Accreditation
The National Association of
Schools of Music
Faculty Spotlight
Patricia Grutzmacher, Music Education
Dr. Grutzmacher is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Kent State University.
Master of Music in Music Education Online Faculty
- Benjamin Ayling
- Richard Devore
- Patricia Grutzmacher
- Terry Kuhn
- Ralph Lorenz
- Craig Resta
- Andrew Shahriari
Benjamin Ayling, Music Education
Ben Ayling has been the choral music education specialist at Kent State since fall, 2002. He is sought after as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and speaker. His speaking engagements have sent him from coast to coast as well as New Zealand, Australia, and Russia. He has served as a clinician at music educator's conferences throughout the United Sates, Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia and Russia. With special interests in choral techniques and sight-singing, his research agenda includes the areas of pitch perception and cognition.
Dr. Ayling's choirs are consistently known for their high standards. His ensembles have toured throughout the Midwest and Eastern United States as well as Belgium and The Netherlands. He is the founder and conductor of the KSU Men's Chorus which debuted in the fall of 2002 and has served as the interim director of the KSU Chorale. As a performer, Dr. Ayling sang bass in The Ritz, a world champion men's quartet that, along with having eight recordings to its credit, has toured and performed around the world. He is in demand as a speaker and conductor for music conferences and honor choirs around the world.
His debut as a conductor came at the age of 14. Since then, he has received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music education from Bowling Green State University and his Ph.D. in music education from The Ohio State University, and has taught choral music for 20 years in the public schools. While at BGSU and OSU, he assisted with each institution's music education, men's chorus and conducting programs. Dr. Ayling lives in Kent, Ohio, with his wife, Mary Ann.
Richard Devore, Music Theory and American Music Studies
Richard Devore is Associate Professor of Music Theory at Kent State University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in ear training, the history of music theory, music theory pedagogy, and various aspects of music analysis. His Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in music theory are from The University of Iowa, where he studied with W.T. Atcherson, Richard Hervig, William Hibbard, and Donald Jenni. He also holds a B.Mus. in piano performance from Kent State University, where he studied piano with Lois Ozanich and Robert Palmieri and composition and theory with James Waters and Walter Watson.
Dr. Devore's current areas of research include the pedagogy of music theory, the history of music theory in the United States, and various other areas of American music. He has published articles in Theoria, Indiana Theory Review, and the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy. He has presented papers at numerous international, national, and regional conferences, including International Conferences on Music Perception and Cognition and national meetings of the Society for Music Theory and the Society for American Music.
Dr. Devore is also active as a piano accompanist and volunteer church musician.
Patricia Grutzmacher, Music Education
Dr. Grutzmacher is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Kent State University. She is the founder and conductor of the Kent State Stark Concert Band. From 1983- 2009 she was the Coordinator of the Music Department (2003-2009) and Director of Instrumental Music at Kent State University Stark Campus where she taught courses in music education, world music, music history, applied oboe, and directed chamber ensembles. She is a Diplomate of the Sudler Order of Merit presented by the John Philip Sousa Foundation to recognize her contributions to the excellence of bands and band music performance. Her biography is included in the 1998, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006 editions of Who's Who Among America's Teachers.
In April 2001 she was presented an award by the American Association of University Women for her achievements in programming and promoting university diversity events. She holds a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Akron, a master's degree from the Ohio State University and a doctor of philosophy degree from Kent State University. Prior to her work at Kent State University, she was the assistant director of bands and taught elementary general and instrumental music in the Wooster City Schools. She is a past recipient of the Kent State University Stark Campus Distinguished Teaching Award. Grutzmacher has presented general music clinic sessions for the Ohio Music Education Association Districts V, VI, and VIII, for the Cleveland, Ohio parochial schools, and at state and national conferences. She has conducted high school honor bands for the Ohio Music Education Association District VIII, in Wayne, Medina, and Tuscarawas Counties of Ohio, in Twinsburg, Ohio, and has guest conducted at OMEA conferences. She has directed arts integration projects in numerous school systems in a four county area and has made presentations of curricular arts integration at national, regional, and state professional conferences. She is currently the curriculum director for a summer arts-focused English language camp in Zalecze Wielkie, Poland.
Terry Kuhn was serving as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, Director of Continuous Improvement, and Professor of Music at Kent State University when he retired in July of 2003. Since then he served six years as Co-Editor of the NACADA Journal, web master of www.lizkuhn.info, and brief sojourns as chair of the university committee on administrative and academic unit structure nomenclature, leader of the Great Starts Professional Learning Community in the Faculty Professional Development Center, and a member of a Task Force identifying strategic directions for the School of Music. Over his 40-year career Dr. Kuhn taught band, chorus, and general music in primary and secondary schools, and music education teaching methods and research at the College Park campus of the University of Maryland and Kent State University.
Terry has co-authored three books with Clifford K. Madsen (Contemporary Music Education), Gustav Wachhaus (Fundamental Classroom Music Skills), and Harvey Reid (Modern Folk Guitar); contributed chapters or articles to six books; and published articles in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, Journal of Music Therapy, The Musical Quarterly, Contributions to Music Education, Research Perspectives in Music Education, and Diabetes Care. He was co-editor of Scholarly Inquiry in Academic Advising and has served as editor or editorial board member for three scholarly journals.
Dr. Kuhn was awarded the Service to NACADA Award in San Antonio, Texas, at the 2009 national conference of the National Academic Advising Association.
Ralph Lorenz is Interim Associate Dean in the College of the Arts, and Associate Professor of Music Theory in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, Kent State University. He received a Ph.D. in music theory from Indiana University, after having completed B.Mus. and M.A. degrees in composition from California State University Long Beach. Dr. Lorenz is a former editor of the Indiana Theory Review and has published articles and reviews in the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Theoria, Indiana Theory Review, and 20th Century Music. He has presented papers at national and international conferences such as the annual meetings of the Society for Music Theory, The College Music Society, the German Studies Association, and the International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Resta holds degrees from the University of Maryland at College Park (PhD), Indiana University (MM), and Baylor University (BME). His teaching experience of fifteen years has encompassed rural, urban, and suburban settings in each geographical region of the United States having worked in Texas, Indiana, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio. While his primary public school positions have been in elementary and middle school orchestra and instrumental settings, and he has also worked extensively with students from early elementary through graduate levels in music education.
Dr. Resta's research interests comprise string education, historical and philosophical research in music education, educational leadership issues, and arts education advocacy. He has presented at conferences for the Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio Music Educators Associations (MMEA, GMEA, OMEA), at Music Educators National Conference (MENC) Eastern Division, and GMEA Collegiate Music Educators Conference (CMENC). His work is published in Maryland Music Educator, New Jersey TEMPO, and American String Teacher. He is also a contributor to the forthcoming second edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music produced by Oxford University Press. Additionally, he has adjudicated in several states, worked as Advocacy Chair on the Maryland MEA Executive Board, and serves as a Music and Education Scholar for the Ohio Humanities Council.
His principal violin teachers include Kevin Lawrence, Stanley Ritchie, and Davis Brooks. Research mentors are Marie McCarthy, Thomas Binkley, and Harry Elzinga. Performing experience includes programs at The Round Top Festival, The Berkeley and Boston Early Music Festivals, and The Bloomington and Washington Early Music Festivals. Concert appearances include venues in Texas, Indiana, California, Washington, DC, Boston, and abroad in Switzerland. Dr. Resta is a member of the groups Armonia Nova and Bernardus, scholarship-based ensembles focusing on medieval repertoire and literature. Upcoming performances include those in Cleveland, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Washington, DC, and at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Beijing, China, during August, 2010.
A string specialist, Dr. Resta is currently Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education at Kent State University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in string pedagogy, pre-service music teacher education, instrumental music teaching, and music education foundational studies.
Andrew Shahriari, Ethnomusicology
Andrew Shahriari earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Kent State University in 2001. He has published two books, Khon Muang Music and Dance Traditions of North Thailand, by White Lotus Co., Ltd., a Bangkok press, and World Music: A Global Journey (co-authored with Kent State Professor Emeritus, Terry E. Miller), published by Routledge, an American press. His fieldwork experiences have taken him thus far to Thailand, China, Europe, Mexico, and many regions of the United States.
Dr. Shahriari is currently an Assistant Professor at Kent State and Coordinator of Online Programs for Music. Other areas of interest include popular world music, rock music history, East Asian music and culture, music and spirituality, as well as music therapy and autism.