Ethnomusicologist, music historian

Dr. Clayton Shotwell is an Associate Professor at ASU.

Music transforms human experience...

As human beings we experience music internally, within the mind and body, as part of ourselves. The outer world of sound, the world of meaning and culture are brought inside, and we engage the world through interpretation of these experiences. How can we give meaning to the inner experience of music, and communicate this to the outer world in an effective way? The inner experience of music has fascinated musicians like myself, and many philosophers and mystics since the beginning of life on this planet. Most often, we speak and write about music as a part of the outer world, the social and cultural dimension. We "externalize" musical experiences through participation, description, and analysis (i.e. traditions, periods, genres, styles, biography, ethnography). So, the inner and the outer experience of music...both have value.

"If Life is an adventure or a journey", as the saying goes, then "I'm having a grand time of it!" I've had wonderful opportunities to live and travel in different places. Perhaps all the new faces, new places, and new experiences were part of my quest to find a profession that tied into my own life experiences as a musician and person. Ethnomusicology, the study of music as an aspect of culture, attempts to bridge the gaps between Musicology and Anthropology. For me, the field of Ethnomusicology has provided a unique and distinctive view of the world of music in human experience.

In recent years I've had opportunities to study Djembe drumming in West Africa and participate as a Faculty Fellow in a Japan Studies Institute in San Diego (SDSU) and the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. In recent years I've developed a strong interest in music and spiritual practices from around the world. Study and research interests have turned toward music and spirituality, music of ancient cultures, and, a renewed interest in the music and cultures of Asia.

Over the last twenty years I've held teaching and administrative positions at the University of the Pacific, St. Phillips College and Our Lady of the Lake University. I attended a small private school as an undergraduate (Hastings College), and completed the masters and doctoral degrees in Musicology and Ethnomusicology at the University of Minnesota.

I came to Augusta State University in 1994 as Chair (1994-98) of the Department of Fine Arts, and returned to teaching in 1999 as Associate Professor of Music and World Humanities. Most of all I enjoy teaching about the human experience of music in our world. As members of a global society we need to communicate ways of understanding and embracing our world and its peoples.

For additional information, go to my website: http://www.aug.edu/~cshotwel.