Jon Appleton

Jon Howard Appleton (January 4, 1939 – January 30, 2022) was a composer, author and Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth College.

Quotes

• Dartmouth is the place I’ve devoted my life to, so it’s very sad to see this kind of decline in the intellectual strength of the institution.
  • Quoted in "Long-time music prof leaves for Stanford", The Dartmouth, 30 September 2005[1]

Letter published in "Appleton Leaves Dartmouth", 2005

Letter published in "Appleton Leaves Dartmouth", The Dartmouth Review, 27 October 2005[2]

• Nowadays, all students have access to and indeed most own computers and are comfortable with the software used to compose music. There are probably too many musical options for them now and the trick is to limit the number of musical ideas so as to develop structure and continuity in their work.
  • "The Decline of Academic Freedom at Dartmouth College", 20 October 2005.

• The pressure to give A grades is intense. It comes from the students and increasingly from their parents as well.
  • "The Decline of Academic Freedom at Dartmouth College", 20 October 2005.

• If you think this was an isolated incident, let me paraphrase Pastor Martin Niemoller, "First they came for the music faculty and I did not speak out because I was not a musician. Then they came for the psychologists and I did not speak out because I was not a psychologist. Then they came for the biologists and I did not speak out because I was not a biologist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
  • "The Decline of Academic Freedom at Dartmouth College", 20 October 2005.