Jay Zorn, 75; USC Professor Wrote Book on Music Appreciation
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Jay Zorn, 75, a professor of music at USC who wrote several books, including a leading music appreciation text, died of complications from lung cancer July 31 at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale.
A native of New York City, Zorn graduated from Oberlin Conservatory. A trumpeter, he served in the Air Force from 1953 to 1957. Zorn once conducted the Air Force Band of Europe on a 20-country tour.
After his discharge, he continued his education, earning a master’s degree at Columbia University and his doctorate at Indiana University.
Zorn began teaching in high schools in New York state in 1958 and eventually headed west. He joined the faculty of what is now the USC Thornton School of Music in 1972. He was still teaching at the time of his death.
His music appreciation text, “Listening to Music,” was part of the curriculum at several universities, including UCLA. In addition to being a music primer, the book took a how-to-go-to-the-concert approach by explaining, among other things, how orchestra members come on stage and tune up, what a concertmaster does and how a conductor communicates with musicians.
Zorn was a past president of the California Music Educators Assn.
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