Joseph Meyer Bloch (pronounced "block", November 6, 1917 – March 4, 2009) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

concert

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and professor of piano literature at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

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. During a career at Juilliard that spanned five decades, Bloch's students included

Emanuel Ax Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School. Early life Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold Wa ...

Misha Dichter Misha Dichter (born September 27, 1945) is an American pianist. Biography Misha Dichter was born in Shanghai to Polish-Jewish parents who fled during WWII. He moved with his family to Los Angeles, California, at the age of two and began studying p ...

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...

, Jeffrey Siegel,

Şahan Arzruni Şahan Arzruni ( hy, Շահան Արծրունի; born 8 June 1943) is an Armenian classical pianist, ethnomusicologist, lecturer, composer, writer and producer, residing in New York City. Early life and education Arzruni (also transliterated ...

, and

Jeffrey Swann Jeffrey Swann (born November 24, 1951) is an American classical pianist. Swann was born in Arizona but moved to Dallas, Texas, as a young child. He began piano studies at the age of four. While attending St. Mark's School of Texas, he studied for ...

. During his time at the school, with the exception of an attempted retirement in the 1980s, Bloch taught every piano student at Juilliard. While other Juilliard piano instructors taught prowess at the keyboard, Bloch focused on what ''

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'' described as "the who, the why and the what-if" of the piano, not "the how-to". For one year, 1995–96, Mr. Bloch co-taught the Juilliard piano literature courses with

Bruce Brubaker Bruce Brubaker is a musician, artist, concert pianist, and writer from the United States. Concepts Brubaker's work uses and combines Western classical music with postmodern artistic, literary, theatrical, and philosophical ideas. He is associat ...

. After Mr. Bloch’s retirement in 1996, Brubaker continued teaching the piano literature courses at Juilliard for nine years. Bloch was born on November 6, 1917 in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He attended

Chicago Musical College Chicago Musical College is a division of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. History Founding Dr. Florenz Ziegfeld Sr (1841–1923), founded the college in 1867 as the Chicago Academy of Music. The institution h ...

, where he was awarded a bachelor's degree and later attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he earned a master's degree in

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. His education was interrupted by his service in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where he was stationed in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

.Fox, Margalit
"Joseph Bloch, Guide to Juilliard Pianists, Dies at 91"
''

'', March 14, 2009. Accessed March 14, 2009. While serving in the army Air Forces, he was stationed at

Lowry Field Lowry Air Force Base (Lowry Field in 1938–1948) is a former United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base during World War II and a United States Air Force (USAF) training base during the Cold War, serving as the initial 1955–1958 si ...

in Denver, Colorado and became a captain. Bloch was a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron
Bloch died at 91 on March 4, 2009 due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

at his home in

Larchmont, New York Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Larc ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Joseph Meyer 1917 births 2009 deaths Harvard University alumni Juilliard School faculty Musicians from Indianapolis Chicago Musical College alumni United States Army Air Forces officers 20th-century American pianists American male pianists Educators from Indiana 20th-century American male musicians United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II