Barbara Reeder Lundquist

January 3, 1934 – August 17, 2023

Distinguished musician and educator, Dr. Barbara Reeder Lundquist, died peacefully on the morning of August 17, 2023, surrounded by many who loved her dearly. She was 89 years old, a valiant survivor of multiple forms of cancer, and a force of energy across all of her domains until the very end. She loved laughter, and was deeply generous and kind. Barbara leaves behind many who call her family. These include the families of the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of her dearly beloved late husband Elon H. Lundquist. Barbara also left behind many devoted students, colleagues, and friends whom she considered family.

Born into a family steeped in music, education, and faith, throughout her life Barbara's attention was always tuned to these same three, no matter where she was or what her circumstances were internally or externally. She was fascinated by the interplay of music, education, and culture as the context within which precious people lived. For her, music was a manifestation of the human essence that is shaped by people's cultural communities, a window into culture, and a way to connect with people and their values.

She trained as a classical performance cellist at the University of Wisconsin, and loved telling how she’d been given a full football scholarship that was reassigned to her as a promising musician. She then received her MA at Montana State University and began teaching in the Seattle Public Schools in 1959. As the Civil Rights movement gained momentum, she soon experienced the profound gap between her Midwest upbringing with its European classical music training, and the tumultuous world of the inner city students at Meany Junior High. She often credits this location in history, and these students and colleagues for challenging her to move beyond the accepted norms of music education and to develop new models and paradigms. She was soon tapped to serve as supervisor of teachers and as master teacher, visiting schools to mentor others and to model teaching excellence.

Always eager to learn and improve as a teacher and a human being, she continued her studies in music education and ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, earning her Doctor of Musical Arts in 1973. After a very brief courtship she married Elon Lundquist at the start of the 1972-73 school year, and immediately embraced his family of 6 unique children, ages 11-24. Not one to shrink from challenges, she often good naturedly told the story of pulling into the driveway of her new home after work, only to be greeted by a barking and snarling dog who would not let her get out of the car. It seems the Lundquist family Weimaraner had not gotten the memo that she was now part of the family. Despite this inauspicious start, Barbara and Elon were deeply in love and were an excellent team with their complementary personalities and abilities. They enjoyed 33 years of laughter, hard work, and adventures before Elon passed in 2005.

Within the field of music, many saw Barbara as the original “mother of multicultural music education." She was deeply drawn to the study of African music and its diaspora, and her attention in both her research and practice was in raising awareness of the under-recognized contributions of African music to almost all genres of contemporary music. She often did this through engaging others in the co-creative process of music-making through song, instruments, and dance.

Barbara's colleagues and students knew her to be a fireball, musically thorough, clever and quick-thinking in her classroom practice, and deeply committed to the importance of making genuine interpersonal connections with her students. Mention her name, and eyes sparkle, smiles appear, and heads shake as those who knew her recall her prodigious energy, vision, humor, kindness, and ability to get things done, often by including everyone.

Barbara was widely known in the U.S. and across the world for her progressive thinking on music curriculum and instruction. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Music Education and Sociomusicology at the University of Washington, retiring as Professor Emerita. She served as president of The College Music Society (1992-94), and on the World Music Advisory Panel of the International Society for Music Education (1992-94). She was recognized in 1981 by the MENC National Black Music Caucus with their Outstanding Achievement Award, and by the Kennedy Center in 1992 with their Arts in Education Award. She was an educational consultant for the Smithsonian Global Sound, the U.S. Information Service in Malawi and Mozambique, the Yamaha Corporation, the Manhattanville Music Curriculum Project, and the Contemporary Music Project. Her inspiring work on the integration of Sub-Saharan African music into American school music classrooms came through in multiple publications, clinical presentations, and lectures.

In her retirement, she was very involved in the life of her church serving as an Elder and actively engaging in both social action and also contemplative spiritual disciplines. She also thoroughly enjoyed teaching World Music on four different tours of the Semester at Sea program, and directing the Hearthtones, a music education and performance group at the Hearthstone retirement community where she lived for 18 years.

Her legacy lives on in those she loved, in circles of musicians and educators, and in a project in Tanzania that is giving focus to the cultural sustainability of people through music and the arts. Barbara worked closely with Dr. Kedmon Mapana, now Executive Secretary of the National Arts Council of Tanzania. Since 2008, she has collaborated with him in research and practice, and in the establishment of Chamwino Connect as the fund-raising arm of the Chamwino Arts Centre. The continuation of the annual Cigogo Music Festival in Tanzania is a result of Barbara’s wisdom and energy to support the interests of the villagers in sustaining and celebrating their cultural identity.

A memorial service for residents of the Hearthstone will be held on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. in the Hearthstone chapel.

A public memorial service is planned for Saturday, September 9, 2023 at the Emmanuel Covenant Church at 1:00 p.m. (503 N 50th St., Seattle, WA 98103)

The recording of the service can be accessed by clicking the link below:

https://youtu.be/ZHm_8PGtIr0?si=6fRr_bjm5sxdCk9l

Donations in honor of Barbara and in continuing support to the efforts of the CC-CAC partnership may be given to Chamwino Connect, a 501c3 NGO.

A brief video of Barbara (created by Matt Lewis for Quest Church) can be seen if you scroll down to "memories" below.