TERRY B. EWELL
Professor of Digital Instruction & Bassoon, Former Chairperson Towson University, & Former IDRS President
Terry B. Ewell is a professor of digital instruction and bassoon at Towson University Department of Music. In his 40 years as a professional musician he has received recognition as a performer, teacher, scholar, and administrator.
For seven years Dr. Ewell served as Principal Bassoon of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Later he was Principal Bassoon of the Wheeling Symphony and Acting Principal Bassoon of the West Virginia Symphony. He has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist he has performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the IDRS 2004 Conference Orchestra (Melbourne, Australia), and with several regional orchestras in the USA. His performances as a chamber musician have been heard in Germany, Hong Kong, Portugal, and throughout the United States. He has recorded for Musical Heritage Society, Hong Kong Records, Pickwick Records, Cambria Records, and Naxos.
Dr. Ewell has gained a reputation for his innovative approaches to bassoon pedagogy. He is a pioneer in the application of MIDI, MP3, and online video for bassoon instruction. His YouTube videos, website materials, and web publications with the International Double Reed Society (Bassoon-Family Fingering Companion, the IDRS Reed Project, and the IDRS MIDI site) have been viewed or downloaded over two million times. His articles on various aspects of bassoon pedagogy have received international attention with publications in American, Dutch, British, and Spanish journals.
Dr. Ewell completed his 14th year of service as an administrator in 2009. He was Chairperson of the Division of Music at West Virginia University for five years and subsequently served from 2000-2009 as Chairperson of the Department of Music at Towson University. During his leadership at Towson University, music major enrollment in the Department of Music has grown from 282 to almost 350 students. His efforts helped to secure more than $300,000 in additional funds for the Department of Music and more than $20,000 for the International Double Reed Society. In 2001 he also administered a successful conference for the International Double Reed Society that raised more than $40,000 in revenue. He has written successful grants to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maryland State Arts Council. He played an important role in the planning of the Towson University Creative Arts Center Building Project and the securing of more than $1.5 million of new equipment and instruments for the Department of Music. He currently serves as the Graduate Director for the Master in Music degree.
Dr. Ewell served four years as President of the International Double Reed Society, which has a worldwide membership of more than 4,000. In November 2005, he was elected as Chair of Region 6 (North Eastern States) and Executive Committee Officer of the National Association of Schools of Music. Ewell also serves as an accreditation evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music.
His writings appear in over a dozen journals principally The Double Reed, the International Double Reed Journal, and Scrapes. In addition he is the author and editor of several publications at the International Double Reed Society World Wide Web Site: the Bassoon-Family Fingering Companion, the IDRS Reed Project, the IDRS MIDI site, IDRS Who’s Who, IDRS Podcast, and the IDRS Conference Program Archive.
First Bassoon Lesson part 1 (revised)
Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto, Part 15. Vibrato Mechanisms.
