department of music - Casper College

Appendix C
Faculty Biographies
NATHAN BAKER, Music Theory Coordinator, earned a B. Mus. in Music Education and
Music Composition from Utah State University in 2002, an M.A. in Music Theory
from the University of Oregon in 2006, and is nearing completion of the Ph.D. in
Music Theory (with a supporting area in Music History) from the University of
Oregon. As a Graduate Teaching Fellow, he taught undergraduate courses in theory,
aural skills, keyboard skills, analysis, and counterpoint, as well as a self-designed
summer course in video game music. In 2004 he was the recipient of the University
of Oregon School of Music’s Excellence in Teaching award. Baker’s research has
ranged from neo-Riemannian theory and atonality to the study of harmony and form
in video game music. His master’s thesis “Neo-Riemannian Perspectives on the
Early Music of Arnold Schoenberg” discusses a link between the harmonic
progressions found in late Romantic composers and the progressions used in
Schoenberg’s early atonal period. Baker’s proposed doctoral dissertation will focus
on “Form, Style, and Meaning in Japanese Video Game Music.” A member of the
Society for Music Theory, Baker has presented at the West Coast Conference for
Music Theory and Analysis. Baker’s other musical activities include playing the
trombone and composing and arranging music. He was principal trombonist with the
University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra and the University of Oregon Jazz Lab
Band II, and has also played in the University of Oregon Wind Ensemble and various
other ensembles. He was the trombone soloist with the Symphony of the Mountain
West in Salt Lake City, Utah, and played in the University of Oregon’s 2002
production of Chicago. Baker’s compositions and arrangements have been
performed by the trombone ensembles at Utah State University and the University of
Oregon, the Utah State University Symphonic Band, and the Mount Logan Middle
School after-school opera program.
DOUGLAS BULL serves as the Music Department Program Director, and directs the band
and studio brass classes. Mr. Bull received a B.S. degree in Music Education and
Trumpet Performance from Towson University. Graduate work at Towson
University, seminars, private study, and performances culminated in an Advanced
Professional Certificate in 1979. He has studied with Dominic DiGangi, Raymond
Moore, Donald Tyson and Emerson Head. While pursuing a professional
performance career he has played, recorded or conducted for: The Baltimore
Symphony, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Patti LaBelle,
Aretha Franklin, Rosemary Clooney, The Four Tops, Temptations, Phil Collins,
musicals, original cast albums, movie soundtracks, and commercials. For his work as
a conductor in musical theater, he has won multiple Critic’s Choice Awards for Best
Musical Direction and Show of The Year. In addition, he taught in Baltimore County
Schools for 21 years, generating over 80 music scholarships for his students. In 2006
he accepted his present position at Casper College. He is an Endorsing Artist for the
42