Howard Spring
University of Guelph
Dr. Howard Spring is an ethnomusicologist, jazz historian, and jazz guitarist who teaches ethnomusicology and jazz studies at the University of Guelph. He received his BA and MA (1980) at York University in Toronto and received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1993). He has published research on the improvisational style of jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, the beginnings of Swing jazz during the late 1920s and early 1930s in New York, the relationship between jazz and social dance, and swing performance practice.
As a jazz guitarist he has played at various jazz clubs in Toronto as well as faculty concerts at the University of Guelph.
Having completed the Educational Leadership in Teaching Excellence program at Guelph, he received the College of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award ( 2012). He is presently engaged in research on best practices in the teaching of multicultural ear training.