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Biography

Jonathan Dillon is committed to critical, creative reimaginings of both curriculum and pedagogy in music education and, in particular, what such reimaginings might make possible for children within general music settings. As a faculty member at the University of Utah, Dillon teaches undergraduate and graduate students in courses on general music education, educational theory, and elementary arts integration. Dillon further provides research mentorship to graduate students and, as a Faculty Affiliate for the Office of Undergraduate Research, supports undergraduate students in exploring critical questions they pose about music education. In the Summer 2024 semester, Dillon looks forward to additionally joining the faculty of the MAT-FA, an integrative arts education graduate degree program.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Utah, Dillon taught K–5 music in Alaska for eleven years. Dillon’s teaching interests span general music, Kodály-inspired pedagogy, and youth choral music—interests he regularly aims to innovate within and expand beyond, including engagements with songwriting, popular music, and technology. Dillon regularly supports in-service music educators by offering professional development opportunities, as in the following recent examples: locally, a workshop offered as part of the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program; regionally, presentations at NAfME-affiliated state conferences in California and Utah; and nationally, conference presentations for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. 

As a researcher, Dillon tends to matters of educational theory and, more specifically, questions of educational purpose. Through this line of inquiry, Dillon explores ways in which general music educators, curricula, and methods enable—and/or limit—student perceptions of themselves as subjects in their own lives, as opposed to objects in the lives of others. Essentially, Dillon is interested in critical, possibility-oriented excursions in general music which seek to expand what an education in and through music might be “good for.” Dillon’s scholarship has been presented at various national and international research conferences and is published in the International Journal of Education & the Arts, the Journal of Popular Music Education, and the Journal of General Music Education.

Dillon studied music education at Boston University (DMA), the University of Montana (MM), and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (BM), and earned a Kodály Certificate at Seattle Pacific University. Dillon was a 2017 BP Teacher of Excellence and was awarded a 2016 Alaska Arts Educator Fellowship by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Music Education
• General Music Methods
• Theoretical Foundations of Music Education
• Creative Connections in Music
• Student Teaching Seminar