Donna Menhart

Education

MM, The Hartt School, University of Hartford

BM, University of Rhode Island

Donna Menhart (she/her/hers) is Professor of Ear Training (Kodály) at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, where she received the University of Hartford Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007 and the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Award for Sustained Service to the University in 2024. From 1990-2011 Professor Menhart served as coordinator and Kodály ear-training/music theory instructor for the Performer’s Certificate Program, a college-preparatory program for advanced high school musicians she developed for The Hartt School Community Division, which became the Hartt Preparatory Academy, offering an academic pathway to The Hartt School Collegiate Division. As a Kodály Master Teacher, Donna has taught Musicianship Levels I, II and III for the Summer Kodály Certification Program at the Kodály Institute at Capital University in Ohio.

Professor Menhart is Past President for the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE), having served as President from March 2020-March 2022. Donna is also Past President for the Eastern Division of OAKE, and Past President of the Kodály Educators of Southern New England (KESNE), served on the KESNE Board from 2008-2024, and was the National Program Chair for the 2013 OAKE Conference in Hartford, CT. Donna presents regularly on Kodály Pedagogy for local, regional, national and international professional music organizations, including the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA), the Rhode Island Music Educators Association (RIMEA), the Orange County Music Educators Association (OCMEA), the Kodály Educators of New York (KONY), Kodály New Jersey (KNJ), Boston Area Kodály Educators (BAKE), Kodály Association of California (KASC), KESNE, OAKE, and the International Kodály Society (IKS), and presented at the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th and 26th International Kodály Symposia, in Kecskemét, Hungary; Edinburgh, Scotland; Alberta, Canada; Katowice, Poland (virtual); and Los Angeles, California, USA. Donna published four progressive Sight-Singing texts as Open Educational Resources housed in the University of Hartford repository of the Connecticut Digital Archive and is published in the Bulletin of the IKS, the Kodály Envoy of OAKE, and the Choral Journal of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).

From 2004-2013 Professor Menhart served as the director of the Treble Choir for grades 5-8 and the high school Bel Canto Choir at St. Andrew Church in Colchester, CT, and has successfully sponsored and coached young singers for acceptance and participation in the OAKE National Children’s, Youth, Women’s, Concert, and Chamber Choirs. She received Level III Kodály Certification and a double Master of Music in piano pedagogy and music theory from The Hartt School, where she was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Music Honor Society. Donna received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Rhode Island and has performed extensively as a collaborative pianist, most notably under the direction of Hartt co-founder Moshe Paranov and in master classes for renowned flutist Julius Baker and composer Gwyneth Walker.