ROBERT GILLESPIE

Bob Gillespie, Professor of Music, is responsible for string teacher training at The Ohio State University, which has one of the largest and most extensive string pedagogy degree programs in the nation. Degree programs in string teaching at OSU include undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D. programs. Currently 32 students are enrolled, one of the largest classes in the country. His graduating students teach in school systems and universities throughout the country.

Dr. Gillespie is a past national President of the American String Teachers Association. He is a frequent guest conductor of all-state, regional, and festival orchestras throughout the country and Europe, and he has presented string teacher sessions, workshops, and conducted concerts at national and state music educator conferences in forty-five states and Canada. His string education articles appear frequently in all the major music journals. He is co-author of the Hal Leonard string method book series, Essential Elements for Strings, Essential Elements 2000 for Strings, which has sold over five million copies to date, and Getting Started: Strolling Strings for MENC. He is also co-author of the Oxford University Press book: Strategies for Teaching Strings: Building A Successful School Orchestra Program. He is co-author of the String Clinics to Go DVD series and the Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra texts for GIA publications. He received the Distinguished Scholar award given by his faculty colleagues in 2002-2003 in the School of Music at Ohio State University, and he is a member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Research in Music Education. Dr. Gillespie is an active researcher. His studies center on string pedagogy and the national status of school string programs in America.

In summers, Dr. Gillespie directs the OSU String Teacher Workshop and the OSU Texas String Teacher Workshop, the largest string/orchestra teacher training workshops in the country. Dr. Gillespie is a string education teaching artist and clinician for the Conn-Selmer Corporation. He is past president of the Ohio String Teachers Association. In Columbus, he conducts the Columbus Symphony Chamber Strings, and is a performing violinist in the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra.

During the 2011-2012 academic year Dr. Gillespie will give string pedagogy and research presentations, and/or conduct concerts in Kansas, South Carolina, California, Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Washington.