Dr. Joseph Stuessy holds the Ph.D. and Master of Arts degrees from the Eastman School of Music.  His undergraduate degree is from Southern Methodist University.  Dr. Stuessy served as Professor and Director of the School of Music at Texas State University (2003-2007) and as Professor and Director of the Division of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio (1979-2003).

Dr. Stuessy’s Piano Concerto No. 1 was premiered by the Houston Symphony Orchestra and has been performed by the San Antonio Symphony and the Moscow State Orchestra.  His Piano Concerto No. 2 was premiered in 1996.  Both concertos have been recorded by the Moscow State Orchestra and are available on Aquarius compact discs.  Other works by Dr. Stuessy have been performed by the Dallas Symphony, the Eastman-Rochester Symphony, the Bolshoi Symphony (Moscow), Voices of Change, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, and various other soloists and ensembles.  A complete concert of his compositions was presented in 1993 at the Composer’s Union in Moscow, Russia.  In 2005, he was named “Composer of the Year” by the National Federation of Music Clubs.

In 1985, Dr. Stuessy provided invited testimony to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on the topic of rock and roll lyrics.  He has taught a course on the history of rock music to over 10,000 students at three major universities (Southern Methodist U, Unviersity of Texas San Antonio, and Texas State University).

Dr. Scott Lipscomb received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where he studied with Jerry Coker. In addition, he holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Music (specialization: Systematic Musicology) from the University of California, Los Angeles. For six years, Dr. Lipscomb taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio (1995 to 2001) where he was actively involved with the Institute for Music Research.  He was Associate Professor of Music Education & Music Technology at the Northwestern University School of Music from 2001 to 2006. Currently an Associate Professor & Head of the Music Education & Music Therapy Division in the School of Music at the University of Minnesota, he teaches a variety of courses in music education, research design, music cognition, music technology, and rock history.

His primary areas of research interest include music integration in the K-12 classroom, integrating technology into the music classroom, developing innovative research techniques for studying musical behaviors, music applications for mobile devices, and experimental investigations to enhance our understanding of the role of music in multimedia (motion pictures, animation, and video games). In addition to authoring this textbook, he has made numerous presentations at regional, national, and international conferences, including those hosted by the Society for Music Perception & Cognition, the European Society for the Cognition of Music, the Society for Research in Music Education, the Minnesota Music Educators Association, the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, and the College Music Society. His research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.