Peter Ford

Professor, Music 

As a serious composer, he has published various combinations of chamber music. At the request of music education publisher Conway Publications, he has authored and published a series of three substantive music theory textbooks, Music Fundamentals, Practical Music Theory Part 1, and Practical Music Theory Part 2. He is mentioned multiple times in the Acknowledgements for his contributions to Mark Gridley’s ubiquitous Jazz History text Concise Guide to Jazz.

Ford is an internationally-recognized scholar of the music of the late progressive rock keyboardist and composer Keith Emerson. Ford’s work on his saxophone quartet arrangement of Emerson Lake and Palmer’s suite Tarkus is a focus of Woodrow Chenoweth’s 2019 doctoral academic research at the University of Arizona. Ford’s 1994 master’s thesis on Emerson’s compositional style is referenced multiple times in a 2006 dissertation by Giuseppi Lupis at the University of Georgia. In 2019, at the invitation of video producers in British Columbia, Ford was sought out and interviewed on camera regarding structural aspects of the music of Keith Emerson, for a documentary on Emerson’s legacy (still in production).

Ford actively gigs on jazz and rock piano around the Midwest as a freelance musician. He can be found playing keyboards in a variety of musical situations, ranging from jazz clubs to planetarium programs to playing keys for various popular tribute artists. More information can be found at his personal website petefordtheory.com.