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Dr. Gordon Nunn

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Since the age of 8, Dr. Gordon Nunn, has spent his life learning, performing, and teaching percussion traditions from all over the world.  Beginning with the drum set and later studying concert percussion in college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Western Carolina University as well as a master’s degree in percussion performance from East Carolina University.  He completed the coursework for a doctorate in percussion at West Virginia University and he is writing his dissertation.

 

As a drum set artist, he has more than twenty years of professional experience.  Gordon has played hundred of performances in a variety of musical styles, performing in backing bands for artists such as Lionel Hampton, George Benson, Ramsey Lewis, Roy Ayers, and Ronnie Laws.

Gordon is an expert in the percussion traditions of other cultures.  He has traveled to West Africa and Cuba to study African and Afro-Cuban drumming.  He also enrolled in the world music program at West Virginia University, which is renowned for its African and steel drum ensembles.

 

In 2005, he was appointed interim director of West Virginia University’s World Music Center.  In this role, he led the African Drum and Dance Ensemble, Steel Drum Ensemble, and Taiko Ensemble at schools across the country.  Gordon has also performed with world music ensembles at professional conferences and international music and dance festivals in Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan as a member of the multi-ethnic music and dance ensemble Azaguno.

Gordon relocated to the Pittsburgh area in 2008.  Since then, he has worked as a percussion performer, teacher, and dance accompanist at Point Park University and for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.  Gordon was the percussion director for the Hampton High School Marching band from 2014 to 2019.  He currently performs with Dr. Zoot, a swing and dance music band that performs locally and throughout the region.  Gordon also teaches private lessons with students ranging from ten to sixty-five.

Harpsichord

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A harpsichord is a keyboard instrument where strings are plucked, rather than struck like a piano. It's a historical keyboard instrument that was prominent from the 16th to the late 18th century. In 2025, a harpsichord was purchased and donated to The Music Note in honor of Mrs. Gretchen McCabe. Mrs. McCabe has supported the education of the arts in Pittsburgh for decades. 

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Celesta

A celesta is a keyboard percussion instrument that looks like a small, upright piano. It produces sound when felt hammers, connected to a keyboard mechanism, strike metal bars, which are then resonated by wooden boxes. This instrument was donated in memory of Rev. William Kinsey by his wife Mrs. Donna Kinsey in January 0f 2024.

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Whitechapel Handbells

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is the oldest company that manufactures bells, with a 450-year history of casting tower bells in the Whitechapel district of London. The most famous foundry in the world, Whitechapel cast well-known bells for many churches and state buildings, including the Liberty Bell, and Big Ben, which hangs in the Houses of Parliament. Whitechapel began making handbells in the 1740s. In 2023, The Music Note was very fortunate to have 5 octave set of Whitechapel Handbells donated in memory of the late Thomas J. Newcomer.

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Silver Melody Bells

These rare instruments were produced only for a short time in the 1980s and again from 2013-2020. The Music Note fortunate enough to have these instruments donated in memory of Mr William and Mrs. Carol Hillberry. 

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Bellplates

Belleplates is a brand name of a musical instrument of the percussion family and handbell sub-family. Consisting of a handle attached to a trapezoidal aluminium plate, struck by an attached hammer, they are something of a combination of handbells and handchimes. The donation of the bellplates remains a mystery. They were left on our stoop on Halloween of 2023 with a note "Enjoy making music with these." The mystery donor left them in memory of Rev. William Kinsey.

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©2020 by The Music Note

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