Wisniewski, Thomas J. (1926-2008) | University of Illinois Archives
Name: Wisniewski, Thomas J. (1926-2008)
Show Related People or GroupsHistorical Note: Thomas J. Wisniewski (1926-2008) was an author, clinician, conductor, and string music educator at the University of Illinois. From 1959 to 1967, he taught high school orchestra at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Illinois. Wisniewksi received his masters degree in conducting from Northern Illinois University in 1964. In 1967, he earned a position in the Music Extension Office at the University of Illinois. At Illinois, he taught undergraduate and graduate conducting courses, string pedagogy for music educators, and was the conductor of the Illini Symphony Orchestra. During that time, he continued to work with high schools. Wisniewski presented at and attended numerous conferences and meetings, notably the National School Orchestra Association (NSOA), Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) (as well as those of other states), and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). He was frequently a sumemr camp clinician at the Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp, University of Wisconsin Summer Music Clinic, Western Illinois Summer Music Clinic, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Summer String Camp. He recieved the 1996 Illinois Music Educators Association Presidential Award and a Distiguished Service Award from IMEA in 1991. Wisniewski retired from the University of Illinois in 1998. Wisniewski died in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2008.
Sources:
"Thomas J. Wisniewski: Mentor to Many" Sonorities Magazine, Winter 2009. Online at: https://files.webservices.illinois.edu/3337/sonorities_09.pdf
US Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Vol. 1; U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014.
Note Author: Nolan Vallier