Joanne and Charles Bath

Joanne and Charles Bath
Image source: Music Department faculty recital

Charles Bath (1928-2018) and Joanne Bath have made monumental contributions as music faculty to musical learning and appreciation in Greenville and eastern North Carolina through their promotion of Suzuki pedagogy, an approach to music education that emphasizes learning by doing, from childhood forward.

In 1951, Dr. Charles Bath received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan. While serving in the US Navy (1951-59), he completed a Master of Music degree in music literature and piano from Eastman School of Music (1957). He completed his Doctorate in Musical Arts Degree (DMA) in piano at the University of Michigan in 1964.

From 1960-65 after serving as an assistant professor of music at Wichita State University in Kansas from 1960-65, Dr. Bath was accepted a position as professor of music at ECU in 1966. In 1972, he was named chair of the Keyboard Department. Following four decades of service, Charles retired in 2009, with the title professor emeritus. During his career, Dr. Bath served as president of the NC Music Teachers Association (1991-1993), as director of NC Federated Music Clubs Piano Festival (1975-1989), and as founder of the Greenville Piano Teachers Association.

Dr. Bath often accompanied his wife in advancing the Suzuki method of music instruction. Named after the Japanese educator and violinist, Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998), the method emphasizes learning to play music as one learns to speak one’s native language, by listening and doing. Also, parental involvement is essential, given the early age at which instruction begins.

Joanne Bath left the Wichita Symphony to move to Greenville and ECU with her husband, Dr. Charles Bath. She had completed a Master of Music degree in violin performance at the University of Michigan, after earlier finishing a Bachelor of Music degree at Denison University. Bath also earned a certificate in violin from the Conservatoire Americain in Fontainebleau, France.

One of the first violin teachers in the U.S. to follow the principles of Suzuki pedagogy, Joanne Bath founded, shortly after moving to Greenville, one of the first Suzuki violin programs in the state. Under her leadership, the local Suzuki program grew into one of the largest in the country. Bath has served on the board of directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, as artistic director of the North Carolina Suzuki Institute, as founder and president of the North Carolina Suzuki Teacher’s Association, and as founder and president of the Greenville Suzuki Association. In 1996, she received the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts. Since 1993, she has taught at ECU as the Hardy Distinguished Professor of Music, and as director of the Suzuki Pedagogy Program.

Through their joint contributions to Suzuki instruction, the Baths have influenced, directly or indirectly, the lives of tens of thousands of students of violin globally.

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Citation Information

Title: Joanne and Charles Bath

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 3/29/2018

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