Jerry Tabor

Jerry Tabor holds Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Maryland at College Park, where he studied with esteemed composer and theorist, Thomas DeLio. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in theory and composition at the University of New Mexico under the guidance of Scott Wilkinson, William Wood. While at UNM, Tabor met John Cage and took master classes with such composers as Milton Babbitt and Michael Colgrass.

Tabor writes music for various instrumental combinations, including orchestra, mixed chamber ensembles, chorus, vocal solo with piano, and jazz ensembles, as well as for the electroacoustic medium. His music has been commissioned by respected performers such as Frank Cox, Thomas Moore, and the Links Ensemble, as well as the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. A number of Tabor’s compositions published by Silent Editions and several are recorded on the Neuma Records label. His 1989 woodwind quintet, Texture and Color on a Wall, won the University of New Mexico Composition Competition and his 1994 work for large chamber ensemble, Ambit, was a finalist in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Young Composer Competition (1995). More recently, as a guest composer, his music has been featured at the John Donald Robb International Composers Symposium (NM), the Western Illinois University New Music Festival, The Electroacoustic Music: The Continuing Tradition conference (MD), the Holy Cross College New Music Festival (MA), George Mason University (VA), SUNY Buffalo, Catholic University of America (DC), and Hartwick College (NY), among others. His music has also been presented in Europe and at such festivals as the International Computer Music Conference, the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, the American Society for Cybernetics Conference, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, and Society of Composers conferences.

Tabor’s research is focused in the areas of composition theory and compositional pedagogy. His important book on a pioneering theorist and cognitive musicologist, entitled, Otto Laske: Navigating New Musical Horizons, is published by Greenwood Press (1999). He played an important role in the organization of a significant Mellen Press volume on the work of Thomas DeLio, Essays on the Music and Theoretical Writings of Thomas DeLio, Contemporary American Composer, for which he coauthored the introduction (2008). He also published several essays in the Computer Music Journal and wrote the Instructors Manual for the 2nd edition of the popular jazz text, Jazz: The First 100 Years.

Tabor has taught at the University of Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Trinity College in Washington, D.C. As Professor of Music at Salisbury University in Maryland, where he has taught since 1997, Tabor teaches in and coordinates the theory and composition programs. He also directs the jazz ensembles.

Visit Jerry Tabor’s website at www.jerrytabor.com

Teacher Education Technology Center (TE) 304
Office: 410-546-2476 or ext 62476
Email: jntabor@salisbury.edu