Professor
Professor, Ethnomusicology
B.M., San Jose State University; M.M. & M.A., The University of Michigan; Ph.D, University of California, Los Angeles.
Andrew Connell is an ethnomusicologist whose primary research is in Brazilian popular instrumental music, focusing on issues of identity and musical globalization. He has recent articles published in Music Cultures of Latin America: Global Effects, Past and Present (UCLA Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology) and Women and Music in America Since 1900 (Greenwood Press) and has given presentations at various national and international conferences including the Society for Ethnomusicology and the International Council of Traditional Music. His current scholarly activities include completing a book on Brazilian jazz.
As a performer, Dr. Connell plays saxophone and clarinet in ensembles ranging from jazz to classical chamber music to Brazilian chorinho. He studied jazz improvisation and arranging with Ray Brown, clarinet with Rosario Mazzeo, Janet Averett, and Fred Ormand, and saxophone with Don Sinta. He has played with the Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Toledo (Ohio) Symphonies, and has appeared at the Monterey, Montreux–Detroit, and San Francisco jazz festivals, and the Spoleto Festival USA. In addition, Dr. Connell has performed with a wide range artists including Luciano Pavarotti, Dave Leibman, Lou Rawls, Mike Marshall, and Hermeto Pascoal, and has recorded for the Musical Heritage Society, Intrada, Adventure Music, Earthbeat! Traveler, and Acoustic Levitation labels. At James Madison University, Dr. Connell teaches courses in American music, the history of jazz, world music, and coaches small jazz ensembles.
Pedro Aponte
Associate Professor, Musicology Area Coordinator
apontepr@jmu.edu
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Vicki Curry
Associate Professor
curryvl@jmu.edu
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Mary Jean Speare
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies and Admissions, Associate Director of the School of Music
spearemj@jmu.edu
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Robert Hallahan
Associate Professor
hallahrf@jmu.edu
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Chuck Dotas
Professor, Director of Jazz Studies
dotascj@jmu.edu
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Sam Suggs, Bass
Assistant Professor
