Dr. Rose J. Whitmore

"Learning is really about waking up. When we are truly awake, we pay attention and are able to love deeply—and then we can solve life's intractable problems."

Dr. Rose Whitmore is a member of the Music Department and the College's Organist. She has performed on pipe organs in Europe (notably St. Jacobi, Hamburg, Germany) and the United States (including St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle and the National Cathedral in Washington, DC), and she has taught organ performance, music history, music theory, and mathematics (algebra through calculus) in Oregon, Washington, and Illinois. Her current research focuses on organ pedagogy and how learning takes place in the languages of music and mathematics.

Scholarly Interests

• Contemporary composition and composers for organ
• Interdisciplinarity of music and mathematics
• Topic studies: J.S. Bach, Taubman Approach
• Pedagogy of musicology and music performance
• Mindset studies (as currently reseached by Carol Dweck and Jo Boaler)

Contributions to Field

• Dissertation: "Edward Elgar: Symphonic Idealism and Sonata in G major for Organ, Op. 28" (Fellowship-supported original research in Great Britain through the University of Washington, with private access to Elgar Archives in Broadheath, England)
• Brahms iconography research for the American Brahms Society Archive
• Premiere of Joël-François Durand’s “Hermetic Definition,” performed with the Talea Modern Ensemble, Seattle, Washington
• Transcription for organ of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Procession of the Nobles" from Mlada
• Eighty hours of live music performance between August 2015 and June 2016

Awards

Fellow of the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (Hamburg, Germany)

Fulbright Scholar alternate

Boeing Research Fellow (London)

Who’s Who in Academia nomination

Memberships and Affiliations

• American Guild of Organists
• Mu Phi Epsilon
• Phi Eta Sigma
• Pi Kappa Lambda
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics