Don D. Coffman
Professor
Chair of the Department of Music Education and Music Therapy
About Me
Quote
I remind my students that we teach PEOPLE, not music. Teaching is an invitation to learning. How you treat others has to come first. The process is more important than the product. Convey your love of the journey so that others will come along with you. Because we cannot make students learn, we have to continually inspire them to learn. If the process is enjoyable, the result will be an excellent product and learners who will want to continue to make music throughout their lives.
Biography
Don D. Coffman is Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Department of Music Education and Music Therapy at the Frost School of Music. He teaches courses in instrumental conducting, methods of teaching instrumental school music, and community music programs.
Professor Coffman has over 40 years of teaching experience spanning elementary, junior high, high school, university, and community band settings. He is an internationally known scholar with over 100 publications and 100 presentations in 13 countries around the globe. He holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, where he taught for 24 of those 40 years.
In his storied career, Professor Coffman has conducted over 300 wind band performances and clinics. He founded the Iowa City, Iowa New Horizons Band in 1995 and led it for 16 years. That program continues to provide an opportunity for senior adults to learn or reacquaint themselves with wind and percussion instruments and the opportunity to use them to make music. He continues to teach adults in Frost’s New Horizons Band program. In 2002 he spent three months as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania (Australia) researching their community music band program. His greatest passion is making music with “chronologically gifted” adults in wind bands.
Professor Coffman has chaired the Community Music Activity Commission of the International Society for Music Education and the Adult and Community Music Education Special Research Interest Group of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). He has served on NAfME’s Society for Research in Music Education Executive Committee and twice served as a member of the editorial board of NAfME’s Journal of Research in Music Education. He is associate editor of the International Journal of Community Music and editor of Research Perspectives in Music Education.
Professor Coffman received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, a M.M.E. from Wichita State University and a B.M.E. from the University of Kansas.
Honors & Acknowledgements
Professional Experience
Career Highlights
- Chair, International Society for Music Education (ISME) Community Music Activity Commission (CMA)
- Chair, National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Adult and Community Music Education
- Special Research Interest Group (ACME SRIG)
- Member, National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Society for Research in Music Education Executive Committee
- Member, Editorial board of the Journal of Research in Music Education (twice)
- Associate Editor, International Journal of Community Music
- Editor, Research Perspectives in Music Education (Florida Music Education Association)
Honors, Awards & Competitions
- 2021 Music Educator of the Year by the Florida Music Education Association
- Inaugural Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Service, National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Adult and Community Music Education Special Research Interest Group (ACME SRIG)
- President's Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement, University of Iowa
- State of Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award
Publications (recent)
- Coffman, D. D. & Dabback, W. (2021). Time to face the music? Possibilities for community music with older adults. In L. Willingham (Ed.) Walking the boundaries, bridging the gaps (pp. 155-170). Wilfred Laurier University Press.
- Rowher, D., Coffman, D. D., & Dabback, W. (2020). A description of New Horizons Band assistants’ perceptions and experiences, International Journal of Community Music, 13(3) 333-334. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijcm_00024_1
- Coffman, D. D. (2018). Community music practice with adults. In B. Bartleet & L. Higgins (Eds.) Oxford handbook of community music (pp. 693-709). London: Oxford University Press.
- Dabback, W., Coffman, D. D., & Rowher, D. (2018). New Horizons in print: A synthesis of primary sources. International Journal of Community Music, 11(2), 147-166. doi: 10.1386/ijcm.11.2.147_1
- Coffman, D. D. & Higgins, L. (2018). Community music ensembles. In G. E. McPherson & G. E. Welch (Eds.) Vocal, instrumental, and ensemble learning and teaching: An Oxford handbook of music education, Volume 3 (pp. 301-316). London: Oxford University Press.
