Yao Pang

Dr. P.J. Moore

EAP 506

04/6/2020

In this paper, I will introduce Dr. Charles R. Ciorba. He is a director of Music

Education at George Mason University now, and he also is an Associate Professor in

Music Education (George Mason University, n.d.). I will choose this professor

because I am so interested in his field. He gained extensive experience supervising

graduate research and taught courses in the areas of research (George Mason

University, n.d.). About his background, firstly, Dr. Charles completed his Bachelor

of Music from the Wayne State University in 1999 (George Mason University, n.d.),

and then he also completed his Music Master’s degree in Music Education from the

Bowling Green State University, lastly (George Mason University, n.d.), he

completed his Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Miami in 2006

(George Mason University, n.d.). Before he became an Associate Professor in George

Mason University, he was an Associate Professor and coordinator of Graduate Music

Education at the University of Oklahoma (George Mason University, n.d.), and he

also served as Assistant Professor of Music Education at Millikin University (George

Mason University, n.d.).

Over the past decade, he has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate music

education courses (George Mason University, n.d.). For example, he supervised

student teachers in the areas of choral, instrumental, and general music, and he also
organized numerous outreach efforts, which offered high-quality laboratory

experiences to undergraduate students majoring in Music Education (George Mason

University, n.d.). His research interests include the development of an educational

theory pertaining to the teaching and learning of jazz improvisation (George Mason

University, n.d.). Dr. Ciorba has published a large amount of academic research in the

Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in

Music Education, and Contributions to Music Education (George Mason University,

n.d.). He published articles on Music Education from 2009 to 2012, and these articles

study music education in different states (George Mason University, n.d.). However, I

found some changes in his research interests. He changed his research interests from

studying the field of music education to studying jazz. For example, he published

some articles on music education from 2009 to 2012 (George Mason University, n.d.).

However, he published another different article about jazz in 2014 (George Mason

University, n.d.), and this article studied jazz’ s theory (George Mason University,

n.d.). In conclusion, he had some changes in his research interests, because According

to his background, he studies Music Education. However, he also has some research

on jazz. Therefore, I think that this is another research interest for him. That is why he

has some changes.

When he was an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Graduate Music

Education at the University of Oklahoma, he gained extensive experience supervising

graduate research, and he also taught different courses in the areas of research,
psychology, philosophy, sociology, assessment, and quantitative analysis (George

Mason University, n.d.), and when he was a professor in the Ann Arbor Public

Schools, he also was able to create a different and comprehensive music course in the

different areas (George Mason University, n.d.). His research results helped jazz

educators diagnose the musical imperfections, and it could make jazz educators find

some solutions (George Mason University, n.d.). Therefore, music educators used his

research results to extend new courses, and these new courses helped students to study

jazz improvisation (George Mason University, n.d.). In addition, he also is one of the

faculty at the editorial board in the Applications of Research in Music Education

(George Mason University, n.d.). Through this professor’s research, I think that being

a scholar in the field of Music Performance needs the following points. Firstly, a

scholar could have a rich academic background in their own field, because this can

help them to expand knowledge. Secondly, a scholar also needs to have rich teaching

experience, because in our field when a professor teaches their students, they can have

different views to discuss with students about different songs, and through discussion

with the professor, and this can help students understand different aspects of these

songs. Thus, I think that these points are my goal to become a scholar in my own

field.

Rreference

George Mason University. (n.d.). School of Music . Retrieved April 2020, from

George Mason University: https://music.gmu.edu/staff/dr-charles-ciorba/

George Mason University. (n.d.). University Libraries. Retrieved April 2020, from

George Mason University: https://library.gmu.edu/

George Mason University. (n.d.). University Libraries. Retrieved April 2020, from

George Mason University: https://www-jstor-

org.mutex.gmu.edu/stable/43900257?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents