Musicologist & Expert Witness

As a performer, composer, publisher, scholar, and author, these qualities have been essential: rigorous attention to detail, comprehensiveness in overview, acuity, persistence, alertness, and creativity.

These qualities were important recently when sleuthing sources for a motion picture and giving expert opinion in an intellectual property case.

How can I apply these qualities to your legal case or project?

Ray received his PhD in Musicology from Claremont Graduate University, where he was awarded a valuable CGU Dissertation Grant and the Fernandez Prize in Music.

He has presented papers at several conferences: at the Second International Historic Brass Symposium in New York, at the 2009 joint conference of the Galpin Society and the Historic Brass Society in London and Edinburgh, at the inaugural BraSS Trumpet Forum at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, at the 2007 Historic Brass Society conference in Paris, and at the 2006 joint conference of the Historic Brass Society and the Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik (IGEB) in Northfield, Minnesota.

Ray’s article, “Brass Chamber Music in Circuit Chautauqua,
1904 to c.1930,” was published in the journal, Alta Musica, and his article, “The Paris Factor: French Influence on Brass Chamber Music, 1840-1930,” was published online by
the Cité de la Musique in Paris.

Your book is on my desk, and I consult it periodically. It is a very thorough piece of work.

Dr. Edward H. Tarr

Ray playing John Distin’s slide trumpet (by John Köhler, London, ca. 1835) in the Fiske Museum, Claremont, California, 2007.

Awards and Honors

Claremont Graduate University Dissertation Grant
Fernandez Prize in Music, Claremont Graduate University
Historic Brass Society Streitwieser Scholar Support Award
Claremont Graduate University Travel Grant
Student in the Spotlight, Claremont Graduate University

Professional Associations and Honorary Societies

Historic Brass Society
Pi Kappa Lambda

Conference Papers

“American Women’s Brass Quartets before 1900: Clever, versatile, and fair to look upon,” presented at the Second International Historic Brass Symposium in New York, New York, 2012.

“Cornet and Trumpet Quartets in the United States, 1872-1939,” presented at the inaugural BRaSS Trumpet Forum at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, 2009

“Fanfare’s Fanfares: Heralding a New Era,” presented at the 2009 Historic Brass Society/Galpin Society Joint Conference in London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland

“The Paris Factor: French Influence on Brass Chamber Music, 1840-1930,” presented at the 2007 Historic Brass Society Conference in Paris, France

“Brass Chamber Music in Circuit Chautauqua, 1904 to c.1930,” presented at the joint conference of the Historic Brass Society and the Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik, Northfield, MN, 2006

Scholarly Publications

Brass Chamber Music in Lyceum and Chautauqua. Los Angeles: Premiere Press, 2016

“The Paris Factor: French Influence on Brass Chamber Music, 1840-1930,” revised version published online by Citedelamusique.fr, March 2010

“Brass Chamber Music in Circuit Chautauqua, 1904 to c.1930,” Alta Musica, vol. 26 (2008)

Research Interests

Ray's dissertation constitutes a major contribution to the literature. His is one of the most important dissertations to emanate from the CGU Department of Music in recent decades.

Dr. Robert Zappulla

Music Department Chair, Claremont Graduate University

Ray plays the earliest known cornet with Perinet valves (by Adolphe Sax & Cie, Paris, 1844), in the collection of Bruno Kampmann, Paris