David Knapp

David H. Knapp is Assistant Professor of Music Education in the College of Music at Florida State University. His research and teaching focus on removing barriers to participation in music education. In the College of Music, he teaches methods courses in digital music making and modern band, with a focus on diverse and accessible teaching practices. He received the Ph.D. in Music Education from Florida State University.

Knapp’s research interests include community music with marginalized communities, vernacular music making, steel band, and music technology. His research has been published in the International Journal of Community Music, Music Education Research, the Journal of Popular Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, Research in Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and General Music Today. Though much of his work has used qualitative methods, his most recent work has examined the use of web-based digital audio workstations using machine learning.

Prior to his appointment at FSU, Knapp served on the music education faculty at Syracuse University. While there, he began the Music in the Community (MiC) program, a collaboration between the Setnor School of Music and community partners to establish lab spaces throughout the community. This included the New American All-Stars, a vernacular music ensemble for refugee youth, and the Digital Music Lab, a community-based music production studio for urban high school students. He also helped launch the SENSES Lab, an on-campus production studio at Syracuse University for historically marginalized students. His role in this lab earned him the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unsung Heroes Award in 2022, presented by Martin Luther King III.