The 麻豆影院 College of Music is thrilled to announce esteemed music educator (PhD 鈥�07) as the recipient of our 2024 Distinguished Alumnus Award!听
Russell currently serves as professor of music education at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music ed and string pedagogy, and directs the Hartt String Project.
With degrees from Indiana, Shepherd and Northwestern universities鈥攂efore earning a doctorate at our College of Music鈥擱ussell exemplifies what it means to be a universal musician: Beyond his earned expertise in classical, jazz and contemporary musical styles, his research interests include musician health, teacher education, string education and psycho-social/cognitive development in musical learning and teaching.听
Reflecting on his College of Music experience, Russell recalls the significant impact of his mentors and peers in shaping his career trajectory: 鈥淚 was lucky to have some great opportunities to work with professors of music education Jim Austin and Margaret Berg鈥攁nd halfway through my time, Associate Professor of Music Education Martina Miranda came to Colorado. The faculty were amazing to me.鈥�
He adds, 鈥淢y fellow students also contributed to my positive experience at the College of Music鈥擨鈥檓 still great friends with many of them. People make an institution and they taught me the value of being able to 鈥榝ail鈥� and still be treated with dignity and kindness.鈥�
Russell further emphasizes the importance of resilience as instilled by his mentors and colleagues, calling it 鈥渁pproximations of success鈥濃�攖hat is, pursuing incremental goals that ultimately lead to a larger goal. 鈥淪ay you have an end goal of playing a beautiful concerto,鈥� he explains. 鈥淏efore you achieve that, you need to be able to produce a good tone. After that, you need to have the finger facility.听
鈥淛im Austin taught me the importance of mastery motivation theory, which I鈥檝e applied to my career 鈥� and continue to teach my students.鈥�
Discovering mentors can be challenging, but Russell shares his approach: 鈥淪eek out somebody who does the kind of work that you want to do, and who does it in a way that you appreciate and respect.听
鈥淔or me, kindness is paramount. I鈥檝e found that some of the most amazing performers or brilliant scholars I鈥檝e encountered are also some of the nicest, kindest human beings.鈥�
Universal musicianship
In a field where specialization may seem the epitome of success, Russell鈥檚 success proves that being versatile and flexible is both professionally advantageous and personally fulfilling.听
鈥淭he world needs universal musicians,鈥� he says. 鈥淧rofessionally鈥攆or performers, teachers, scholars鈥攖hat means thinking broadly when you set goals for yourself. As one of my mentors said, 鈥業f you鈥檙e overly focused on one goal, you鈥檙e going to miss all the shiny stuff on the side 鈥� and there鈥檚 a lot of shiny stuff off to the side.鈥澨�
Russell further believes that understanding one鈥檚 motivations is crucial to musical fulfillment: 鈥淏e aware of the underlying reasons for what you鈥檙e doing,鈥� he advises.听
He鈥檚 also observed a shift toward prioritizing service to others over musical outcomes鈥攚hich he views with optimism. 鈥淲hat I love about this generation of musicians and scholars is that their approach to music is more 鈥榟umanistic鈥欌�攚hereas we used to be more focused on student achievement and process. I think both worldviews are valuable and important for music educators and scholars today.鈥�
Prior to his roles at the University of Hartford, Russell taught here at CU 麻豆影院, as well as instrumental music (orchestra and guitar) and general music (grades 4-12) in Colorado and northern Virginia. He also taught at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, conducted several youth symphonies, and was the founding director of the Loudoun County String Orchestra and after-school program.听
Russell currently serves on several editorial boards and鈥攊n addition to authoring Statistics in Music Education (Oxford University Press)鈥攈is research articles have been widely published. He often presents his research throughout the United States and abroad.
Congratulations on your well-earned distinction, Joshua Russell!
