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Short Bio

 

Jackson Harmeyer studies music librarianship at Indiana University where he is the recipient of a May Copeland Fellowship and Luddy Research Award. In Bloomington, he is employed at the Cook Music Library of the Jacobs School of Music and at the Archives of Traditional Music. He also serves as Secretary/Web Administrator to the Students of Music Librarianship Group. His first master’s is in Music History and Literature from the University of Louisville where he was a recipient of the Gerhard Herz Music History Scholarship and wrote a thesis entitled, “Liminal Aesthetics: Perspectives on Harmony and Timbre in the Music of Olivier Messiaen, Tristan Murail, and Kaija Saariaho.” His latest project, “Uncharted Territories: Collection Development of Unfamiliar Musical Idioms, and a Practical Case for Spectral Music,” has been selected for presentation at the Music Library Association national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in March 2022. Already Jackson has shared research at two meetings of the South-Central Chapter of the American Musicological Society; the University of Tennessee Contemporary Music Festival; the Music by Women Festival; and the University of Louisiana System Academic Summit. A composition of his has also been premiered at New Music on the Bayou. As an arts programmer, he has served as Director of Scholarship to the Sugarmill Music Festival, Series Director to Abendmusik Alexandria, and Marketing Chair to the Chamber Music Society of Louisville. He is also a freelance concert annotator, music blogger, CD collector, avid reader, and award-winning nature photographer. Learn more at www.JacksonHarmeyer.com.

A Personal Note

Hello and welcome! This website, launched in fall 2015, is meant to both represent my musical activities and serve generally as a scholarly resource for those interested in music. That fall, as I applied for graduate school, I knew I would be leaving behind the position at the Arts Council of Central Louisiana which had allowed me to become a public advocate for classical music. Through my MusicCentral blog, as series director of Abendmusik Alexandria, as a concert annotator, and as someone who regularly made television and radio appearances, I had many opportunities to enrich people’s lives through classical music. I wanted to continue those activities in whatever way I could; and, at the same time, I also sought to collect the many writings on music which I had produced and let them speak on my behalf during the application process. The content on this website has grown exponentially over the past three years, but the essential two-fold mission remains the same.

Throughout my life, history has been of great interest to me as has been constructing historical narratives. This began as an interest in storytelling, and growing up I dreamed of being a novelist. My science fiction epics, already quite extensive by high school, were indeed largely historical in their storytelling. To this day, I maintain that the effective study of history depends on narrative, and I bring this approach with me into my study of music history—or, musicology, as it is often termed. My interest in history, however, extends beyond music. I have thoroughly explored the local history and culture of Louisiana and Kentucky, my two homes, and wherever I travel I also study the history and culture of these locales. Through my liberal arts education at the Louisiana Scholars’ College, I was able to study all periods of Western civilization to some extent, while also familiarizing myself with the literature and philosophy of many cultures. I have taken particular inspiration from Plato, Luther, Jefferson, Goethe, Hegel, Thoreau, Olmsted, Twain, Mann, and others.

My interests also extend beyond these intellectual pursuits. I am a lifelong choral singer. I first sang with the St. Louis Cathedral Boychoir of New Orleans, gaining with this ensemble my initial exposure to classical music. In Louisville, I have sung with University Chorus, directed by Kent Hatteberg, and, more recently, the Louisville Master Chorale, directed by Mark Walker. I have also participated in Gregorian chant groups and shape-note singings. A photographer and nature lover as well, I enjoy hiking and take my camera wherever I go. My photos have even won a competition hosted by the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Since then, I have launched a photography shop at Fine Art America where my photos are available for purchase as art prints and in a variety of media from stationery to home decor. Aside from all of this, I have long been a Lego fanatic who has constructed an entire Lego city; a fan of Monty Python who has made a cameo appearance in a production of Spamalot; a Star TrekGundam, and Dragon Ball enthusiast who knows many of the ins-and-outs of these extensive universes; and an occasional contra-dancer with a growing fascination in bluegrass music and Appalachian folk ballads.

— Jackson, August 2019

At Red River Gorge Geological Area in Slade, Kentucky, a short drive from Louisville

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At Great Smoky Mountains National Park

At Abendmusik Alexandria

At New York's Carnegie Hall, 2003

As a swamp castle guard in Spamalot

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