Composers
Jewel Taylor Thompson
-About
Jewel T. Thompson (b.), a member of the faculty of the Music Department, holds a B.S. degree from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. She teaches classes in Music Theory that focus on the materials of music used for music notation, such as scales, chords, music forms, etc., and classes in Musicianship that focus on sight-singing, ear training, and basic keyboard. For many years while teaching at Hunter, she served as Minister of Music at the world-famous Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City in the roles of Organist and Director of the Sanctuary Choir of mixed voices, the Men’s Chorus, and the Women’s Chorus. This position brought much attention beyond the academic field through conducting the Sanctuary Choir for special events within and beyond the Metropolitan Area. During her career, Dr. Thompson has received many awards, among them: the Hattie M. Strong Fellowship for further study, the Ford Foundation Fellowship for music research, the title of Dame of Honour awarded by the Knights of Malta, the Hunter College Presidential Award for excellence in service, the Music of the African-American Diaspora, and the Outstanding Ministry Award by the New York City Council of Churches, to name a few. Additionally, Dr. Thompson has been included in Who’s Who of America’s Teachers, and in numerous editions of Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the East, and Who’s Who in the World. In March 2017, Marquis Who’s Who placed her on their prestigious roster of Lifetime Achievement Inductees. She is included in the 2018 inaugural edition of Marquis’s Who’s Who Magazine honoring the legacies of Professionals Around the World – her portrait serving as the cover as well. The 2018 Who’s Who of Professional Women, also a Marquis’s Who’s Who of Professional Women publication, includes Dr.Thompson as the Executive Spotlight. She is the author of the book Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: The Development of His Compositional Style, contributor to the International Dictionary of Black Composers, and has compiled and arranged many compositions for mixed voices – several of which are published.