Music and Autism

Michael B. Bakan is Professor of Ethnomusicology and Head of Ethnomusicology/World Music in the College of Music at Florida State University, where he also directs the university's Balinese gamelan ensemble and the Music-Play Project, a program for children on the autism spectrum and their families. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including two Florida State University Undergraduate Teaching Awards (1998, 2010). His first book, Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World of Balinese Gamelan Beleganjur (University of Chicago Press, 1999), was selected to the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles list for the year 2000 and was recognized as one of the two "most significant publications on Balinese music in almost half a century" in The Times (London). The first edition of World Music: Traditions and Transformations (McGraw-Hill, 2007) has been adopted at more than 100 universities and colleges worldwide. Bakan's many other publications encompass topics ranging from Indonesian music and world percussion to electronic music technology, early jazz history, film music, multicultural music education, and the ethnomusicology of autism. He is also the series editor of the Routledge Focus on World Music Series. As a percussionist, Bakan has performed with many renowned world music, jazz, and Western classical music artists and ensembles, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Music at Marlboro Festival Orchestra, John Cage, A. J. Racy, Phil Nimmons, I Ketut Sukarata, and the championship beleganjur groups of Batur Tengah and Tatasan Kaja in Bali, Indonesia. He is also an active composer, with traditional and experimental works for Balinese gamelan, world music/jazz fusion pieces, film scores, and modern dance compositions to his credit. Bakan has been a visiting professor or invited lecturer at numerous institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Indiana, and Boston universities; the universities of Chicago, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, and Washington; and the Berklee College of Music. He previously served as president of the Society for Ethnomusicology's Southeast/Caribbean Chapter. He and his family live in Tallahassee, Florida.