Gaelen McCormick’s career started on stage with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. After 23 years, she "retired" due to deafness and now is making a new path in the arts in healthcare field, leading the Eastman Performing Arts Medicine program at the University of Rochester. Her twin passions for music and healthcare are mirrored in her nonprofit board service: she is the president of the International Society of Bassists and Vice-President of the National Organization for Arts in Health.
Pedagogy is an integral part of her career, whether helping new bass players to find their voice and learn to play without injury, or helping teachers create bass studios and school programs that are sustainable. Gaelen recently celebrated 20 years on the faculty of the Eastman Community Music School. She is the author of three pedagogy books for developing bow technique, <i>Mastering the Bow vol 1-3</i>, and a book of duets for developing bassists, <i>Double Trouble</i>, all published by Carl Fischer. She recently completed a three-year-long project to review and compile the history of pedagogy for the instrument which was published in late 2023 by Routledge, Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass: Historical and Modern Pedagogical Practices.
Gaelen holds performance degrees from Carnegie Mellon University where she studied with Jeff Turner, and the Eastman School where she studied with James VanDemark. She is an alumna of the League of American Orchestra’s Essentials of Orchestra Management. And because learning never stops, she recently attained her Level One certification in Paul Rolland String Pedagogy.
