Anthony Bushard

Anthony J. Bushard arrived at the UNL School of Music in 2006. Dr. Bushard received a B.A. in music (piano) from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, as well as a masters and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Kansas. He is a member of the American Musicological Society, College Music Society, Society for American Music, Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, and a two-time recipient of the Milton Steinhardt Scholarship in musicology at the University of Kansas. Also while at KU, he was a harpsichordist for the KU Collegium Musicum and the Spencer Consort.

Dr. Bushard's research interests are in Contemporary American music with a special focus on jazz, blues, and film music. His masters research deals with the jazz and blues club scene in Kansas City during the 1930s. Furthermore, he has published sections of that research in the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Second Edition. Currently, he is expanding the scope of this topic, seen most recently at the Mediating Jazz Conference in Manchester, England (2009) and as part of the conference proceedings currently under consideration by Duke University Press. Dr. Bushard is also a frequent collaborator with the UNL Jazz Orchestra and the UNL Big Band in their annual "historical concert." The results of this partnership have been presented at the Leeds International Jazz Education Conference (2012), Leeds, England, Echoes of Ellington Conference in Austin, Texas (2009), International College Music Society Conference in Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik, Croatia (2009), and will be featured in the Journal of Music History Pedagogy (2013).

Dr. Bushard's dissertation, entitled Fear and Loathing in Hollywood: Representations of Fear, Paranoia, and Individuality vs. Conformity in Selected Film Music of the 1950s, considers the musicodramatic implications of the scores for High Noon (1952),The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and On the Waterfront (1954) alongside sociopolitical undercurrents of the 1950s. A sampling of this work is featured in the Journal of Film Music, Studies in Musical Theatre, College Music Symposium, and forthcoming in Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront: A Film Score Guide for the Scarecrow Press Film Score Guide Series, as well as a collection of essays entitled Anxiety Muted: American Film Music in a Suburban Age for Oxford University Press. This book also includes Dr. Bushard's latest work concerning Aaron Copland's continuing influence on contemporary film music through Thomas Newman, supplemented by Bushard's interview with Newman. He also contributed the chapter on "Film Music" to Craig Wright's Listening to Music, 6th ed and has published reviews in Notes, the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, and forthcoming in American Music. Presently, Dr. Bushard is contributing articles on The Doors and Pearl Jam for The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time: An Encyclopedia for ABC-CLIO/Greenwood.

Dr. Bushard has presented his research at national and international meetings of the College Music Society, national meetings of the Society for American Music, as well as regional meetings of the American Musicological Society, CMS, film and jazz symposia, and at various lectures throughout the Midwest. A native of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Dr. Bushard has taught previously at the University of Kansas and The University of Missouri, Kansas City. At UNL he teaches courses in Jazz History, Film Music, World Music, American Music, and a course for the School of Music's newest undergraduate students entitled Music as Art, Discipline, and Profession.

Last Update: 23 August 2012