Eric Polack
Lecturer of Music
Director of Jazz Ensemble
M.A. Rutgers University–Newark
Biography
Eric Polack has been a music professional since his first paid performance at an Italian social club in Newark, NJ, at the age of 14. His first degree was in Environmental Science (B.S., Rutgers University-Cook College) with an unofficial second major in English Literature. Later, he added degrees in Music (B.A., Rutgers University-Camden) and Jazz History and Research (M.A., Rutgers University-Graduate School, Newark). In addition to performing on drum set, writing about music, and growing his private teaching studio, Mr. Polack has maintained a busy teaching schedule at Rutgers University-Camden since 2009, where he teaches undergraduate music history courses on jazz, American popular music forms, and percussion studies, along with directing the Rutgers-Camden Jazz Ensemble.
Starting in 2010, he has increasingly focused on eLearning and has created several successful, completely online music courses for Rutgers University-Camden, including Introduction to Music, History of Jazz, History of Jazz Singers, and Music in Film. As a writer, he has annotated the concert programs for Symphony in C in Camden, NJ, since the 2011-12 season.