music participation, and ethnomusicology, particularly within the Pacific Rim and Polynesia. She is a member of the National Association for Music Education (MENC), the Pennsylvania Music Educators Conference (PMEA), the College Music Society (CMS), and the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). She is past chairman of the Special Research Interest Group on the Social Sciences of the National Association for Music Education (MENC).
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Norene Ferris moved to State College after teaching vocal music for thirty years at Bolivar-Richburg Central School in New York State. As Vocal Music Director, she taught junior high general music classes, theater courses, music theory, and directed the junior and senior high choirs, ensembles, and select girls' choruses. She also directed the school musicals and variety shows. In 1996 and 2000 she was selected the "Outstanding Educator of the Year" in her district. Norene is a frequent guest conductor for All-County and Area All-State Choruses in New York, and is a certified vocal adjudicator and trainer. She has served as Chorus Assistant Chair, Chorus Chairperson and Voice Chairperson for the New York State School Music Association, and Women's Repertoire and Standards Chairperson for the American Choral Directors' Association in New York. She recently finished her term as President of the NY chapter of ACDA.
As a soprano soloist, Norene has sung with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and has performed solo work under the direction of Eph Ely, Donald Neuen, Peter Bagley, Andre Thomas. She performed in La Traviata with the Michigan Opera Theater in 1995 on a sabbatical. Her musical theater roles are numerous.
Ms. Ferris is a graduate of SUNY Fredonia where she majored in voice, and was awarded the "Hillman Opera Theater Outstanding Performer of the Year" award her senior year. Further graduate study included Geneseo, St. Bonaventure and Fredonia.
Currently Norene is serving as the Coordinator for the Center for the Study of Music Teaching and Learning and the Partnership for Music Teacher Excellence in the Music Education Department at Penn State University. She is also a member of the State College Choral Society, and the Director of the Madrigal Singers.
Robert Gardner joined the faculty in 2003, and is an assistant professor of music education, specializing in stringed instrument playing and teaching, alternative styles for string ensembles, and orchestral conducting.
A double bassist and conductor with experience in a variety of musical genres, he has written articles for the American String Teacher and GIA Publications, and has given presentations at conferences and workshops throughout the country. Gardner's research has focused on the nature of improvisation and composition, as well as the supply and demand of American public school music teachers.
He received his undergraduate degree in music education from the Ohio State University, and his master's and Ph.D. degrees in music education from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, he served as orchestra director and instructor for public school districts in Ohio and New York. Gardner was also music director for two youth orchestras at the Hochstein School of Music and has been guest conductor for many honors ensembles. He has designed and directed programs for adult learners and alternative styles for string ensembles.
Gardner is a member of MENC: National Association for Music Education, and the American String Teacher Association (ASTA). He is currently serving as president of the PA/DE chapter of ASTA, as well as a member of the alternative styles committee for the 2007 ASTA national convention.
Anthony Leach, teaches courses in choral music education. A member of the Penn State faculty since 1994, he also conducts the University Choir and Essence of Joy. He holds degrees from Lebanon Valley College and Penn State.
A native of Washington, D.C., Leach has fourteen years of teaching experience in the public schools of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. He also has served on the adjunct faculties of Shippensburg, Catholic, and Howard universities. In addition to his duties at Penn State, he serves as minister of music and organist at University Baptist and Brethren Church, State College. Leach is national chairman of the Multicultural and Ethnic Perspectives Repertoire and Standards Committee for the American Choral Directors Association.
Leach is a member of the Music Educators National Conference, American Choral Directors Association, American Guild of Organists, and the Gospel Music Workshop of America.
Joanne Rutkowski, Professor of Music Education and Coordinator of Music Education Programs has been a member of the faculty since 1984. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education with particular emphases in music learning and development, curriculum design, assessment, and music for children birth through 12-years-old.
Her research on the nature of the child singing voice and the development of techniques and materials for enhancing the singing achievement of children in a classroom setting has been presented at state, regional, national, and international symposia and conferences. She has written articles for numerous journals including The Journal of Research in Music Education, General Music Today, Update, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education and Contributions to Music Education, and has published chapters in the Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, The Musical Lives of Young Children and Early Adolescence: Perspectives on Research, Policy, and Intervention. She is also co-author of the MENC publication, TIPS: The Child Voice. She is a member of the Music Educators National Conference (having just completed a 6-year appointment to the national executive board of the Society for Research in Music Education), the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Rutkowski received her degrees in music education from Miami University (Ohio), B.M., and the State University of New York at Buffalo, M.F.A., and Ph.D. She has taught general and choral music, grades K-8, in Ohio and New York. Currently she provides music experiences for children ages 3-5 at a day care center on the University Park campus and for children ages birth-5 at the State College Music Academy. For additional information about the Music Academy program, please visit http://www.scmusicacademy.org/all-program.php.
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Linda Thornton was appointed assistant professor of music education at Penn State in 2002, having previously served in a similar position at the State University of New York, College at Fredonia. Her research interests include perception and cognition by elementary and middle school instrumentalists, creativity discovery and development for instrumentalists, and teacher recruitment and training.
She holds Ph.D. and master's degrees from the University of Missouri at Columbia and an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University. Her public school experience includes teaching beginning, middle, and high school instrumental music in Illinois, as well as fourteen years of private saxophone and clarinet lesson instruction.
Currently, Thornton is an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States. Her professional affiliations include the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA), College Music Society (CMS), and the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE).