Band member biography . . .

(Scan of a Xerox of a photo from “Celebrating Excellence”)

“I am quite fortunate to be professionally involved in the field of music as a teacher, scholar, and performer,” says Charles Atkinson. “This means I am in constant contact with genius. It’s hard to imagine anything more rewarding.”

Professor Atkinson is widely regarded as one of the world’s most eminent medievalists in the field of musicology. In one centrally important area of the larger field — the study of chant in Medieval and Renaissance theoretical treatises — he is noted as the single most outstanding figure.

His approach is interdisciplinary, embracing historical, cultural, and literary aspects.

In addition to Atkinson’s scholarly endeavors, he is an active clarinetist and a devoted teacher at The Ohio State University School of Music. Recently honored with an invitation to deliver the inaugural University Distinguished Lecture on that campus, Atkinson spoke on musical scales.

Atkinson received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music in 1963 from UNM. “I am a very proud UNM alumnus,” says Atkinson, who calls his UNM Department of Music professors “brilliant, talented people who were at the s time relatively accessible.”

...

Atkinson earned his Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975. From his dissertation came an article, The Earliest Agnus Dei Melody and its Tropes,” published by the Journal of the American Musicological Society. It is the only article ever to have receive both the Alfred Einstein Award of the American Musicological Society and the Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize of the Medieval Academy of America.

Among Atkinson’s many publications are articles commissioned for Die Musik in Geschichte and Gegenwart and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the most highly regarded comprehensive encyclopedias of music. He also wrote three monographs for the definitive Handworterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie, as well as articles in Early Music History, The Journal of Musicology, and the Journal of Music Theory.

UNM Music History Professor Susan Patrick has a long association with Atkinson. I was in awe of Chuck when we were both graduate students in Chapel Hill and I all in awe of him,” says Patrick. “His work upholds the highest standards of scholarship and musicianship.”

from “Celebrating Excellence”
The University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts
1998

LCHS Band [1956-59]