| Edwin E. Gordon, noted teacher, lecturer, author, and researcher in music education and the psychology of music, is currently Research Professor, Gordon Archive. Dr. Gordon and his wife Carol have donated their collection, representing more than 40 years of work, to USC. The Archive houses all of Gordon's publications, journals, manuscripts, the dissertations he supervised, and video and audio cassette recordings of various workshops and seminars. Among the personal items are his college diplomas, various honors and awards, his University of Iowa Ph.D. dissertation, as well as one of his many wooden sculptures. For more information, see the Gordon Institute for Music Learning (GIML) web page. | ![]() |
Dr. Gordon's Career Highlights
Collages in png format featuring Archive materials
Materials in the Archive
Materials in the Gordon Archive are available for use by appointment only.
Books A-L
Books M-Z
Arranged by author. Included among the approximately four hundred titles are volumes on music education and awareness, learning theory, aptitude, and history. Over fifty books, monographs, and test manuals by Dr. Gordon are present, including several translations from the English, as well as the original edition of his first book, Musical Aptitude Profile (1965).
Serials
Substantial collections of the Journal of Research in Music Education as well as the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, among other titles. Over one hundred eighty cited journal articles, including sixty written by Gordon. Many reviews of his works as well as interviews and transcripts are housed in the Archive, along with over eighty newspaper and magazine articles highlighting Dr. Gordon's work and career.
Dissertations, research papers, and book manuscripts
Over one hundred documents, many with inscriptions or dedications to Dr. Gordon. Most of the dissertations were supervised by him at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Temple University, or the University of Iowa, but many others, completed at various institutions, are based on his work. The collection includes several of Dr. Gordon's book manuscripts and over twenty of his papers, along with his Ph.D. dissertation. Samples of the opening pages of each thesis and dissertation are available in pdf format.
Audio-visual materials
Many audio and video cassettes of seminars and courses by Gordon and others, including seven of the annual Sugarloaf seminars. Over twenty videos of teaching demonstrations by Gordon and his students, using Music Learning Theory with preschool-age children. Also includes many supplemental recordings for the Jump Right In curricula, as well as other audiation tools. All test recordings are indexed with tests and kits.
Tests and kits
Over thirty music tests collected by Dr. Gordon, many with audio recordings; included among these are the Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests and Seashore's Measures of Musical Talent. The Archive houses complete kits for Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation, Harmonic Improvisation Readiness Record and Rhythm Improvisation Readiness Record, Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation, Instrument Timbre Preference Test, Iowa Tests of Music Literacy, Musical Aptitude Profile, Primary Measures of Music Audiation, and Gordon and Woods's curriculum Jump Right In!.
Ephemera
Large collection of conference programs, brochures, and fliers from Gordon's engagements throughout the United States and much of Europe and Asia. Also includes music examples he has collected from various cultures, as well as many other interesting memorabilia. Over one thousand indexed letters and other correspondence to and from Dr. Gordon are housed in the Archive. Carol Gordon kept meticulous documentation of his work between 1961 and 1995. Contents of these files and scrapbooks as well as collected material from the past decade are kept in chronological vertical files. International items are arranged by country name.
|
|||||






This library is a congressionaly designated depository for U.S. government documents. Public access to the government documents collections is guaranteed by public law.