A large group of adults gather outside and eat ice cream treats.
John Spilker-Beed, Ph.D.

John Spilker-Beed, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Music
Department
Music, Gender Studies, & Interdisciplinary Studies
Office location

Rogers Fine Arts Building, Rm. 304 (top floor, across from the elevator)

Office hours

By appointment (to honor that your schedule is complicated) during these times:

  • MW 11:30鈥1:40pm
  • F 11:30-1pm
  • Please talk with me after class to schedule an appointment at one of these or another time.

Feel free to stop anytime. If I'm in my office, I'm here to help you.

Email
jspilke2 [at] NebrWesleyan.edu
Headshot of John Spilker, Ph.D.

Educating is a vocation rooted in hopefulness. As teachers we believe that learning is possible, that nothing can keep an open mind from seeking after knowledge and finding a way to know.鈥&苍产蝉辫;

鈥攂ell hooks

Background

Black lives matter! Black, brown, and indigenous lives are a human rights issue, not a partisan political debate. What can we do together to take the next step to learn about the legacy of racisms and white supremacy and transform our communities? History is not a thing of the past鈥t built the present...it thrives today. I pledge to take action to achieve equity through policy change. I pledge to learn from and follow the antiracist leadership of people of color. I鈥檓 learning how to see and disrupt: 1. my racisms, 2. my active participation in and complicity with 鈥鈥 (a culture that privileges white people), 3. my socialization and choices to remain in segregated white spaces , and 4. the debilitating and deadly impact of the 鈥鈥 (interlocking systems of oppression). Lifelong learning, uncomfortable inner work, and accountability can help me recover from my incentivized historical, social, and political illiteracy and deeply embedded dominance. Together, we can decenter whiteness and focus on black voices, experiences, perspectives, and achievements. 

Education

Ph.D., Musicology, The Florida State University, 2010
Certificate in Early Music, The Florida State University, 2008
M.M., Musicology, The Florida State University, 2006
B.A., Music, Brigham Young University, 2004

Courses taught

Senior Capstone Seminar (MUS 4980): Speaking Instructive

Music History 1: Gender Equity (MUS 2830/3830): Gender Thread, DEI-US instructive, Discourse instructive, Writing instructive

Music History 2: Racial Equity (MUS 2860/3860): Power Thread, DEI-US instructive, Discourse instructive, Writing instructive

World Music Cultures (MUS 2810): Identity Thread, DEI-Global instructive, Discourse instructive, Experiential鈥揈xploratory

Resilience & Wellbeing (MUS 2750): Human Health & Disease Thread, DEI-US instructive, Discourse instructive

Soundtrack of Life (MUS 1820): Chaos Thread, DEI-US instructive, Discourse instructive

Sex and the Arts (GEND 2850): Chaos Thread, DEI-US instructive, Discourse instructive, Experiential鈥揑ntensive

Study Abroad Course to Cuba (in 2017, together with Dr. Susan Wortmann, sociology & gender studies)

Archway Seminars (IDS 1010):

  • 2020: Lynching: Honesty and Racial Healing (Sherrilyn Ifill)
  • 2019: Racism & Mass Incarceration (Bryan Stevenson)
  • 2018: Rising Strong (Bren茅 Brown)
  • 2017: Dead Poets Society & Vocation
  • 2016: Ru Paul's Drag Race & Self-Acceptance
  • 2015: Courage, Compassion, & Connection (Bren茅 Brown)
  • 2014: Social Media and Wellbeing
  • 2012 & 2013: Musicals as a Platform for Taboo Sexual Topics

Justice: An Introductory Experience (IDS 1300)

Music History II: Environment (MUS 3840)

Film Music

American Music

Prior to his arrival at 含羞草传媒, Dr. Spilker taught undergraduate and graduate courses in music history, research methods, and world music at Oklahoma State University and undergraduate courses in music history, analysis of music literature, and music appreciation at The Florida State University.

Research and academic interests

Overarching Interests: Intersectional Equity, Well-being, Nonviolence, Teaching & Learning, Curriculum, Historiography

Curriculum Revision, Project-Based Learning, Critical & Inclusive Pedagogies, Adaptive Leadership

  • 鈥淎dventures in 鈥楽urvey Adjacent鈥 Music History Courses,鈥&苍产蝉辫;Musicology Now (16 November 2017). 

Care/Equity Pedagogy, Wellbeing, Vocation

  • : Colleen Renihan, John Spilker, Trudi Wright, eds. Sound Pedagogy: Radical Care in Music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2024.
    • : "Integrating Well-being and Intersectional Equity across a Revised Music History and Culture Curriculum," in Sound Pedagogy.
    • : "Radical Care" (co-authored with Colleen Renihan an Trudi Wright) in Sound Pedagogy.
    • : "Care for Now" (co-authored with Colleen Renihan an Trudi Wright) in Sound Pedagogy.
  • : Andrew Granade with Colleen Renihan, John Spilker, Trudi Wright, "Sound Pedagogy in Music History" Bulletin of the Society for American Music 50/1 (February 2024): 3鈥6.
  • : "Transdisciplinary Antiracism Research and Teaching as a Foundation for Revising Music Coursework," in Teaching Difficult Topics: Reflections from the Undergraduate Music Classroom, ed. by Laura Moore Pruett and Olivia Lucas. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, [forthcoming September 2024].
  • Essay: "Antiracism as a Pedagogy of Care and Repair," in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in the Music Classroom, ed. by Kristy Swift and Kimber Andrews. New York: Routledge Press. [forthcoming 2025]
  • Essay: 鈥淔inding Music in Research on Racial Violence in the United States.鈥&苍产蝉辫;In Open Access Musicology, vol. 3, ed. by Daniel Barolsky and Trudi Wright. Amherst, MA: Lever Press. [under review]
  • Essay: Colleen Renihan, John Spilker, Trudi Wright, "Community, Collaboration, and Care in PracticeJournal of Music History Pedagogy [under review].
  • : "The Transformative Power of Difficult Conversations," August 2023, The American Societies for Crop Science, Soil Science, and Agronomy.
  • : "Just Vibrations by William Cheng" Journal of the Society for American Music 13/1 (2019): 110鈥113.

U.S. Ultramodernism & Dissonant Counterpoint

  • : "The Origins of Dissonant Counterpoint: Henry Cowell's Unpublished Notebook" Journal of the Society for American Music 5/4 (2011): 481鈥533.
  • : 鈥淭he Curious Afterlife of Dissonant Counterpoint: Jeanette B. Holland鈥檚 Class Notes from Henry Cowell鈥檚 1951 Advanced Music Theory Course,鈥&苍产蝉辫;American Music 30/4 (2011): 405鈥25.
  • : "Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music by Joel Sachs," American Music 32/1 (2014): 117鈥19.
  • : "The New York Composers' Forum Concerts by Melissa J. de Graaf," Journal of the Society for American Music 10/4 (2016): 511鈥14.
  • : "Johanna Beyer by Amy C. Beal," Journal of the Society for American Music 12/3 (2018): 354鈥57.

King David's Laments for Absalom and Jonathan

  • 鈥淥h My Son!: The Musical Origins and Function of King David鈥檚 Lament,鈥&苍产蝉辫;College Music Symposium 49-50 (2009鈥2010): 410鈥33.
  • : 鈥淒esperately Seeking Absalom and Jonathan: A Re-Evaluation of Seventeenth-Century English Anthems Based on King David鈥檚 Laments,鈥 in Essays in Honor of Dr. Jeffery T. Kite-Powell, ed. by Allen Scott (Ann Arbor, MI: Steglein Press, 2012): 264鈥90.

Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grants

Dr. Spilker has presented his research at the International Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, the International Association of Music Libraries, American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the Society for Music Theory, the College Music Society, the American Culture Association, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Service interests

Dr. Spilker serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Society for American Music (2023鈥2025), which he chaired 2023鈥2024. He was the faculty co-coordinator for 含羞草传媒鈥檚 Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning (2014鈥2018), a project sponsored by the Higher Learning Commission. He chaired the Pedagogy Study Group (2015鈥2017) for the American Musicological Society. He was the founding chair of the Pedagogy Interest Group (2014鈥2016) and Forum for Early-Career Professionals (2011鈥2015) for the Society for American Music. He served on the editorial board for the Journal of Music History Pedagogy (2015鈥2017) and co-organized the annual Teaching Music History Conference in 2016 and 2017. Informed by his experiences working as the faculty co-coordinator for New Student Programs, his teaching approach honors the rich connections between wellbeing, vocation, and personal development alongside intellectual development.

Professional and community affiliations, certifications and awards

Awards & Honors:

Certifications:

  • 2019:  
  • 2018-2019: Powers of Leadership Series at

Affiliations:

  • , board member