Blake Johnson

Dr. Blake Johnson is Instructor of Oboe and Musicology at Campbellsville University, where he teaches oboe lessons, studio, and reed class as well as undergraduate and graduate courses in music history, world music, and research methods.

Dr. Johnson specializes in music of the Baroque and Classical periods, with focuses on the use of the oboe in London, the music of George Frideric Handel, and historical performance practice. His research investigates the ways in which foreign oboists influenced the musical life of London through the styles, instruments, and compositions they brought with them; collaborations between performers and composers, particularly in the works of Handel and William Shield; and the development of the oboe and technical ability throughout the eighteenth century. Dr. Johnson has published articles in Early Music, Early Music Performance and Research, and The Double Reed. His research has been supported by grants from the American Handel Society and the Handel Institute. He has presented his research widely, giving papers at meetings of the American Handel Society, the Handel Institute, the North American British Music Studies Association, and the South-Central Chapter of the American Musicological Society, as well as at the Annual Conference in Historical Performance at Indiana University.

Johnson has an active interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning and has published on aspects of oboe pedagogy in The Double Reed and presented on applied teaching at conferences of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association. In addition to his college teaching, Dr. Johnson maintains a private studio of all age levels and his students have consistently placed in All State and other honor ensembles in both Kansas and Kentucky. He has presented masterclasses at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise and Morehead State University, as well as at the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano and Universidad de las Artes in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Dr. Johnson earned his DMA in Performance and MM degrees in both Performance and Musicology from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory. His primary teachers are Celeste Johnson, Thomas Pappas, Mary Lindsey Bailey, and John Viton. He was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in 2023, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky.