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Written by Steven Dowd
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Charles Dowd is professor of timpani, percussion, and jazz studies. He has been at the University of Oregon since 1974.
Dowd received the B.A. degree in percussion performance from San Jose State University in 1970 and the M.A. in percussion performance and education from Stanford University in 1971.
Charles Dowd studied timpani with Saul Goodman at Juilliard and classical percussion with Anthony J. Cirone. He has participated in jazz workshops by David Friedman, vibraharp, and Tony Williams, drums.
As a freelance artist Dowd has performed with RCA Studios in New York City, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, and the San Francisco and Oakland Symphonies. A recipient of the Juilliard Percussion Scholarship, he has appeared with many prominent conductors and composers, including Dennis Russell Davies, John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Aaron Copland. As jazz drummer and vibra-harpist, he has worked with Don Ellis, Anthony Braxton, Bobby Shew, Bobby Hutcherson, David Friedman, Jack Wilson, Keith Jarrett, and other representatives of the cutting edge of improvisation.
Dowd is principal timpanist and head of the percussion section of the Eugene Symphony and principal timpanist of the Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz, California, and the Oregon Bach Festival. He is an Artist/Clinician for Ludwig/Musser and Avedis Zildjian.
Dowd is a member of the National College Curriculum Committee of the Percussive Arts Society. He has served as an artist faculty member of the International Percussion Symposia at the University of Tennessee, University of Texas-Austin and North Texas State University and has given clinics at the University of California at Berkeley and Reno Jazz Festivals.
Dowd is the author of four books: The Well-Tempered Timpanist, Velocity Warmups for Jazz Vibraphone, A Thesaurus for the Jazz/Rock Drummer, and A Funky Primer for the Rock Drummer. He is featured on a recent recording, Charles Dowd; Solo Vibes/Solo Drums, on a Los Angeles record label and is co-author of Master Technique Builders for Snare Drum, edited by Anthony Cirone.
Dowd teaches private performance study in timpani and percussion as well as percussion techniques classes. He conducts the University Percussion Ensemble and coordinates research in percussion performance and pedagogy. He performs on vibraharp and marimba with the Kammerer/Dowd Jazz Duo/Quartet and in solo classical recitals.
ASCAP award winning conductor Dennis Russell Davies calls Charles Dowd "one of the finest timpanists and percussionists in the USA." Dowd has biographical listings in the International Whos Who in Music, 1978, Whos Who in American Music, 1983, and Outstanding Young Men of America, 1979.
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Charles Dowd, an internationally known percussionist who has instructed student-musicians at the UO School of Music for twenty-seven years, has been named to a Philip H. Knight Professorship in Music.
Dowd says he considers it a "profound honor" to be awarded the endowed professorship, one of many on campus made possible by a $15 million endowment from NIKE Chairman Phil Knight during The Oregon Campaign.
Dowd, who heads the music schools percussion program, hopes to use some of the endowment funding to replace and repair broken instruments; to finance more performance opportunities for his students; and to commission new works by American composers.
"Music students are here to learn music," he says. "They must play the cutting-edge music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Part of the learning process is performing it in ways that reach a wide audience -- including concerts, radio and television broadcasts, and recording. The Knight funding will assist our mission of preparing these musicians for successful careers and, at the same time, draw national and international attention to these very talented young musicians."
"Id like to broaden Oregons reputation as a leader in modern classical music on an international basis," adds Dowd, who is the principal timpanist for the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, the Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz, California, and the Oregon Festival of American Music.
"Charles has run a very fine percussion program here," says UO School of Music Dean Anne Dhu McLucas. "He continues to work at a higher energy level than almost any other faculty member. He develops innovative programs and attracts wonderful students."
She says the professorship is "both a reward for a job well done and the wherewithal to bring to fruition some of the plans Charles has had for a long time that weve never had the funding for him to do."
As a classical timpanist/percussionist and jazz vibraharpist/drummer, Dowd has performed throughout the U.S. and in Germany and Canada. He cites as highlights of his career a solo performance of contemporary classical American music at the Wilhelma Theatre in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1990 and conducting his professional student group, the Oregon Percussion Ensemble, at an international convention of the Percussive Arts Society in Los Angeles. Dowd and his ensemble were nominated in 1996 for the Laurel Leaf Award of New Yorks American Composers Alliance.
Dowd, who has also made numerous recordings and has published six books and a video, graduated from San Jose State University in 1970 and obtained his masters degree in music from Stanford University in 1971. His timpani training includes doctoral work at The Juilliard School in New York City with renowned New York Philharmonic timpanist Saul Goodman.
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