I’m an experienced scholar, composer, performer, and leader. I currently serve as a Professor of Musicology at the University of Kentucky and as Director of Traditional Music at Centenary Methodist Church in Danville, Kentucky.

I was previously Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, New York), Associate Dean of Community Engagement and Entrepreneurship in the College of Music at Florida State University, Associate Dean in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky, and Director of the School of Music at the University of Kentucky.  

Before moving into administration, I was an Associate Professor at Western Michigan University for seven years. I taught undergraduate and graduate courses in music history, film music, world music, and music theory.

I completed my M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Historical Musicology and my M.A. in European History at the University of Rochester. I am currently enrolled part-time at Asbury Theological Seminary, where I am pursuing graduate theological training. 

Photos: SCP, LaBrec

I maintain a busy schedule as a writer, composer, organist, and pianist. You can listen to my first season of podcasts–consisting of episodes from my original science fiction audio novel, complete with original musical soundtracks–on the “My Radio” page. You can access some of my other compositions on the “My Music” page and on my YouTube channel.

To learn more about my past work as Director of the School of Music at the University of Kentucky, listen to this interview with WUKY or to this interview about our 100th Anniversary in 2018:  

You can read more about our 100th Anniversary season here, or check out this article about the UK School of Music’s designation by Yamaha as one of ten “Institutions of Excellence” in 2021. You can also review a copy of a recent recruitment brochure for the University of Kentucky School of Music. Additional samples of my communications work are available by following this link to the FSU College of Music’s 2017 Alumni Magazine or this one to the its 2016 Alumni Magazine.

Current Work and Upcoming Events:

I was busy throughout the spring semester (2025) composing a six-movement cantata on the Psalms for choir, violin, harp, and piano. (I wrote most of the lyrics for the cantata, too.) The Chancel Choir at Centenary Methodist Church (Danville, Kentucky) premiered the cantata on Sunday, June 1, 2025. Special thanks to Dr. Sophia Han for serving as our guest violinist. I’m currently composing a Christmas cantata for December 2025. 

I recently submitted a completed chapter on C. S. Lewis and science fiction television for a forthcoming book collection, I am writing an article on music in the classic 1970s sitcom, All in the Family, and I have portions of several book-length projects underway, including one on 1960s and 1970s television music. 

Recent News and Events:

On March 15, 2025, I presented a paper, “Sanctification and Deification in Charles Wesley’s Poems on the Gospels of John and Luke,” at the annual conference of Wesleyan Theological Association. The conference was hosted at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. 

My most recent article on television music, “Music, Morality, and Community in Little House on the Prairie,” was published in the journal, American Music, in its 41.4 (Winter 2023) issue [released in early 2025].

In October 2024, I presented a paper, “Religion, Faith, and Radical Hospitality in All in the Family,” at the annual conference of the Northeast Chapter of the Popular Culture Association.

In 2022, I published an annotated bibliography on film composer Elmer Bernstein in Oxford Bibliographies in Cinema and Media Studies.

From January 2020 to June 2022, I served as editor of the “Forums” section the College Music Society’s journal, Symposium.  

I presented papers at the national meeting of the College Music Society (October 2020), the national conference of the Society for American Music (Summer 2020), and the national conference of the North American British Music Studies Association (Summer 2020) during the past year.

In November 2019, I participated on a panel discussing issues related to contingent faculty and how to advocate for them at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society (Boston). I also was on a panel with other faculty from the University of Kentucky’s School of Music at the national conference of the College Music Society in October 2019 in Louisville. We discussed the School of Music’s community outreach activities. 

I gave a paper at the 45th annual conference of the Society for American Music in New Orleans in March 2019. This was my first trip to this fascinating American city.

January 16-19, 2019, I visited Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, Missouri) as part of a guest entrepreneurship residency. I also participated in a second performance of my short original compositions for children at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. The first performance of these pieces also occurred at the Cape Girardeau Public Library on June 16, 2018. 

News Archive:

Please see the menu above or click here.

Blogs I Follow:

Ross Wixon (composer)

Adam Schumaker (composer, arts administrator)

Kendra Leonard Preston (musicologist, poet)

Brooks Kuykendall (musicologist, academic administrator) 

Popcultureshelf.com (with a review of my last book)

And please visit my YouTube channel, too! 

The opinions and ideas shared on this website are my own and do not represent official positions of any of the organizations for which I am employed or associated with in my professional work and life.  Stan Pelkey