Robert Gauldin

Education

1953 — bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of North Texas College of Music

1955 — master's degree in music theory from the Eastman School of Music

1958 — doctorate in music theory from the Eastman School of Music

Career

1958-63 — Professorship of theory at William Carey College

1963-97 — Professor, Eastman School of Music

Honors

1988 — Honorary Doctorate, College of William & Mary

R.T. French Company Visiting Professor at Oxford University’s Worchester College†

Composition awards

1952 — First Prize, Student Composition, Texas Federation of Music Clubs

Sonatina

1952 — BMI Student Composer Award (see also BMI Student Composer Award)

1964 — Winner of the 1954 Music Mountain Contest for works by American composers for string quartet:

Partita in Four Movements: Intrada; Scherzo; Passecaille; and RondoThe winning composition was selected among three finalist by the Berkshire String Quartet – Urico Rossi (1916–2001) (first violin); Albert Lazan (1914–2003) (second violin); David Dawson ( –1975) (viola); and Fritz Magg (1914–1997) (cello); Judges selecting the three finalist were William Kroll, Aldo Parisot, Allen Forte, and Michael Steinberg

Gauldin's compositions include works for wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, and chorus. He also received a Ford Foundation Grant for the Contemporary Music Project pilot program at Eastman from 1966 to 1968. As a theorist, Gauldin has published a number of articles and three widely used textbooks, and has presented numerous papers at conventions and universities in both the United States and England. He has served as reviewer and adviser for several publishers, including the Yale University Press and Prentice-Hall, and has served on various boards and committees for music theory societies, including a federal committee chosen to select summer seminars in music for the National Endowment for the Humanities (1981–1982). He was a charter member of the Society for Music Theory and served as its vice president and president (1988–1992). Gauldin retired in 1997 after 34 years of service to the School but continues to be an active member of the Eastman community. In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions, the theory department established the Gauldin Acquisition Fund for Rare Books in Music Theory for the Sibley Music Library, with an initial focus on counterpoint treatises and Wagnerian studies.

Publishings

Gauldin’s is the author of Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music and has authored many articles in publications that include Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of the American Liszt Society, and Sonus.

Growing up

Parents married November 9, 1929, Frederick, OK

Father: Robert Luther Gauldin (b. October 20, 1905, Honey Grove, TX; d. April 2, 1959, Vernon, TX)

Mother: Lula Mae Self (b. December 31, 1905, Boswell, OK; d. August 6, 1977, Paris, TX)

Bobby Gauldin graduated 1949 from Vernon High School (in Vernon, TX). During his senior year, Gauldin was Vice President of the Honor Society and, as clarinetist, he was President of the Band. In the 1949 Vernon High School Yearbook, he was labeled "the BEBOP man."

Compositions

Movement for wind quintet (©1953)