About Me...

I teach: Music History courses, World of the Arts, Women in Music, and direct the Early Music Ensemble

Years at UWW: full time since 1996, part-time 1991-1996

Hometown: Whitewater, now (I grew up in Oxford, Ohio)

Family: husband (we have 2 dogs, adopted from Basset Buddies Rescue)

Colleges I attended and majors: Undergrad at DePauw University (majored in cello performance);  Masters degrees at Kent State University (degrees in cello performance and in musicology); Ph.D. from UW-Madison (musicology major, cello performance minor). I also did several years of doctoral work in musicology at Indiana University-Bloomington before we moved to Wisconsin.

What's "musicology"? In a nutshell, the study of the history of music.  It also involves and includes theoretical analysis, performance practice, sociology and cultural studies, musical notation, ethnomusicology, and a number of related subjects (art, theater, dance, etc.). My main areas of interest and research are European music written from about 1700 until about 1900, with an emphasis on instrumental music composed in and around Vienna (composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert). I'm also very interested in contributions women have made as composers and performers/interpreters of music, especially in the "classical music" world. Yeah, I'm a nerd!

Jobs I had during college: librarian, nursing home worker, cello teacher, freelance musician, orchestra member.

Other places I've taught: Kent State University, Idaho State University (9 years), Indiana University, UW-Madison, UW-Rock County. I also taught strings in the Pocatello, Idaho schools for a year.

Favorite part of teaching: interacting with students. Professors get to meet so many interesting people!

Least favorite part of teaching: the mountains of paperwork

Instruments I play: cello, piano, viola da gamba, recorder.

Orchestras I've played in (for $): Akron Symphony, Idaho State-Civic Symphony, Idaho Falls Symphony, Elkhorn/Sun Valley Festival Orchestra, Beloit-Janesville Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Classical Music Festival Orchestra (Austria)

Most unusual gigs as a freelance musician: playing classical music for the grand opening of a Wendy's restaurant in Stow, Ohio. They served champagne, fancy hors d'oeuvres, and Wendy's food while we played Mozart string quartets!  I also once played a wedding in the middle of a very wet meadow at the top of an Idaho mountain pass.

Hobbies: gardening, reading, cooking. There's never enough time for any of them!

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