Bethany Blake is a music historian specializing in music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She is currently writing a monograph that examines how amateur music was crucial to the formation of native and foreign perceptions of British music during the Georgian era. Her book positions amateur music as a site of expressing and contesting British gender identity, colonialism, consumerism, and affect. A chapter on advertising the glee to women is forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook on Music and Advertising. Bethany also works on topics related to performance ritual and material culture, with a focus on vocal music. She has presented conference papers for annual and biennial meetings of the American Musicological Society, American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Society for Eighteenth-Century Music, North American British Music Studies Association, and the International Conference on Baroque Music. Bethany’s research has been supported by the UCLA Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies and the Huntington Library.
As a keyboardist, Bethany plays piano, harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano, and maintains an active performance career. She has performed at Weill Recital Hall, the National Music Museum in Vermillion, and at universities across the midwest and northeast. Bethany specializes in music of the French Baroque and also enjoys premiering new music. She founded Early Music Day in 2010 as an opportunity for collaboration and community building through early music education. For several years, Bethany was organist at the historic Caroline Episcopal Church in Setauket, NY.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy:
I recall professors that profoundly impacted my own development as a thinker and musician. They instilled in me a strong desire to learn and to challenge myself. It is my desire that students realize that the purpose of taking a course isn’t primarily to fulfill a curriculum requirement or to attain a particular G.P.A. These things are important, but if students are willing to commit to developing critical thinking, writing, and communication skills, the courses they take will inevitably have a positive impact on their professional success. Many people change careers or end up doing something they didn’t major in, yet their college education still plays a significant role in their daily lives. Though I am teaching in the field I am most passionate about, I am mindful of sharing my insights related to music together with the development of applicable skills. Through teaching, I seek to create a positive and meaningful learning experience for each of my students.
