Jennifer Snodgrass, Ph. D.
Jennifer, an author on the team, is currently assistant professor of music theory at Appalachian State University where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in music theory, aural skills, and voice. Dr. Snodgrass also serves as a research development officer for the university, evaluating external funding in the performing arts. She has received numerous grants relating to technology and music instruction, most specifically in music theory. Prior to joining the faculty at ASU, Dr. Snodgrass was coordinator of theory at IUPUI where she was coordinator of music theory. She has presented papers at numerous national and regional meeting including Society for Music Theory, ATMI, College Music Society, TDML, and TI:ME. Her research has been published in several journals including the Journal of Technology in Music Learning and the Music Educators Journal. More recently, her research has focused on the integration of the Tablet PC for music analysis supported by a higher education award from the Microsoft Coorporation.
Susan Piagentini, Ph.D.
Susan, an author on the team, is the coordinator of the first-year core curriculum at Northwestern University. Elected to the Faculty Honor Roll in June 2006, she teaches freshman theory, aural skills, and graduate courses in analysis and pedagogy. Prior to Northwestern, she served on the faculty of Valley City State University in North Dakota, and Elmhurst College. Dr. Piagentini has presented papers at national and regional conferences, including the Society for Music Theory, ATMI, TDML, IUPUI Music Technology Conference, TI:ME, and the College Music Society. She has received numerous grants to author supplemental online materials for the undergraduate curriculum. Her technology research has been published in the Journal of Technology in Music Learning. Recent interests include the development of a layered dictation strategy tool to unveil student problem-solving paths.
Professor Frank Barry
Frank, a lead Developer on the team, is in his fourth year as an assistant professor at Appalachian State University after a distinguished career as a senior software engineer, systems engineer and computer architect with Kodak and IBM. Mr. Barry received his B.A. degree in Physics from Wake Forest University in 1981, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1983 and completed additional work toward the Ph.D. at North Carolina State University. As System Architect and a founding member of BOPS, Inc. he helped develop one of the fastest programmable DSPs at the time (2001) and holds over 30 U.S. patents. He has been directly involved with teaching and education for over 10 years, serving as a founding board member (4 years) of a successful private school in Cary, N.C. (700 students). Besides his interests in programming, Professor Barry is also an active self-taught guitarist.
John Leupold
John, a content developer on the team, is currently completing his doctorate in composition at the University of Maryland, College Park with an expected completion date of May 2009. John currently teaches ear-training courses at UMD. He has also taught music theory and ear training courses to music majors and non-music majors at Towson University. As a composer, John has had works performed throughout the mid-Atlantic region including the College Music Society Regional Convention. In 2005 he was named a finalist in the North Carolina Young Composers Competition for his work Prime Transmutation and in 2008 he was awarded third place in the Walsum Competition for his work Exasperating Perpetuation. In addition to a teacher and composer, John is also an active percussionist in the greater Washington, D.C. area.