Craig Resta

Craig Resta earned degrees from the University of Maryland College Park (Ph.D.), Indiana University (M.M.), and Baylor University (B.M.E.). His teaching experience has encompassed rural, urban, and suburban settings spanning Texas, Indiana, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio. Teaching positions have included elementary and middle school orchestra and instrumental settings and extensive work with students from primary school through doctoral levels in music education.

Professor Resta holds research interests in string pedagogy, sociocultural paradigms in music education, educational leadership and arts education advocacy, and educator preparation at multiple levels. He has presented numerous sessions at professional conferences for the Maryland, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio Music Education Associations (MMEA, GMEA, PMEA, OMEA); Music Educators National Conference/National Association for Music Education (MENC/NAFME) National, Eastern, and North Central Divisions; and the GMEA Collegiate Music Educators Conference (CMEC). Other research, clinic, and panel sessions include the Chattanooga Symposium on the History of Music Education (NAFME/HSRIG); American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conference; College Music Society (CMS – San Diego 2012, San Antonio 2017); Colloquium for Instrumental Music Teacher Educators (IMTE); Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE); the International Society for Music Education (ISME – China 2010, Brazil 2014, Scotland 2016, Azerbaijan 2018); and Cultural Diversity in Music Education (CDIME XII, Finland 2015).

His work is published in the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, Contributions to Music Education, Music Educators Journal, Maryland Music Educator, New Jersey Tempo, Ohio TRIAD, and American String Teacher. He is a contributor to the second edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music produced by Oxford University Press, who also released his book, “Valuing Music in Education: A Charles Fowler Reader” (2017). This collection of 50 essays with critical commentary highlights the role and importance of music and arts education in schools and society, tailored to myriad viewpoints and audiences.

Dr. Resta has adjudicated and conducted school music events in Texas, Maryland, Georgia, and Ohio, worked as Advocacy Chair on the Maryland MEA Executive Board, is a past Music and Education Scholar for the Ohio Humanities Council, and serves on the International Society for Music Education History Standing Committee (2014-2022). He is an editorial board member of Excellence in Performing Arts Research (2018-2022) and Kent State Music Curriculum Series (2019-2022), was a member of the Ohio MEA Research Committee (2010-2020), on the Editorial Board of the juried journal Contributions to Music Education (2010-2013), and completed a seven-year term as its longest-serving editor-in-chief (2013-2020).

His principal violin teachers include Kevin Lawrence, Stanley Ritchie, and Davis Brooks. Research mentors are Marie McCarthy, Thomas Binkley, and Harry Elzinga. Performing experience includes programs at The Round Top and Princeton Festivals, The Berkeley and Boston Early Music Festivals, and The Bloomington and Washington, D.C., Early Music Festivals. Concert and workshop appearances include venues in Texas, Indiana, Utah, Tennessee, Ohio, California, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, and New Jersey and abroad in Switzerland, Germany, China, England, and Ireland. He is a member of Armonia Nova and Bernardus Medieval Ensemble, scholarship-based groups focusing on historical and medieval repertoire, literature, and culture. Notable performances include those at Miller Chapel Princeton (New Jersey, US), DACOR Bacon House (Washington, D.C.), Exeter Cathedral (Exeter, UK), Buckfast Abbey (Devon, UK), and St. Audoen’s Parish (Dublin, IE).

An instrumental and string specialist, Dr. Resta is currently Professor of Music Education, teaching on the faculty at Kent State since 2008. He works with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students, leading courses in orchestral pedagogy, pre-service music teacher education, instrumental music teaching, educational inquiry and foundational studies (history, philosophy, sociology), and distance learning and technologies, along with dissertation advising and research mentorship, among other duties.

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