Robert Gauldin
Robert "Bob" Luther Gauldin (born 1931) is an American composer and Professor Emeritus of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music.
Education
- 1953 — bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of North Texas College of Music
- 1955 — masters degree in music theory from the Eastman School of Music
- 1958 — doctorate in music theory from the Eastman School of Music
Career
- 1958-63 — Professorship of theory at William Carey College
- 1963-97 — Professor, Eastman School of Music
Honors
- 1988 — Honorary Doctorate, William and Mary College
- R.T. French Company Visiting Professor at Oxford University’s Worchester College†
- † The R. T. French Company, headquartered in Rochester, and its parent, in Great Britain (Reckitt & Colman Ltd. from 1926 to 2000; then, by merger in 2000, becoming Reckitt Benckiser Group plc), established an exchange professorship between the University of Rochester and University of Hull in 1953 and later expanded to exchanges between Rochester and colleges at Oxford University.[1] Today, the program continues between professors at Oxford and the University of Rochester.
Composition Awards
- 1952 — First Prize, Student Composition, Texas Federation of Music Clubs[2]
- 1952 — BMI Student Composer Award (see also BMI Student Composer Award)
- 1964 — Winner of the 1954 Music Mountain Contest for works by American composers for string quartet:
- Partita in Four Movements: Intrada; Scherzo; Passecaille; and Rondo
- The winning composition was selected among three finalist by the Berkshire String Quartet – Urico Rossi (1916–2001) (first violin); Albert Lazan (1914–2003) (second violin); David Dawson ( –1975) (viola); and Fritz Magg (1914–1997) (cello); Judges selecting the three finalist were William Kroll, Aldo Parisot, Allen Forte, and Michael Steinberg[3]
Gauldin's compositions include works for wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, and chorus. He also received a Ford Foundation Grant for the Contemporary Music Project pilot program at Eastman from 1966 to 1968. As a theorist, Gauldin has published a number of articles and three widely used textbooks, and has presented numerous papers at conventions and universities in both the United States and England. He has served as reviewer and adviser for several publishers, including the Yale University Press and Prentice-Hall, and has served on various boards and committees for music theory societies, including a federal committee chosen to select summer seminars in music for the National Endowment for the Humanities (1981–1982). He was a charter member of the Society for Music Theory and served as its vice president and president (1988–1992). Gauldin retired in 1997 after 34 years of service to the School but continues to be an active member of the Eastman community. In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions, the theory department established the Gauldin Acquisition Fund for Rare Books in Music Theory for the Sibley Music Library, with an initial focus on counterpoint treatises and Wagnerian studies.
Publishings
Gauldin’s is the author of Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music and has authored many articles in publications that include Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of the American Liszt Society, and Sonus.
Growing Up
Parents married November 9, 1929, Frederick, OK
- Father: Robert Luther Gauldin (b. October 20, 1905, Honey Grove, TX; d. April 2, 1959, Vernon, TX)
- Mother: Lula Mae Self (b. December 31, 1905, Boswell, OK; d. August 6, 1977, Paris, TX)
Bobby Gauldin graduated 1949 from Vernon High School (in Vernon, TX). During his senior year, Gauldin was Vice President of the Honor Society and, as clarinetist, he was President of the Band. In the 1949 Vernon High School Yearbook, he was labeled "the BEBOP man."[4]
Music Compositions
- Movement for wind quintet (©1953)
Major publications
- Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music, 680 pgs, W.W. Norton ISBN 0-393-97074-4 (1997)
- A practical approach to sixteenth-century counterpoint, Waveland Press (©1995)
- A practical approach to eighteenth-century counterpoint, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (©1988)
- The historical development of scoring for the wind ensemble microform, PhD thesis (1958), University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, 205 pgs. (©1961)
References
- ↑ Arthur James May (1899-1968), edited and abridged by Lawrence Eliot Klein, History of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962, Chapter 36, University of Rochester (1977)
- ↑ NTSC Students Contest Winners, The Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1952
- ↑ Raymond A. Ericson (1915–1997), Quartet Award Won by Gualdin, The New York Times, Aug. 9, 1964
- ↑ The Yamparika, pg. 76, Vernon High School (TX) (1949)