Glenn Gass
Glenn Gass is an American educator who is notable for developing and teaching the first for-credit history of rock and roll music course at a major university.[1][3][4] As a professor at Indiana University at Bloomington, he has taught rock history for 40 years and is known as Doctor Rock.[1] During the course of his academic career he taught over 60,000 students, and in addition he has been a music composer.[1] The Bloomington Independent declared him to be the "best professor at Indiana University" for every year from 1993 through 2001, after which the category was renamed "Best Professor At IU Except Glenn Gass". As a youth, Gass was fascinated by The Beatles and studied the violin.[1] He attended Phillips Academy in Andover and became interested in contemporary classical music.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1977.[1] Gass starting teaching rock and roll as a way to pay for his graduate school education.[5] He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Indiana University.[5] His implementation of college-level courses on rock 'n' roll was described as "unprecedented" in 1982 and spurred a development in universities to adopt similar programs.[5] His courses were often the most popular ones offered at the university, and were well attended.[5] He is the author of the textbook History of Rock Music: The Rock & Roll Era.[2] He has been a highly sought after and frequent guest lecturer at many universities; for instance, he guest lectured at DePauw University on the Beach Boys song Good Vibrations as well as the Beatles album Revolver.[2] Sometimes rock stars attended his classes, including John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, Bo Diddley, Neil Young and Booker T. Jones,[1][6] and he has had long conversations with the Beatles biographer Hunter Davies as well as performers Todd Rundgren and Ringo Starr.[5] His father was the mathematician Clinton Gass and he is married with two children.[2]
Glenn blazed a trail in teaching rock music, and no one I’ve ever seen has come close to him ... Best of all, he is energized by the music and passionate about it. However sophisticated his thinking about it, he makes his knowledge visceral so that his students could feel it. The level of talent, conviction and insight he brought to his teaching inspires me to this day.
Glenn Gass | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 8, 1956 |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Music educator[1] |
| Years active | 1980-present |
| Known for | Rock music education[1] |
| Home town | Greencastle, Indiana |
| Title | Provost Professor of Music (2011-present) Rudy Professor of Music (2011-present) |
| Spouse(s) | Julie Anderson Gass |
| Children | Mathew and Julian |
| Parent(s) | Clinton Gass, mathematician[2] Myrtle Brewer Gass |
| Awards | Herman B. Wells Lifetime Achievement Award[2] Sylvia Bowman Distinguished Teaching Award[2] IU Student Alumni Association Student Choice Award[2] Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award[2] Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching[2] Eli Lilly Fellowship Ameritech Fellows Award Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (1991) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Phillips Academy[2] New England Conservatory of Music[2] |
| Alma mater | Indiana University M.A., Ph.D. (1985) Music composition[2] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Rock 'n' Roll music |
| Institutions | Indiana University at Bloomington |
References
- Kirk Johannesen (May 5, 2020). "'DOCTOR ROCK': It's gotta be rock 'n' roll music: Glenn Gass took students on a pioneering Magical Mystery Tour of the music that shaped a generation". Indiana University. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
...Known as "Doctor Rock," Gass created the first rock history classes offered by a school of music ... Gass has taught more than 60,000 students in his career ... rock stars have participated in one of his classes: John Mellencamp, Lou Reed, Bo Diddley, Neil Young and Booker T. Jones ... Gass learned classical music as a boy by playing the violin ... attending a prep school in Andover ... New England Music Conservatory ... Bachelor of Music degree in 1977. ...
- Staff writer (April 1, 2016). "IU PROF. & BEATLES EXPERT GLENN GASS TO EXPLORE THE MUSIC OF 1966 DURING APRIL 11 VISIT". DePauw University. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
... creator of the first for-credit course on rock history at any music school or conservatory ... Gass attended DePauw (he's the son of the late Clinton Gass, professor emeritus of mathematics) and earned a B.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music, and both and M.M. and D.Mus. in composition from Indiana.
- Michael Reschke (May 10, 2020). "Indiana University's 'Doctor Rock' retires after 38 Years". Chicago Daily Herald.
- Megan Erbacher (April 6, 2018). "Are The Beatles Still Relevant? IU's Glenn Gass calls the 'Fab Four' a gift". Evansville Courier & Press. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- Lauren McLaughlin (February 12, 2020). "Professor who created IU's rock 'n' roll classes to retire". Indiana Daily Student. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
...In 1982, Glenn Gass’ implementation of rock 'n’ roll courses was unprecedented ... inspired the adoption of rock courses at universities. ... Provost Professor of Music in General Studies. This title is an award from the Provost intended to honor professors who have done significant teaching or research...
- Staff writer (May 6, 2020). "Glenn Gass took students on Magical Mystery Tour of the music". WBIW. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
...Glenn blazed a trail in teaching rock music...