Dr. Lowell Lybarger

Lowell’s story is shaped by listening. Long before his work took on formal titles, he was already paying attention to the details most people miss – how sound behaves in a room, how culture leaves fingerprints on music, how recordings carry memory as much as information. Over time, those instincts grew into a life spent creating, collecting, rescuing, and studying sound in all its forms. This page offers a closer look at the path that led him here, and the experiences that continue to inform the work he does today.

Bio

Lowell Lybarger is a media librarian, audio archival technician, acoustic anthropologist, electronic musician, and audio mastering engineer based in Arkansas. He serves as the media librarian at Arkansas Tech University and is director of the ATU Media Production Lab. Lowell’s academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington, a Master in Library Science from Kent State University and a B.A. in Anthropology from Rutgers University.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan and living in Karachi until the age of four years, Lowell grew up in several areas in the United States, including the renowned Ludlow neighborhood of East Cleveland and Shaker Heights, OH, later moving to Trenton, N.J. for the remainder of his childhood. He moved to Seattle, WA to eventually continue his study of the anthropology of music (i.e. “ethnomusicology”) followed by temporary residence in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to pursue doctral studies. After several stints of travel to work in Lahore, Pakistan and Kabul, Afghanistan, and residence in Columbus, OH where he studied library and archival science, Lowell accepted employment as a music/multimedia librarian at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, AR where he currently resides.

Lowell has been blessed with the gift of a cornicopia of musical teachers and musical influences that have nourished and sustained his soul throughout his lifetime. He is a lifelong learner and abides by the B-boy (aka “break-dancer”) moto: “always a student, never a master.”

Lowell’s earliest musical experiences include the sound of his mother’s viola playing when he was a child in Pakistan and throughout his childhood home where “Western” art music served as a soundscape, along with television programs such as The Soul Train and Hee Haw. He sang in the children’s choir of the Presbyterian church, he learned and played a drum set – his family certainly heard that! – and later settled on the sousaphone and tuba when the high school needed it for the marching band and wind ensemble. He studied from the brilliant tuba performer and teacher, Karl Megulas, who taught not just the tehnical mechanics of the instrument, but also the importance or timbre and the development of sound (i.e. “sound design”).

Upon graduation from high school, Lowell initially went to the Baldwin Wallace Music Conservatory to study the tuba with Ronald Bishop, principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, who told him about yidaki (“didjeridu”). While purusing the book stacks at the Baldwin Wallace College library, Lowell serendipitously found Mantle Hood’s “The Ethnomusicologist” and upon reading which he discovered what he wanted to do with this life: travel the world and learn, study, and record the musical traditions he encountered. When his mother saw the book, she immediately confirmed that this was indeed who he was meant to be: an ethnomusicologist.

He later transferred to Rutgers University to study liberal arts, later settling on cultural anthropology as his major. Lowell developed an interest in Hindustani music and the tabla while studying anthropology at Rutgers University. After graduating with his B.A., he went on to do a Masters in Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. There he learned qawwali singing and met the resplendent Pakistani Sufi musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who suggested that he study the tabla in Pakistan. Supported by the Fulbright program, Dr. Lybarger lived in Pakistan from 1994-1996 while conducting ethnomusicological fieldwork and studying with the renowned tabla master Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan. During this time, he produced a considerable amount of video field recordings which documented Pakistani Panjab tabla music and collected various related print materials. After graduating with his M.A., he went onto do a PhD in Musicology at the University of Toronto. In 1999, while working on his PhD, he returned to Pakistan to continue his fieldwork on tabla music. His 2003 thesis, titled “The Tabla Solo Repertoire of Pakistani Panjab: an Ethnomusicological Perspective,” utilized the extensive archive of fieldwork that he had collected in Pakistan from 1994-1996 and 1999. After obtaining his PhD, he returned to Pakistan in 2004 and 2007 to work as a UNESCO consultant and professor in musicology for the National College of Arts and Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts.

In 2006, he completed a MLIS degree from Kent State University and soon after worked as a technical consultant and archivist for a preservation project at Radio-Television Afghanistan, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2007, he accepted a position as the Music/Multimedia Librarian at Arkansas Tech University where he works today.

Audio Mastering Lessons will soon be available!

Message Lowell

Curriculum Vitae

Lowell H. Lybarger

ATU Library
ATU Media Production Labs

305 West Q St.
Russellville, AR 72801
(479) 964-0584
llybarger@atu.edu

 

Education

  • 2021   Professional Certificate, Berklee Online, Ableton Live
  • 2020   Professional Certificate, Berklee Online, Composing and Performing Electronic Music
  • 2006   M.L.I.S. Kent State University, School of Library and Information Science
  • 2003   Ph.D. University of Toronto, Ethnomusicology
  • 1997   M.A. University of Washington, Ethnomusicology
  • 1990   B.A. Rutgers University, Anthropology
    • Employment – Librarianship, Teaching, Consultancy, Audio Archival Science
  • 2007-23   Music/Multimedia Librarian, Arkansas Tech University
    • Administration of three multimedia labs and student staff
    • Former management of DVD/Blu-Ray Collection (2007-2015)
    • Management of optical disk multimedia reserves (2007-2023)
    • Management of equipment multimedia reserves (2014-2023)
    • Cataloging and management of non-streaming audio recordings, scores (2007-2023)
    • Cataloging of DVD and Blu-Ray collection (2007-2012)
    • Digitization and archival control of ATU Music Department Sound Recordings 1954 to 2019
    • Collection development for music, art, comm/journalism departments
    • Library liaison services for music, art, and communication & media studies departments
    • Information technology workshops in digital audio-video editing
    • Instruction in digital media production for individual students and faculty
    • Founder and supervisor of audio-visual digitization services available to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and non-affiliated community library users.
  • 2024   Forthcoming: Instructor, “Electronic Music Creation,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2023  Instructor, “Digital Audio Production,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2022   Instructor, “Modern Film Scoring, Independent Study,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2019   Instructor, “Advanced Audio Production, Independent Study,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2018-21   Instructor, “Digital Audio Production,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2011   Instructor, “Cultural Anthropology,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2011   Instructor, “Introduction to Music Librarianship, Independent Study,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2008-19   Instructor, “Music of the World’s Peoples,” Arkansas Tech University
  • 2007   Instructor, Musicology, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, January‐June
  • 2007   Consultant Audio Technician and Archivist, National Endowment for the Humanities (N.E.H.)
    • Radio Afghanistan Audio Archival Project, Kabul, Afghanistan
  • 2005   Graduate Assistant, School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University
  • 2004   Consultant, U.N.E.S.C.O. research in musicology, Sanjan Nagar Institute, Lahore, Pakistan
  • 2004   Instructor, Musicology, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

 

Professional Affiliations

Current

Past

 

Service

Current (2023)

  • 2023 Ex-Officio Library Representative, Graduate Council, Arkansas Tech University
  • 2023 Frequent guest performer with the ATU Percussion Ensemble, IMSSO, Band Camps
  • 2023 B.A. Adjudicator of musicology theses for the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

Past (2007—2022)

  • 2022 Requested reviewer for University of Minnesota media librarian, Scott Spicer, for
    promotion from associate librarian to full librarian rank.
  • 2015-22 Ex-Officio Library Representative, Graduate Council, Arkansas Tech University,
  • 2005-22 B.A. Adjudicator of musicology theses for the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan,
  • 2020 Peer reviewer for journal Social Compass
  • 2019 Immediate Past Chair, Film and Media Round Table, American Library Association
  • 2018 Chair, Film and Media Round Table, American Library Association
  • 2017 Vice-Chair, Film and Media Round Table, American Library Association
  • 2015-16 Treasurer, Film and Media Round Table, American Library Association
  • 2015 External Ph.D. Thesis Committee Member, Wesleyan University, CT
  • 2011 External M.A. Thesis Committee Member, Wesleyan University, CT
  • 2010-19 Library Representative, Tech Loyalty Fund, Arkansas Tech University
  • 2008-21 Librarian Promotion Committee, chair
  • Library Emergency Action Committee
  • Library Energy Conservation Committee
  • Faculty Advisor, ATU Yoga Club
  • Faculty Advisor, ATU Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
  • Frequent guest performer with the ATU Percussion Ensemble, Anthropology Club, Band Camps
  • Faculty promotion committees (music and library departments)

 

Professional Development

2023   Berklee College of Music Online Course Audio Mastering Techniques, April–June 26

2022   Ableton Educator Sessions Online Conference, September 28

2022   Online Teaching Certificate Course, Arkansas Tech University, September–November 1

2022   Audio Masterclass Advanced Certificate in Music Production Audiomasterclass.com January 1

2022   Audio Masterclass Certificate in Mastering Audiomasterclass.com, January 1

2021   Berklee College of Music Online Professional Certificate in Ableton Live, September 20

2021   Audio Masterclass Certificate in Mixing Audiomasterclass.com, May 14

2020   Mandated Reporter Training Arkansas ILMR October 30

2019   How to Create an Effective Syllabus for an Online Class. ATU/Magna.com, November 18

2019   Sound Design 101: Using Sampling for Music Production Udemy.com, November 14

2019   From Mix to Master with Wavelab Elements Workshop Series Mastering-Academy.com July 24

2019   Berklee College of Music Online Professional Certificate in Electronic Music Production, April

2019   Audio Masterclass Certificate in MIDI, Synthesis, and Sampling – Audiomasterclass.com, March

2018   Deciphering Music Preferred Titles (Amigos) May 21

2017   Copyright 101: Helping Students and Patrons Understand Copyright (Amigos) April 4-5

2016   Tech Topics: Podcasting (Amigos), May 17

2015   Fundamentals of Preservation Web Course (ALCTS) August 18 – September 12

2014   Tech Tools and Apps for the Reference Desk (Amigos) June 17

2014   Cataloging with RDA (Amigos) May 20-23

2014   RDA for Music: Scores (Music Library Association) July 29

2013   Personal Digital Archiving (Amigos) April 26

2012   The Future of Audio Visual Materials (Amigos) September 7

2010   Connexion Browser – Authority Control (Amigos) December 8

2010   FRBR: What it is and how it can help you prepare for RDA (Amigos) July 14

2009   Preservation Basics for Music Libraries (Music Library Association) February 18

2008   Basics of Music Librarianship (Music Library Association) February 20

 

Course Design

2022   “Modern Film Scoring, Independent Study” MUS 4991 Arkansas Tech University

2021   “Sound Design Seminar” MUS 4983 Arkansas Tech University

2021   “Sound Design for Moving Image” JOUR 4563 Arkansas Tech University

2021   “Electronic Music Creation” MUS 3723 Arkansas Tech University

2019   “Advanced Audio Production, Independent Study” ART 4992 Arkansas Tech University

2018   “Digital Audio Production,” GAME/MUS 2013 Arkansas Tech University

2011   “Introduction to Music Librarianship, Independent Study” MUS 4993 Arkansas Tech University

2008   “Music of the World’s Peoples,” MUS 4853/5853 Arkansas Tech University

2007   “Comparative Study of Art Music Cultures,” National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

2007   “Introduction to Music Technology,” National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

2004   “Library Research Methods,” National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

2004   “Semiotics of South Asian Film Music,” National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

“Music Analysis,” National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

“Lectures in Semiotics,” Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

“Writing Workshop,” Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts, Lahore, Pakistan

 

Publications

2011   “Hereditary Musician Groups of Pakistani Punjab,” Journal of Punjab Studies 18, nos. 1-2 (2011): Online Open Access

2008   “Ranking behaviours and gharana hierarchy: the nazarana ritual of Pakistani Panjabi tabla players,” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 39 (2008) View here.

2000   “On musicians’ speech about music; musico‐linguistic discourse of tabla players,” Discourses in Music 2, no. 2 (2000) Online Open Access

1994.  “Table ki alphabet: a translation and interpretation of a folklore text from the Delhi Tabla gharana,” Bansuri 11 (1994) / Raga‐Mala Performing Arts of Canada

 

Presentations (library)

2022   “The Sound Design Efflorescence: beyond an Ocularcentric Academy” Roundtable presenter and discussion organizer. Association of Creative Technologies in Academic Libraries, November 9, Virtual presentation. View here.

2022   “Digital Makerspaces at the ATU Library: mpl.atu.edu” Arkansas Tech University, May 5

2021   “Academic Media Labs” CULAR Round Table, Arkansas Library Association (ArLA) July 21

2017   “ATU Audio Lab: the making of a maker space” ArLA Collaboration unConference, Little Rock, AR, August 4

2015   “Return of the Analog Experience; how and why analog collections still matter.” ArLA Annual Conference, Little Rock, AR,
October 5

2014   “Dropping the Needle: deciding to digitize your vinyl collection” ArLA Collaboration, unConference, Little Rock, AR, August 1

2007   “Externalities of the Digital Library” International Conference of the Book virtual presentation, September 6

 

Presentations (ethnomusicology)

2019   “Tabla Sound Engineering: History, Theory, and Practice,” The Performing Scholar: History, Theory, and Embodied Knowledge in Indian Music and Dance, University of Toronto, Canada, March 30

2013   “Music: Its Roles, Meaning, and Influence in Different World Cultures,” invited lecture and performance, Arkansas Tech University K-12 Summer Institute, July 16

2011   “The Language of Drums: A Performance Introduction to North Indian Drumming,” invited lecture and performance, Florida Institute of Technology, September 22

2010   “Indo-Persian art music: a nationalist dilemma,” invited lecture and performance, University of Utah, February 11

2008   “From accompaniment instrument to digitized floating signifier: the tabla in ecological perspective,” India in the world: the performing arts; interculturalities. Amsterdam, Holland, November 16

2005   “Recording consciousness and Hindustani music: an audiophile lec-dem of the tabla” Atlantic regional meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Bowling Green State University, April

2004   “The (unconscious) aesthetics of timbre in (electronic) tabla music,” Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Diego State University, April 12

2003   Guest lectures and tabla solo concert, California State University, Chico, September 20

2003   “Modernity, Islam, and the tabla,” Arts and Modernity in Islamic Asia, invited lecture and demonstration, University of Wisconsin, Madison, June 27

2002   “World‐beat implosion: the international kaherva tal tabla solo of Ustad Tari Khan,” University of Toronto, Canada, April 12

2002   “Warming up, showing off and tooling around: the ritual performance space of Pakistani Panjabi tabla players,” invited lecture, University of Virginia, February 14

2001   “On musicians’ speech about music,” University of Toronto, Canada, November 9

2000   “Mapping South Asian regional identities through music: the ‘Magnificent Seven’ of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Sound Escape: A Conference on Acoustic Ecology. Trent University, Canada, June 29

2000   “Representations of car darje ki gat: product and process in solo tabla music,” Graduate Student Symposium, University of Western Ontario, Canada, May

Fellowships, Scholarships, and Awards

2011   Honorary Member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity

2007   August Alpers Award (Kent State University, SLIS)

2002   FIPA Graduate Fellowship in Indian Classical Music (University of Toronto)

2001   American Institute of Pakistan Studies Grant for PhD research (canceled due to the September 11, 2001 attacks)

1999   South Asian Studies Travel Grant for PhD research in Pakistan (University of Toronto)

1995‐96   Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan Scholarship (University of California)

1994‐96   Fulbright Foundation Scholarship for MA research in Pakistan (Fulbright Foundation)

 

Field Research

2008   Lowell.H.Lybarger Pakistani Music Collection at Harvard University Library
http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/011515537/catalog
https://blogs.harvard.edu/loebmusic/2017/05/10/notes-from-the-field-the-lowell-h-lybargercollection-of-pakistani-music-materials/

2007   Pakistan – National College of Arts, Lahore

2004   Pakistan – UNESCO

1999   India (Punjab) – UC Santa Barbara/Columbia University Punjab Studies Program.

1994‐96.  Pakistan – Fulbright Foundation

Select Musical Performances

2023   Electronic music performance, River Valley Arts Center, Russellville, Arkansas, July 1

2023   Electronic music performance, Party in the Park, Russellville, Arkansas, May 13

2022   Didjeridu performance with percussion ensemble, Arkansas Tech University Band Camp June 23

2022   Tabla lecture-demonstration for percussion class Arkansas Tech University April 22

2016   Djembe duet, Arkansas Tech University, IMSSO Talent Show, November 18

2016   Didjeridu solo, Arkansas Tech University, November 17

2015   Djembe trio performance, Arkansas Tech University Percussion Ensemble, November 10

2014   Tabla solo, Arkansas Tech University, IMSSO Talent Show, November 21

2014   Tabla, Sitar, and Didjeridu Performances Arkansas Tech University Band Camp July 15

2013   Sitar and Tabla Lecture-Demonstration, ATU K-12 Summer Institute, July 19

2012   Tabla duet (with Kyle Manning), Arkansas Tech University Percussion Ensemble, December 3

2011   Tabla solo, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, September 22

2011   Surbahar, Frame Drum, Kitchen bowl, Didjeridu, UALR, Little Rock, AR June 29

2011   Tabla performance with Poovalur Sriji and percussion ensemble, World Music Festival, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, March 27

2011   Tabla solo and dance accompaniment, Goddess Festival, Fayetteville, AR, March 18

2011   Tabla solo, Arkansas Tech University Percussion Ensemble, March 8

2010   Surbahar solo, River Valley Arts Center, Russellville, AR, August 14

2010   Tabla solo, Heritage Hall, Russellville, AR, April 10

2010   Tabla lecture-demonstration and solo, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, February 11

2008   Tabla solo, Arkansas Tech Percussion Ensemble, October 12

2004   World Bank, Pakistan Head Quarters, benefit concert for the Classical Music Heritage Trust, Islamabad, Tabla solo and recording for Pakistan National Television, May

2004   Pakistan National Television “Meri Mousiqi” (My Music), three episodes (in Urdu), May

2003   California State University, Chico, tabla solo concert, September

1996   Pakistan National Television; Islamabad

1995   Radio Pakistan; Lahore

1993-97   Seattle International Folklife Festival; 1993, 1996, 1997

 

Content Creation: Electro-Acoustic Music Performances, Compositions, Productions

 

Albums

Ambient Native American Flute (Will Lang, flutes and ΦNYX, synths, production)
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/ambient-native-american-flute-will-lang-flutes

Ambient DNB vol. 1 Genesis
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/ambient-dnb-vol-1-genesis

Maximum Wattage
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/maximum-wattage

Ambient Improvisations Vol. 1
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/ambient-improvisations-vol-1

Ambient Palestrina
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/ambient-palestrina

The Light of Loving Awareness
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/the-light-of-loving-awareness

ΦNYX (debut, eponymous album)
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/nyx

The Joy of Tabla (audio CD)
https://worldcat.org/title/966291027

Lowell Lybarger, classical tabla solo
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/lowell-lybarger-classical

 

EPs (Extend Plays)

Chillout
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/chillout

Polyphony: the ancient, egalitarian music
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/polyphony-the-ancient

Primordial God/dess
https://soundcloud.com/lowel-audio/sets/primordial-god-dess

 

Select Music Videos

Cosmic Spotlight Within
https://youtu.be/UjT3ZDI2sAA

sol (the liberator, solar deity)
https://youtu.be/VFC6uzeSyOU

ēl (the primordial, creator deity)
https://youtu.be/jSs5FYsuBwA

Slow Surf the Ether
https://youtu.be/-i0fI9DOuzc

TaKaTaKiTa Clapz, Vocal Drum, Tabla, Djembe, Cajon, Frame Drum, Electronics
https://youtu.be/WeQ30XS5QFM

Shashkin Live Remix & Mashup (feat. Parveen Sultana & Omar Faruk Tekbilek)
https://youtu.be/OmRAgtYkQMI​

Golden Shepherd (Sweet Sixteen Cover feat. Banjo and Annie)
https://youtu.be/8LfedVWMzB4

Ride the Dragon: the Power of Negative Thinking (feat. Infinite Waters)
https://youtu.be/QSlIlzB6lXE

War & Separation (feat. Gangaji)
https://youtu.be/2ByaAroidLo

The World is Weird (feat. Alan Watts)
https://youtu.be/2iaAFUH3Efs

Thingamajig
https://youtu.be/FhpFHZUdFok

Crystals
https://youtu.be/eF1xUY4WuHc

Afraid of Life (feat. Dr. Gabor Mate)
https://youtu.be/cDTy7NKroWg

Wu Wei (feat. Alan Watts)
https://youtu.be/j5UwaBfIYMM

Sitar Jhinjhoti Groove (feat. Hans Utter, sitar)
https://youtu.be/a8mh2kTAomY

Dream of Saraswati (feat. Rashid Khan, vocals; Hans Utter, sitar)
https://youtu.be/urdOv2KM5pc

Dr. Lowell Lybarger

Lowell Lybarger is a lifelong explorer of sound. A soundmaker, archivist, preservationist, and ethnomusicologist dedicated to capturing music in all its forms. He’s spent decades documenting, restoring, and creating audio that might otherwise be lost to time. This site is the hub of his ongoing work and curiosity.

Music

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