John W. White is currently Associate Professor of Music Theory, History, and Composition at Ithaca College. He has over twenty years of college-level teaching experience (primarily in music theory and aural skills development), and has published articles in journals such as College Music Symposium, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and ex Tempore. He is a co-developer of the Takadimi system of rhythm solfege and specializes in the analysis of vernacular musics, cover tunes, and free improvisation. In addition to being a professional jazz pianist, currently he is the music director and organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Ithaca, New York, where he also directs the contemporary gospel choir.