By Jordan Beach
Music is engrained into just about every aspect of Dr. Fredrick Tarrant’s life, and his love of music is reflected in the way he teaches his students.
Tarrant started at Reinhardt in 2015 and continues to educate as a professor of music, and also holds the title of dean for the School of Performing Arts. He teaches world music and two levels of music history.
“I love teaching these because I have a passion for the musical arts, both Western classical and non-Western traditions,” said Tarrant. “I enjoy observing the process of discovery as I listen to my students talk and read their written work, and I receive great satisfaction from helping them make connections and develop deep understandings of music from varied cultural perspectives.”
When he’s not teaching music, Tarrant also invests his time as a musician at his church, serving as choirmaster and director of music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Rome, Ga. He describes music as both his profession and his pastime.
“I am an avid collector of recordings and videos of all sorts of music, and I spend as much time as I can listening to music and watching operas on video. I am also a pianist who is always learning new music, although I rarely perform as a soloist—my playing is mainly for my personal joy.”
Tarrant’s passion for music comes across in his teaching philosophy, the goal he has in mind when teaching students at Reinhardt.
“My ultimate desire for all my students is that they leave my class with an insatiable desire to hear and learn all the music there is to experience in a lifetime.”
While this may seem like a great expectation, Tarrant is confident in Reinhardt University’s ability to support School of Performing Arts students through knowledgeable guidance.
“The Reinhardt experience is rigorously demanding, but each student is supported by caring faculty members who mentor them throughout the process of becoming self-reliant adults.”
During the occasional moments when Tarrant is not in the pursuit to further his understanding of music, he is an avid cook who specializes in soups, stews and pies. He also considers himself a “crazy cat guy” who enjoys taking and posting pictures of his three cats.
