Rainbow, Edward

Edward L. Rainbow, music professor and professional double-bassist, was born in 1929. He began his musical career as a musician on the road with performers including Teresa Brewer, Dennis Day, and the Freddy Martin Orchestra. In the 1950s he became a member of the U.S. Army Band based in Nevada. Following his time in the Army Band he received Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from the University of Northern Iowa, and later his Ph.D. in music education from The University of Iowa. During the 1960s, Rainbow served as an assistant dean and chairman of music education at the University of the Pacific, in California.

Throughout his career, Rainbow served as a member of various ensembles including the Fort Worth Symphony, the Fort Worth Opera, the Sacramento Symphony, and was an assistant conductor for the Stockton Symphony in California. In 1966, Dr. Rainbow became an addition to The University of North Texas music faculty as a professor of Double Bass and Music Education. During his tenure at UNT, Rainbow successfully created their Ph.D. developed the music education program. Throughout his career, Rainbow was also an active member of the Music Educators Research Council (MERC) of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), later renamed the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and wrote and published numerous research articles and papers on music education, and co-authored with his wife Hildegard C. Froehlich Research in music education: an introduction to systematic inquiry (Schirmer, 1987). Rainbow died in 2002.

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