As educator, author, pianist, and historian, Robert Hartwell has specialized in welcoming the uninitiated into classical music, emphasizing its accessibility while campaigning against the elitism and mystification that sometimes plague it. Before coming to Foothill College, Mr. Hartwell taught piano privately for 20 years, engaging and invigorating students through sometimes unconventional means (the San Jose Mercury recognized Mr. Hartwell as one of the Bay Area’s best piano teachers).  Professor Hartwell has written on topics ranging from Renaissance vocal music to the role of popular music in piano pedagogy, and his collaboration with Foothill colleague Dr. Elizabeth Barkley has resulted in a three-volume history of Western music as well as an educational CD-ROM on American multicultural music.

His recent interest in composition culminated in two recording projects, recognized for their excellence--if not their commercial success--by the American Pen Women. Professor Hartwell remains active in the community, appearing on public access television, adjudicating scholarship awards, and lecturing throughout the Bay Area. He has a special interest in opera, and has served as pre-performance lecturer for the San Francisco Opera.

An inveterate student, Professor Hartwell is nearing completion of his doctorate in music education at Columbia University. These studies have further fueled Mr. Hartwell’s interest in the schism—be it real or imaginary—between “high” and “low” culture, a divide he will explore in his new Foothill course, “Introduction to Popular Culture.”

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