I’m a concert pianist and music professor. I love performing and teaching: I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do both, and that I learn so much about each from the other. I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I studied with Evelyne Brancart in high school. For college I went to Oberlin, where I studied with Joseph Schwartz in the conservatory and majored in English in the college (When I told my mom I was going to major in English, she joked that I was only allowed to date engineering majors. Now I’m married to a cartoonist.). For grad school I went to Eastman, where I did the MM and DMA with Rebecca Penneys. I also got an MA in pedagogy of music theory so I could take all the fun theory classes, including Schenker and counterpoint and composition. After Eastman I freelanced in New York some more, teaching privately and accompanying in the vocal program at the Juilliard School, and then I came to the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, where I’ve been the piano professor since 2004. I’ve also taught a few other places, including Paraguay on a Fulbright in the summer of 2008. As a pianist, I’m omnivorous; there’s such a vast, rich literature for piano, and it’s inspiring and humbling that I’ll never be able to play all of it. Along with the old masters, I love working with composers and playing new music. I enjoy playing both solo and chamber music. In the past few years I’ve gotten interested in historical instruments, from improvising accompaniments on the harpsichord to exploring pedaling and articulation on pianos from different periods. I also have a couple of musical projects on the side. I’m an enthusiastic choir alto, and I’m also in the indie folky rock band Gettysburg Pirate Orchestra, where I sing and play accordion and, occasionally, bass. I live with my husband, John, and our son, who is still too young to be embarrassed by the silly songs we sing to him while we change his diaper.
You can follow me on twitter @jocelynswigger.
