Richard Colwell (1930-) | University of Illinois Archives

Richard Colwell was born on May 27th, 1930 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Colwell earned his BFA and MM in 1953 from the University of South Dakota. He taught at the University of Montana, Billings, from 1957 to 1961. In 1961, he earned his EdD from the University of Illinois and accepted a position as the chair of music education at the U of I, where he remained until 1989. After leaving Illinois, he taught at the University of Northern Colorado (1989-1990), Boston University (1990-1993) and the New England Conservatory of Music (1993-2005).

Much of Colwell's research is foscused in music education assessment. He is the author of several books and papers on music education, incuding the textbook Basic Concepts in Music Education, as well as the creator of the Musical Achievement Test (MAT) series.