Dr. Mícheál B. Houlahan

Micheál Houlahan is Professor of Music Theory and Aural Skills and Chair of the Tell School of Music at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from St. Patrick’s College, National University of Ireland, and completed graduate studies at the Liszt Academy in Hungary on an Irish Arts Council Scholarship. He earned his doctorate in Music Theory at the Catholic University of America as a Fulbright Scholar. His research has also been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

He holds fellowships in piano performance from Trinity College and the London College of Music. From 2017 to 2020, he served as Honorary Professor at the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Chinese National School of Music and the China Conservatory of Music. His expertise in music theory and Kodály studies has been recognized internationally. He has presented in China, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Estonia, the Netherlands, and England. In 2023, he spoke at the Forum Among Leaders of Higher Music Institutions in Beijing and presented “Transformational Musicianship and Pedagogy: Educating Performers as Global Artist-Teachers for the 21st Century” at the Leadership Network of the Global Music Education League in Beijing, China. In 2024, Dr. Houlahan was a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he presented a lecture series including “Global Artist-Teachers: Kodály Pedagogy for Chinese College Curricula” and “Educating 21st-Century Musicians: Kodály-Informed Strategies for Chinese Music Programs.”

He was elected to the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) Commission on Accreditation in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, serving through 2025. He has also chaired the NASM Committee on Ethics and has served as a NASM evaluator since 2008 and a team leader since 2012. In March 2016, the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Houlahan’s collaboration with Dr. Tacka has produced numerous influential publications. These include Choral Artistry: A Kodály Perspective for Middle School to College Level Choirs (Oxford University Press, 2023), Kodály Today: A Cognitive Approach to Music Education (second edition, Oxford University Press, 2015), Kodály in the Kindergarten: Developing the Creative Brain in the 21st Century (Oxford University Press, 2015), and the Kodály Today Handbooks (Oxford University Press, 2015). They are also authors of From Sound to Symbol: Fundamentals of Music (Oxford University Press, 2011) and the “Zoltán Kodály” entry in Oxford Bibliographies Online (2012). Their work includes Sound Thinking: Music for Sight-Singing and Ear Training (Volumes I & II) and Sound Thinking: Developing Musical Literacy (Volumes I & II), both published by Boosey & Hawkes, and Zoltán Kodály: A Guide to Research (Garland Publishing Inc., London and New York). Their articles appear in Kodály Envoy, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, International Journal of Musicology, Indiana Theory Review, and the International Kodály Society Bulletin. They also authored the Kodály article, bibliography, and catalog of compositions in the Millennium Edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians.

Dr. Houlahan and Dr. Tacka are currently writing a book applying the Kodály Concept to instrumental teaching and musicianship training for undergraduate and graduate students.