Kevin Mooney
Kevin Mooney, Ph.D. (Senior Lecturer, musicology) holds both a bachelor’s degree in music performance (guitar) and a master’s degree in music education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a doctor of philosophy degree in musicology/ethnomusicology from The University of Texas at Austin. His book, Texas Jazz Singer: Louise Tobin in the Golden Age of Swing and Beyond (Texas A&M University Press, May 2021) was awarded the 2022 Certificate of Merit in Recorded Jazz for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research by the Association of Recorded Sound Collections. His current research centers on Bildung and music, identifying conceptions of self-development in the music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His article, “Erlkönig”: Goethe, Schubert, and Resurrecting the Son,” was published in College Music Symposium (2021). In 2023 he presented his invited paper “Goethe and Schubert: In Search of Conceptions of Bildung” at the International Goethe Conference in St. Louis, MO. In addition to articles and reviews published in Journal of the Society for American Music, Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition, Notes, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, The Journal of Texas Music History, the Bulletin of the Society for American Music, Great Plains Quarterly, The New Mexico Historical Review, and the Handbook of Texas Music, Dr. Mooney authored the Instructor’s Manual for four editions of American Music: A Panorama (New York: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2013). He also currently serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Texas Music History (Texas State University).
Dr. Mooney has over 35 years of teaching experience in higher education. In addition to his course offerings for the School of Music, Dr. Mooney teaches regularly in the Honors College. He was awarded the John R. Hood Honors Professor of the Year, Fall 2020- Spring 2021, and he is a three-time recipient of the “Favorite Professor” award of the Alfred H. Nolle Chapter of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society (2012, 2014, and 2015). In 2016 he won the University-Wide Excellence in Online Teaching Award. Prior to his arrival at Texas State University (2007), Dr. Mooney taught a wide range of courses at College of St. Mary, Omaha, Nebraska, Southwest Texas State University, and at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was Associate Chair of the Center for American Music as well as founder and director of the Texas Music Oral History Project.
Dr. Mooney was Secretary-Treasurer of the American Musicological Society—Southwest Chapter (2017-2021), and from 2008-2011 he served as Director of Graduate Studies in Music at Texas State University. As a classical and jazz guitarist, Dr. Mooney has performed in concert with Dizzy Gillespie and David Amram, and has recorded several jazz tracks on Novak and Haar—Old Friends (Ware House Productions, Inc.: Omaha, Nebraska, 2005). Most recently he has performed with and arranged guitar music for jazz singer, Kara Bliss.