Mussulman, Joseph A. 1928-

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Mussulman, Joseph A. 1928-

(Joseph Agee Mussulman)

PERSONAL:

Born November 20, 1928, in East St. Louis, IL; son of Boyd (a merchant) and Susan Mussulman; married E. Jo-Anne Stafford (a States Arts Council administrative assistant), June 16, 1950; children: Eleanor, Claudia. Education: Northwestern University, B.Mus., 1950, M.Mus., 1951; Syracuse University, Ph. D., 1966.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Missoula, MT. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator, choral conductor, cartographer, writer, editor. St. Cloud Teachers College (now St. Cloud State College), St. Cloud, MN, instructor in music, 1951-52; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, assistant to dean of music, 1952-54; Ripon College, Ripon, WI, assistant professor of music, 1954-57; University of Montana, Missoula, assistant professor, 1957-66, associate professor, 1966-71, professor of music, 1971-88. Author of interpretation programs and audio tours for museums and national parks. Designer, writer and co-producer of floaters' maps of 16 Montana rivers. Conductor, various church choirs and Missoula Symphony Chorale. Program annotator, Missoula Symphony Orchestra. Seasonal wilderness ranger, Lolo National Forest, 1981-93. Producer for the Web site Discovering Lewis & Clark, 1993—.

MEMBER:

Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Danforth grant, 1961, 1963, 1965; National Endowment for the Humanities grant, 1967; Montana Governor's Arts Award, 1999; award of meritorious achievement, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation; Montana Governor's Humanities Award, 2005.

WRITINGS:

Music in the Cultured Generation: A Social History of Music in America, 1870-1900, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1971.

The Uses of Music: An Introduction to Music in Contemporary American Life, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1974.

Dear People … Robert Shaw: A Biography, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1979, revised and updated edition, Hinshaw Music (Chapel Hill, NC), 1996.

(Illustrator and creator of maps) Barbara Fifer and Vicky Soderberg, Along the Trail with Lewis & Clark, Farcountry Press (Helena, MT), 1998.

Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air, photography by Jim Wark, Mountain Press Publishing Company (Missoula, MT), 2004.

Contributor of articles to academic journals, including Musical Quarterly, Centennial Review and to the historical journal about the Lewis and Clark expedition, We Proceeded On.

SIDELIGHTS:

An educator and scholar of music history and criticism, Joseph A. Mussulman has written books about music and also about his interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition. In his book Music in the Cultured Generation: A Social History of Music in America, 1870-1900, the author focuses on writings about music that appeared in four American periodicals: Atlantic, Harper's, Scribner's, and Century Illustrated. Mussulman chose these periodicals because they focused on writings for the general population, thus giving insights into the social aspects of serious music, such as opera and classical music. Barbara Hampton, writing in Notes, referred to the book as "eminently readable." Hampton added: "Mussulman marshalls an impressive array of evidence to convince us that the mainstream of musical life was not dominated by the conventional and the superficial." A contributor to Musi-cal Quarterly wrote: "Mussulman gives a systematic exposition to the views set forth by this circle of writers and a valuable running commentary that puts it all in perspective."

In another volume titled The Uses of Music: An Introduction to Music in Contemporary American Life, the author discusses both the technical aspects of music and various musical genres, or types of music, from background and mood music to ceremonial, theatre, and pop music. Charles H. Kaufman, writing in Notes, commented: "With great agility and surprising grace [Mussulman] dances lightly across the entire musical landscape and manages to get his feet in the right place most of the time." Mussulman is also author of a biography of musician and conductor Robert Shaw.

In addition to his primary academic expertise in music, Mussulman is also a history buff, an interest he has pursued more vigorously since he retired from academia. As a result, he has contributed to two books about the Lewis and Clark expedition and created a Web site devoted to the pair's journey. In Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air, the author and photographer Jim Wark follow the famous western exploratory expedition via airplane. The book includes numerous photos that are accompanied by quotes from the diaries of Lewis and Clark. In a review of Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air in the periodical Kliatt, Raymond Puffer called the book "just too beautiful to pass up." Diane Donovan, writing in MBR Bookwatch, referred to the work as "a fascinating, visually pleasing survey."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kliatt, September, 2004, Raymond Puffer, review of Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air, p. 50.

MBR Bookwatch, May, 2005, Diane Donovan, review of Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air.

Music & Letters, July, 1972, review of Music in the Cultured Generation: A Social History of Music in America, 1870-1900, pp. 321-322.

Musical Quarterly, April, 1972, review of Music in the Cultured Generation, pp. 322-329.

Notes, December, 1972, Barbara Hampton, review of Music in the Cultured Generation, pp. 243-244; December, 1975, Charles H. Kaufman, review of The Uses of Music: An Introduction to Music in Contemporary American Life, pp. 275-278.

Oregon History Quarterly, winter, 2004, Ken DuBois, review of Discovering Lewis & Clark from the Air, p. 659.