Paul cortese, ed.d.
Dr. Paul Cortese is an educator and musician based in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex.
He served for 21 years as Assistant Director for Operations in the TCU School of Music, where he oversaw a range of organizational and promotional initiatives, including the School of Music website, YouTube channel, jury examination system, advertising, event project management, and general facility services. During his tenure, Dr. Cortese also directed TCU's Summer Music Institute, which provides instrumental workshops and choral camps to middle and high school students throughout North Texas each summer.
As an educator, Dr. Cortese developed and taught Survey of Film Music, a course offered to non-majors for Fine Arts credit. He currently serves as an instructor for TCU's Silver Frogs Lifelong Learning Program, where his recent lectures include "Big Sky Music: An Introduction to the Western Film Score" and "Silent to Sound: How the Synchronized Soundtrack Changed the Movies."
A classically trained guitarist, Dr. Cortese performs a broad range of repertoire, from solo acoustic fingerstyle music to contemporary electric styles with a blues-rock ensemble. He has taught guitar students at every level, from young beginners to high school and college musicians to advanced adult learners.
Dr. Cortese's dissertation, Changing Social Perspectives: Teaching Artists and Transformative Learning in an El Sistema-Inspired After-School Music Program, was published in 2019. His research interests include teaching artistry, film music, and musical performance practices in the early twentieth-century vaudeville variety theatre.
Dr. Cortese holds degrees from Syracuse University (B.M.), the New England Conservatory (M.M.), and Texas Christian University (Ed.D.).