Dr. Philip Tacka is an associate professor of music education. He joined the faculty in January 2002. Dr. Tacka along with Dr. Micheal Houlahan are co-authors of the Sound Thinking Series published by Boosey & Hawkes. Their most current publication Kódály Today: A Cognitive Approach to Music Education is being published by Oxford University Press (Spring 2007). Their books include Sound Thinking: Music for Sight- Singing and Ear Training (Volumes I & II), and Sound Thinking: Developing Musical Literacy (Volumes I & II). Zoltan Kodály: A Guide to Research (Garland Publishing Inc., London, New York) is their current comprehensive reference work. Additional publication credits include the Kodály Envoy, The Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, The Indiana Theory Review, and the International Kodály Society Bulletin. Dr. Tacka and Dr. Houlahan are authors of the Kodaly article, bibliography and catalogue of compositions in Millennium Edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Dr. Tacka holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University in Music Education and piano, a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. in Music Education and Kodály Studies, a Diploma from both the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest/Zoltan Kodály Pedagogical Institute in Hungary, and the Kodály Center of America.

Prior to this position he was an associate professor of music in the Department of Art, Music & Theatre at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., where he taught music theory, music history, the psychology of music, and a research seminar on original music manuscripts. In addition, he works with the Georgetown University Medical School’s Institute for Cognitive and Computational Science in the neuropsychology of music perception. He regularly presents papers both nationally and internationally on aspects of music theory, music history, and Kodály studies. For the past five years, Dr. Tacka has served as a grant evaluator on the American Fellowship Panel for the American Association of University Women.