Bernard ScherrDr. Bernard Scherr is the Theory and Composition Department Head. He received his Ph.D. in composition and theory in 1998 from the University of Oregon. After he earned a BA ('85) in music education and a MFA ('88) in orchestral conducting from UCLA, he spent six years as a high school band director in Southern California. Dr. Scherr has conducted the UCLA Orchestra, the Pacific Palisades Symphony, the University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and the Abilene Collegiate Orchestra. He has also premiered numerous works in the Oregon Composers Forum Concert Series as a conductor, trumpeter, and singer. His compositions have been performed all along the West coast and overseas. He won several awards at the University of Oregon and his music has been recognized in competitions in Boston and Pennsylvania. His orchestral composition Victimae Paschali Laudes was performed by the Moravian Philharmonic of the Czech Republic and recorded on the Vienna Modern Masters label. He teaches harmony, ear training, keyboard harmony, form and analysis, theory pedagogy, advanced orchestration, post-tonal theory, theory review, advanced ear training, and composition. In addition to these courses, next year he will teach Schenkerian analysis, theory history, and computers in music.
Listen to his Piano Quintet, Movement II, as recorded by the Abilene Chamber Players.