About Dr. Gallo
Bio
Dr. Donna Gallo is an Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses focused on music teaching and learning with early childhood and elementary age groups; disability studies in music/music education; curriculum perspectives, and research methods. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois, Gallo was on faculty at Westminster Choir College where she also coordinated the Kodály Certification program. Gallo taught K-6 general/choral music in Fairfax County Public Schools (VA) and in Simsbury Public Schools (CT). She earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from Northwestern University, a Master of Music Education Silver Lake College of the Holy Family (WI), and a Bachelor of Music Education from Indiana University. Additionally, Gallo earned two certificates from the Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music (Kesckemét, Hungary) where she was awarded the International Kodály Society Scholarship, and she earned Kodály and Orff certifications in the US.
At the University of Illinois, Gallo received a School of Music award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity (2024). In collaboration with a team of local elementary music teachers, Gallo received the 2024 Parsons Music Advocacy Award from the International Society for Music Education for their community-engaged songwriting project. She was also awarded a research grant from the American Orff-Schulwerk Association, and University of Illinois research grants from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’s Call to Action to Address Racism and Social Injustice; the Campus Research Board; and the Center for the Innovation of Teaching and Learning. Most grants supported community-engaged partnerships involving professional development for music teachers and songwriting partnerships/mentorship for elementary-aged students. Recently, Gallo partnered with the founders of Crip*: Cripistemology and the Arts, (College of Fine and Applied Arts) to co-develop/co-teach a course entitled “Cripping Music” that centers Crip/Disabled experiences in music and interdisciplinary artistic practices.
Gallo’s research interests include music teacher learning through professional development; creative music making and popular music practices in elementary music contexts; disability studies in music/music education; and community-engaged critical field experiences for preservice music teachers. She regularly presents her scholarship at national and international music education research conferences and has published her work in the Journal of Research in Music Education; Music Education Research; the International Journal of Music Education; Music Educators Journal; and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. She has authored book chapters in The Routledge Companion to Creativities in Music Education and Toward Equity in School Music: Ideas for Practice in Music Teacher Education (Oxford). Gallo has served as an editor for the AOSA Echo (2012–2016) and is currently on the editorial board for the Music Educators Journal.
Education
BME, Indiana University; MME, Silver Lake College; PhD, Northwestern University