Virginia Hoge Mead

Virginia Hoge Mead (1930–2020) is a revered American music educator known for her contributions to Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Virginia’s lifelong devotion to music began with piano studies at age seven. She earned her degree from Oberlin Conservatory in 1951 and later completed a Master’s in Music Education at Indiana University. Her early career included teaching at Louisville Collegiate School and conducting with the Louisville Philharmonic Chorus. She went on to teach in public and private schools, eventually joining the faculty at Muskingum College and later Kent State University, where she taught music education and Dalcroze Eurhythmics full time until her retirement as Professor Emerita in 1988. She also developed a parent-child music and movement program called Music-Go-Round.

Mead earned her Dalcroze License in the late 1960s through studies with Hilda Schuster, likely following early exposure to the method through Inda Howland at Oberlin. She led numerous workshops throughout the U.S. and taught in the People’s Republic of China in 1982—among the first Dalcroze educators to do so. She served as President of the Dalcroze Society of America in the early 1980s and was widely respected for her leadership and mentorship. Her publications include Encountering the Fundamentals of Music and Dalcroze Eurhythmics in Today’s Music Classroom, a widely used text that introduces Dalcroze principles and classroom applications. Even in later years, her continued support of Dalcroze reflected her deep and lasting commitment to the field.