Marva Carter

Marva Griffin Carter is an Associate Professor of Music History and Literature in the School of Music at Georgia State University. She teaches courses in the historical periods of Western art music, world music, and basic improvisation. Dr. Carter has earned degrees from Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory of Music in applied piano, and from Boston University and the University of Illinois at Urbana in musicology. She served as organist for a decade at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Dr. Carter has lectured at national and international musicological meetings and has published articles in journals, dictionaries and encycolpedias concerning the music of African Americans. Her research interests include the music of the black church, the history of jazz, and African retentions in the music of the New World. Currently, she is completing a musical biography of Will Marion Cook for Oxford University Press. He was a pioneer composer of black musical comedies on Broadway at the turn of the twentieth century and mentor to Duke Ellington.

Dr. Carter was recently interviewed by Terry Gross on National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” in a program which featured Will Marion Cook’s life and music.