about:administration deans

MARK WAIT Dean; Professor of Music
B.M. (Wichita State); M.M. (Kansas State); D.M.A. (Johns Hopkins University)

Featured pianist in recordings of the complete works of Igor Stravinsky (MusicMasters label), Robert Craft, conducting; over 200 recitals throughout the United States since 1975. Editor, Journal of the American Liszt Society 1992-98. Member of faculty: University of Colorado at Boulder, 1975-93. Executive assistant to the president, University of Colorado, 1985-93. Blair School since 1993.

Mark Wait has been Dean and Professor of Music at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University since 1993. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the College of Music at the University of Colorado, where he also served, from 1985 to 1993, as the executive assistant to the President.

Wait earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Wichita State University, his Master of Music degree at Kansas State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.

Wait served on the Country Music Hall of Fame Board of Directors in Nashville, Tennessee from 2001 to 2005. He has served as National Vice President of the honorary music society, Pi Kappa Lambda, since 2003.

As a concert pianist, Wait has presented over 200 concerts in 25 states. In 1989, he was the pianist in a performance at Alice Tully Hall of Elliot Carter's Double Concerto for Piano, Harpsichord, and Two Chamber Orchestras, conducted by Robert Craft. In 1993, he recorded Igor Stravinsky's solo works for piano as part of Robert Craft's recorded cycle of the composer's complete works, and his recording of Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra with Robert Craft and Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York has been issued on the MusicMasters label. Most recently, his recording with the Nashville Symphony of Elliott Carter's Piano Concerto (on the Naxos label) was nominated for a 2004 Grammy award for Best Classical Album, and Wait was a 2004 Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Solo Performance with Orchestra for the same recording.

CYNTHIA CYRUS Associate Dean;
Associate Professor of Musicology and Affiliated Faculty in Women's and Gender Studies
B.A. (Pomona), M.A., Ph.D. (North Carolina, Chapel Hill) E-mail
Administrative Office Hours

Additional Studies: NEH Summer Institute Participant, "A Literature of Their Own? Women Writing (Venice, London, Paris, 1550-1700)," July 2003; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ohio State University 1990/91. Recent scholarly work has concentrated on scribes and libraries in women's convents of late medieval Germany and on musical literacy in late medieval France. Co-director of NEH-sponsored project, "Reading and Writing the Pedagogy of the Renaissance: Students, Teachers, and Materials of Musical Learning, 1520-1650." Publications include articles and reviews in musicological and historical journals and Festschriften and "De tous biens plaine": Twenty-Eight Settings of Hayne van Ghizeghem's Chanson (Madison: A-R Editions, 2000). Numerous formal papers presented at musicological and interdisciplinary conferences in Europe and the United States; frequent guest lectures on a variety of musical topics. Member of faculty: University of Rochester, 1991/92; SUNY at Stony Brook, 1992-94. Blair School since 1994. Cynthia Cyrus's homepage

PAMELA SCHNELLER Associate Dean; Pre-College/Adult Program
Senior Lecturer in Choral Music; Director, Vanderbilt University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers; Director, Vanderbilt Community Chorus
B.M.E. (Illinois); M.C.M (Scarritt) E-mail
Administrative Office Hours

Student of Sandra Willetts and Harold Decker. Studied with Margaret Hillis, Kenneth Jennings, Donald Neuen. Festival and workshop leader for high school, junior high and elementary choral festivals throughout the region. Appearances at American Choral Director Association conventions; numerous superior awards in various competitions. Full-time director of Music in Presbyterian and United Methodist Churches, 1988-99. Member of faculty: Blair School of Music, 1988-98 and since 1999.

DWAYNE SAGEN Assistant Dean for Admissions;
Adjunct Professor of Music; Director of University Bands
B.M., M.M. (Northwestern); Ph.D. (Iowa) E-mail
Administrative Office Hours

Author of papers and articles on instrumental music education. Clinician and adjudicator of marching and concert band festivals and honor bands throughout the United States and Canada. Member of faculty: Henderson State University (Arkansas), 1969-72; assistant director of bands and chairman, Department of Music, University of Mississippi, 1972-86; director of Vanderbilt Bands and Symphonic Wind Ensemble since 1986. Member: College Band Directors, Music Educators National Conference, National Band Association, Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma. Blair School since 1995

AMY JARMAN Assistant Dean;
Senior Lecturer in Voice
B.A. (Evansville); Diploma (Royal College of Music [London]) E-mail
Administrative Office Hours

Student of David Blackburn and Jean Allister. Additional studies: University of California, Santa Cruz; Conservatorio di Morlacchi (Perugia, Italy) and Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies (Aldeburgh, England). Master classes with Dalton Baldwin, Nancy Evans, Jill Gomez, Philip Highfill, Ian Partridge, Carol Webber and John Wustman. Soloist, Nashville Symphony, Louisville Bach Society, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony, Owensboro Symphony, Hancock Chamber Players, Baroque Festival of Corona del Mar (California), Rocky Ridge (Colorado) Music Festival, Wakefield (England) Festival Chorus, and Nashville Opera. Special appearances at Westminster Abbey, London. Featured artist on many recital series including Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Chicago, American Music Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria, Leeds (England) International Concert Series, and St. James' Piccadilly and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Ms. Jarman's students have been admitted into performance programs at The Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Rice University, Indiana University, Florida State University, New York University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Member, Music Teachers National Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Sigma Alpha Iota. Music Director, Original Cast, Vanderbilt University 1986-1988. Blair School since 1986.

JOE REA PHILLIPS Assistant to the Dean;
Senior Artist Teacher of Guitar
B.S., M.S. (Peabody) E-mail

Student of John Johns. Performances and lecture recitals throughout the Southeast and on radio and television. Performances with the Lassiter and Phillips Guitar Duo, 1974-92. Touring artist, Tennessee Arts Commission, since 1988; Johns and Phillips Guitar Duo, touring artists, Tennessee Arts Commission, 1991. Member of Blair Chamber Players. Blair School since 1985.