Ralph Dudgeon is a versatile musician/scholar who is known for performance on period instruments as well as his performances of contemporary repertoire. Dudgeon received his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California, San Diego. He earned a Master of Arts degree in trumpet performance and a Bachelor of Arts in music education from San Diego State University. 

Dudgeon appeared throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico and China as a trumpet soloist and conductor. His debut solo album, Music for Keyed Bugle, was the first full-length recording devoted to the keyed bugle. His keyed bugle research and performances were influential in the twentieth century revival of that instrument. He has recorded for Musical Heritage Society, Music Masters, Newport Classic, Nimbus, Hyperion, Innova, and Spring Tree labels. 

Dudgeon began his career in California as a high school music teacher in 1970. From 1981 to 1985, he was on the music faculty of the University of Texas, Dallas. He is Professor of Music, Emeritus at State University of New York, Cortland, where he taught music history and trumpet from 1985 to 2012. He was the trumpet teacher at Colgate University from 2004 to 2014. From1996 to 2011, he was a research consultant for Instrumentenmuseum, Schloß Kremsegg in Kremsmünster, Upper Austria. 

Dudgeon contributed to the Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, the American Musical Instrument Society Journal, the International Trumpet Guild Journal, Ovation, and the Historic Brass Society Journal. Dudgeon contributed two chapters to the Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. His 1993 book, The Keyed Bugle (Scarecrow Press), is considered the definitive research on that instrument. The second, expanded edition of The Keyed Bugle was released in 2004. Dudgeon’s Das Flügelhorn (2003) is published by PPVMEDIEN GmbH in German and English. The work is a history of the flugelhorn and features over a hundred color photos of instruments housed in the Instrumentenmuseum, Schloß Kremsegg, Upper Austria. In 2006, Dudgeon received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities from the State University of New York.

Dudgeon remains an active trumpet performer and teacher and lives in Homer, New York.  He is principal trumpet in the Catskill Symphony, the Clinton Symphony Orchestra of the Mohawk Valley, Colgate University Orchestra, and The Arcadia Chorale Festival Orchestra.