School of Music Administrative Team

David Murray has an international reputation as a solo bassist and teacher. He is currently Professor of Bass and Director of the School of Music at Butler University in Indianapolis and Principal Bassist of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He also plays as Principal Bassist with Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, Illinois, and at the Bear Valley Music Festival in northern California. Before coming to Indianapolis, David was Instructor of Bass at West Texas A&M University and principal with the Amarillo Symphony. He has been a member of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra and also toured twice with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

David’s first private teacher was bass virtuoso Gary Karr, with whom he studied in high-school and at the Hartt Music School, University of Hartford, in Connecticut. Summers were spent at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival, where he worked with Stuart Sankey. At Aspen, he won the 1981 concerto competition. In Los Angeles in 1988 he won the International Society of Bassists (ISB) Solo Competition, the first prize being a solo debut at Carnegie Hall. David has made solo appearances, both in recital and with orchestra, and given clinics and masterclasses throughout the United States, his native Canada, and in South Korea, Brazil, Israel, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Holland. He has performed at several summer chamber music festivals including Scotia Festival, Killington, and Cape May. In June, 2001, David hosted the ISB convention at Butler University for 800 bassists from 27 countries and is currently a Past-President of the ISB. He has been published in the ISB journal, Double Bassist magazine, the Suzuki Association of America journal, and American String Teachers journal. He has recorded three solo CD’s (most recently in 2012), a duo CD with bassist Diana Gannett, is a founding member of the bass quartet Bad Boys of Bass with whom he released a CD in 2006, and he released a DVD of theater music in the spring of 2003.

Most recently he was awarded the ISB’s Special Recognition Award for Solo Performance.

As of June 1, 2018, David is the Director of the School of Music.

“…to hear David Murray play it, the string bass is a vastly and unjustly neglected instrument. Murray…became a prime spokesman for the instrument.”

                                                Denver Post

“…Murray is a top-notch player.”

                                                Indianapolis Star

Dr. Penny Dimmick, Professor of Music and Coordinator of the Music Education Program joined the faculty at Butler University in 1991. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in music education and also serves as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Music. Prior to her appointment at Butler she taught public school general music and percussion in Indiana and was an adjunct faculty member in music education and percussion at Taylor University, Ball State University, and Marian University.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Taylor University, and a Master of Music and Doctor ofArts degrees in Music Education and Percussion Performance from Ball State University.  She is certified in Orff, Kodaly, First Steps in Music, Conversational Solfege (F.A.M.E.) and the Teaching Guitar Workshops sponsored by GAMA and NAfME.

Dr. Dimmick’s research interests include teacher preparation, curriculum design, arts integration, and the neuroscience of music. She is a recipient of several teaching awards at Butler University and received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the School of Music at Ball State University. She is a frequent clinician at state, national, and international music conferences and has recently served as conductor for the Nebraska All-State Honor Children’s Choir and the Indiana All-State Honor Children’s Choir.  She has served on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Music Education Association (IMEA), as Collegiate Chair of the North Central Division and on the National Collegiate Advisory Board of NAfME, the National Association for Music Education. She is also an evaluator and team chair of accreditation visits for the National Association of Schools of Music.

Dr. Dimmick is an Associate Director with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, where she directs Levels I and II of the Preparatory Choirs, a part of the Early Childhood Division of ICC.  When she is not teaching, she enjoys traveling, hiking, time at the beach, and attending professional baseball games with her husband John, and her two grown sons John and Joshua.

Dr. Nicholas Johnson is a specialist in the music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. He earned his Ph.D. in Musicology from The Ohio State University in 2012, and he has received research grants from the Fulbright Commission and the Mellon Foundation. He has presented his research at several national and international conferences, including four times at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society. His current project examines the music theory writings of 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. He is also a specialist in contemporary rock music and is working on a book project on the White Stripes.

As an instructor, Dr. Johnson teaches Music History 1-2 (Medieval through Classical), graduate seminars on early music topic, music and philosophy, and music and research. 

Referred Journal Articles

    “Jack White and the Music of the Past,Present, and Future.” Rock Music Studies 1(2014), 1-21.         

    “Carolus Luython’s Missa super Basim: Caesar Vive and Hermetic Astrology in Early Seventeenth-Century Prague.” Musica Disciplina 56 (2011), 419-462.

Critical Editions

      Luython, Carolus. Opera Omnia, vols. 1-5, eds. Nicholas Johnson and Carmelo Peter Comberiati. Münster: American Institute of Musicology, Corpus
      Mensurabilis Musicae (forthcoming,first volume 2016).  

As a performer of jazz and popular music, Matt Pivec has worked with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Ana Gasteyer, Dave Rivello, Bob Brookmeyer, MariaSchneider, Julia Dollison, Melvin Rhyne, the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra,Steve Allee, Ana Gasteyer, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, theIndianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, and the national touring companies of Hairspray, 42nd Street, and The Producers. Asa band leader and soloist, Matt has performed at jazz festivals and venues throughout the United States.   He has three albums to his credit, Live atSnider Hall, Psalm Songs and Time and Direction.   
Currently, Matt is the Director of Jazz Studies at Butler University where leads the Jazz Ensemble and teaches courses in the jazz studies curriculum.   Since his arrival in 2008, Butler ensembles have performed with world-renowned guest artists such as Cécile McLorin-Salvant, Sullivan Fortner, John Clayton, Benny Golson, Stefon Harris,Maria Schneider, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride, Bobby Sanabria, Donny McCaslin, Fred Sturm, Melvin Rhyne, Steve Allee, Ted Poor and the Wee Trio.Under his direction, in 2020, the Butler University Jazz Ensemble won theDownbeat Student Music Awards Undergraduate Large Ensemble Category.

Matt received the Doctor of Musical Arts (Saxophone Performance and Literature)and Master of Music (Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media) degrees from theEastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While at Eastman, Matt studied with Ramon Ricker.  He performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Graduate Saxophone Quartet, and served as lead alto saxophone of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Matt received the Bachelor of Music Education degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Matt has presented educational clinics and research at the Jazz Education Network Conference, the International Association for Jazz Education Conference, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the Indiana Music EducatorsAssociation Conference.   His publications have been featured in Teaching Music, Inform, and Jazzed magazines.

Matt is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, and in 2013, he received the Mortar Board, Excellence in Teaching Award from the Jordan College of the Arts.  In 2020, Matt received theOutstanding Collegiate Music Educator award from the Indiana Music Education Association. He is also a past president of the Indiana Jazz EducationAssociation.

In February 2009,Matt founded the Butler Youth Jazz Program and Butler Summer Jazz Camp.  From these programs, students have progressed to study at some of the top music conservatories and colleges in the United States.