Eric brings lived experience to their advocacy for accessible and equitable music pedagogy, positioning care practices as essential resources for music educators seeking to create truly inclusive learning environments.

Eric Whitmer is an interdisciplinary musician, artist, and scholar interested in the intersections of music, community, and morality. At the University of Michigan, they are a PhD student in musicology with a historical emphasis. Their musicological work focuses on American musical cultures of the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly on the role of music in education, philanthropy, and social uplift. Additionally, Eric is a member of the Digital Accessible Futures Lab, a cross-institutional research and co-mentoring collective, and they regularly pursue research related to disability studies. They also serve as a research assistant for curriculum projects in U-M’s Digital Studies Institute. As a disabled educator themselves, Eric brings lived experience to their advocacy for accessible and equitable music pedagogy, positioning care practices as essential resources for music educators seeking to create truly inclusive learning environments.

Eric’s current work examines how disability-centered music education programs challenge traditional Western pedagogical frameworks. Their CEW+ Fellowship supports research into the University of Melbourne’s Adaptive Music Bridging Program, which they view as a model for revolutionizing accessibility in American music education. The project builds on their research in New Zealand, where they have established connections with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Sistema Aotearoa (a music and social development program) to study educational reform and genre neutrality mandates in Aotearoa’s curriculum. Before graduate school, Eric authored a national study of music leadership in American orchestras, conducting interviews with organizations across the country.

As a percussionist, Eric performs in Sono Trio and is the resident carillonist for Grosse Pointe Memorial Church. In their limited spare time, Eric can be found baking some new and challenging pastry, behind a camera taking a portrait of a friend, or on a paddleboard in one of Michigan’s many lakes.

CEW+ appreciates Eric’s reimagining of music pedagogies and names them a Gutsy Broad Fellow.