Travis Whaley

Background

About Travis Whaley

I'm a doctoral candidate at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Ph.D. in Musicology with a minor in Organ Performance. I am finishing my dissertation: “Organ Tablature and Conceptions of Music in the Seventeenth Century.” My research interests include Germanic organ traditions of the Baroque period, studies in the compositional process and American Country Music. In 2018, I completed two Master's degrees from Jacobs in Musicology and Organ Performance. I have Bachelor’s degrees from Virginia Tech in Piano Performance, Music Composition and German, where I graduated summa cum laude. Additionally, I received an Honors Baccalaureate diploma from Virginia Tech, for which I wrote my undergraduate thesis: “Beethovens Kompositionsvorgang in der Waldsteinsonate, op. 53” (“Beethoven’s Compositional Process in the Waldstein Sonata, op. 53”). For my thesis, I received two ACC Creativity and Scholarship grants to conduct research at the Beethoven Archive in Bonn, Germany in 2014 and 2015. I returned to the Beethoven Archive in 2017 to participate in a research workshop ("Beethoven Studienkolleg") on Beethoven's compositional methods. In 2014, I was one of four American pianists invited to compete in the 19th International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany. I have participated in masterclasses with Robert Levin and Doug Humphreys (piano), John Butt (organ), and Alan Smith (chamber music). I have over 16 years of experience as a sacred musician, recently serving as the Director of Music and Organist for 3 congregations in Indiana. I have worked in 5 different denominations and both protestant and catholic liturgical traditions. Currently, I have an administrative position in the Music IT Services department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. I teach an introductory graduate-level music history course for incoming graduate students to the Jacob’s School of Music.