Thomas A. Regelski

Thomas A. Regelski
Born	Thomas Adam Regelski May 4, 1941 Florida, NY, United States
Died	October 12, 2024(2024-10-12) (aged 83) Helsinki, Finland
Children	None
Academic background
Education	SUNY Fredonia (B.M.) Columbia University, Teachers College, New York City (M.M.) Ohio University (Ph.D.)
Thesis	Music and Painting in the Paragon of Eugène Délacroix (1970)
Academic work
Discipline	Comparative Arts/Aesthetics
Institutions	SUNY Fredonia (1976-1978, 1980-2001) Helsinki University (2005-2018)
Main interests	Music Education

Thomas Adam Regelski (4 May 1941 – 12 October 2024) was a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia N.Y. He was born in Florida, NY and spent the majority of his professional career in Fredonia, NY.

He published over 135 peer-reviewed articles (see Google Scholar) on teaching ethics, philosophy, aesthetics, musicology, curriculum, psychology and sociology of music and music education. He is a leading scholar of a philosophy of praxis, a social and ethical philosophy that seeks to supersede aesthetics as the foundation of music, music appreciation, and music education.

Dr. Regelski died peacefully at his home in Helsinki, Finland on Saturday October 12, 2024.

Professional and academic career

Education

Regelski studied piano in his youth. In 1958, he was accepted at SUNY Fredonia where he earned a B.M.. In his Junior year at SUNY Fredonia, he was able to study abroad at Antwerp Conservatory (Belgium) focusing on conducting, composition, and piano. After graduation from SUNY Fredonia in 1962, Regelski went on to earn his M.M. from Columbia University, Teachers College. He conducted Mozart's Requiem (Choruses) in June, 1963 for his Master's graduation project. After teaching in public schools for several years, he completed doctoral studies in the philosophy and aesthetics of art and music at Ohio University from 1978 to 1980.

Career

Regelski began his career in public schools teaching music (rural-Bemus Point N.Y.; urban-Middletown N.Y.). After earning his doctorate, he returned to his alma mater (SUNY Fredonia, School of Music) where he taught secondary school teaching methods, choral conducting and methods, and foundation of education studies in philosophy, psychology, and sociology (1980-2001).

He also taught at Aichi University in Nagoya, Japan (1985), Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland (as a Fulbright Scholar in 2000), and was a research fellow at the Philosophy of Education Research Center at Harvard University (1991).

His most recent position was as Docent at Helsinki University, Faculty of Behavioral Science (including education) where he taught "Writing of Scholarly English," (2005-2018) for students and faculty wishing to publish in English.

Achievements

• Awarded the Distinguished Professor Rank for Teaching from SUNY Fredonia (1977) (at the time, a SUNY-wide award).
• Awarded the Dean of Fine Art's Award for Best Thesis (Music and Painting in the Paragon of Eugène Délacroix) from Ohio University (1980).
• Chair of the SUNY Fredonia Music Education Department (1982-2000).
• Won the Kasling Award for "Outstanding Research by Senior Faculty Member, culminating in the Kasling Lecture" (1999).
• Awarded the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award from SUNY Fredonia (2022).

Mayday Group and publications

He is the co-founder (with J.T. Gates) of the MayDay Group. From its inception until 2007, he was the founding editor of its e-journal Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Later, he was also the founding editor of TOPICS for Music Education Praxis, with a focus on translating theory into praxis, and praxis into theory.

He is the author of Principles and Problems of Music Education (Prentice-Hall, 1975); Arts Education and Brain Research (Alliance for Arts Education/MENC, 1978); Teaching General Music: Action Learning for Middle and Secondary Schools (Schirmer Books, 1981); Teaching General Music in Grades 4-8: A Musicianship Approach (Oxford University Press, 2014); co-editor (with J.T. Gates) of Music Education for Changing Times (Springer, 2009); A Brief Introduction to Music and Music Education as Social Praxis (Routledge 2016); and Curriculum Philosophy and Theory for Music Education Praxis, Oxford University Press, (2021).

His choral compositions and arrangements have received positive acclaim.

Journal publications and influence

He has published over 135 peer-reviewed articles on teaching ethics, philosophy, aesthetics, musicology, curriculum, psychology and sociology of music and music education. Since 1995, he has been a leading scholar of a philosophy of praxis, a social and ethical philosophy (stemming from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics) that seeks to supplant aesthetics as the foundation of music appreciation and music education. And, along with David Elliott, he has been a leader in making praxical (also known as praxial or praxis) theory a topic of growing influence in music and music education scholarship. A praxical philosophy denies the claims of traditional aesthetics about the supposedly "good-for-its-owns sake” benefit of aesthetic experience. Instead, it emphasizes both praxis philosophy (e.g., Aristotle) and phenomenological sociology (e.g., Alfred Schütz) in support of the benefits of music as a social praxis and of the importance of school music teaching as a professional praxis for promoting musical praxis of one or another kind throughout life.

Personal life

Regelski began piano lessons at age five with his 1st Grade school teacher and then with a traveling piano teacher who came to Regelski's home for private lessons. He later studied with a ‘real’ professional piano teacher for five or six years—despite being always involved in school sports. He was always recognized locally as “musical,” and it seemed that he never seriously considered any other career than music after graduation from high school.

During his first two years working at SUNY Fredonia, he married an artist and began to cultivate a serious interest in art. So much so that he enrolled in Comparative Arts/Aesthetics Doctoral Program at Ohio University with the intent of changing his career to Art History. There were few jobs available in that field at the time. Regelski was able to rejoin the faculty at SUNY Fredonia in the Music Education Department. His love for art continued with a focus on Japanese art and antiques after traveling and living in Japan in the 1980s. He has hosted two Japanese children (1983–85) who attended school in Westfield, NY. One is now a linguistics professor specializing in English, the other an art professor specializing in sculpture. He began collecting Japanese art pieces after his time in Japan and now has a sizable collection reaching 3500 high quality pieces, starting from pre-history to a few contemporary, mostly Edo and Meiji, and specializing in maki-e lacquer. He and his wife have created a website and web shop (Miyabi Antiques) where many of these pieces can be viewed.

After spending a year at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, Regelski returned to SUNY Fredonia, from which he retired in 2001. He returned to Finland (attracted by cross-country skiing), where he met and married a Finnish marine biologist. They currently reside in a Helsinki suburb.

Further reading

• Regelski, Thomas A. (October 2021). Curriculum Philosophy and Theory for Music Education Praxis. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197558690.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (July 2006). "'Music appreciation' as praxis". Music Education Research. 8 (2): 281–310. doi:10.1080/14613800600779584. ISSN 1461-3808.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (1975). Principles and problems of music education. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0137098405. OCLC 468343115.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (1978). Arts education & brain research. Music Educators National Conference. OCLC 4135475.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (1981). Teaching general music : action learning for middle and secondary schools. Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-872070-9. OCLC 832414256.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (2004). Teaching general music in grades 4-8 : a musicianship approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513778-7. OCLC 1131477748.
• Regelski, Thomas A., Gates, J. (2010). Music Education for Changing Times. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 1282839209. OCLC 732599355.
• Regelski, Thomas A. (2016). A brief introduction to a philosophy of music and music education as social praxis. Routledge. ISBN 9781138921238. OCLC 936628578.
• "Symposium: Philosophy: Exploring the Potentials in the School Curriculum". Philosophy of Music Education Review. 13 (2): 131–132. 2005. doi:10.1353/pme.2005.0041. ISSN 1543-3412.

Musical compositions

• Look to this Day.  SATB  (1970)
• This is the Day.  SATB  (1970)
• The Fallen Warrior.  SATB  (1972)
• Between Before We Are and What We Were.  SATB  (1983)

Choral arrangements

• The Lass from the Low Country.  SATB  (1970)
• For All We Know.  SATB  (1970)  
• Sinnerman.  SATB  (1970)
• Old Coat.  SATB  (1971)
• What Have They Done to the Rain?  SA(T)B  (1971)
• Corner of the Sky.  SATB  (1976)
• Whose Garden Was This?  SA(T)B  (1976)
• One Tin Soldier.  SATB  (1980)
• The Grave.  SATB  (1982)
• Wayfarin’ Stranger.  SATB/solo voice  (1982)
• Feelin’ Good.  SATB  (1985)
• Laura.  SATB  (1985)
• Love the World Away.  SATB (1986)
• Sweet Beginning.  SATB (1986)
• The Joker.  SATB (1986)
• The Water is Wide.  SATB  (1986)
• Be Kind to Your Parents.  SA(T)B  (1986)
• Pretty Women.  SSAATTBB  (1987)
• More Than You Know.  SSAATTBB (1988)
• Hush-a-bye.  SSAATTBB  (1988)
• Motherless Child.  SSAATTBB solo (1989)
• Just in Time.  SATB  (1990)
• Silent Night.  SATB  (1993)