Brandon Swing

MY EDUCATION, ACCOLADES, AND EXPERIENCE

I am a pianist, piano teacher, and musicologist based in Broomfield, Colorado, and serving areas throughout Boulder, Westminster, Arvada, and Golden.  I received my Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Union University in 2014 where I studied with David Dennis. In 2017 I graduated with a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Memphis, where I studied under Cathal Breslin, Artina McCain, and Eric Zuber. Throughout my education I regularly served as an accompanying pianist for vocalists, instrumentalists, church congregations and choral groups such as Memphis Choral Arts. In 2019 I moved to Colorado to begin PhD studies in musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

MY APPROACH TO TEACHING

My approach to teaching begins with discovering music that inspires my students, whether it is classical, popular, or music from a show, movie, or video game. 

While every student’s musical needs and goals are unique, I always advocate for developing a robust competency in Western theory and music notation as a valuable and life-long skill for aspiring musicians.

Through the piano, my goal is to develop in my students a sense of musical sensitivity and direction, an ear for beautiful tone, rhythmic vitality, and the physical technique necessary to realize their musical imagination. My avenue toward achieving these ends is not necessarily through teaching one how to play piano, but instead how to learn and practice piano. Because of this, every lesson always includes at least some element of developing problem solving skills. My true goal is to teach my students how they can start to become their own teacher one day.

MUSIC EDUCATION

Bachelor of Music, Piano Performance — Union University, 2014

Master of Music, Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy — University of Memphis, 2017

Musicology PhD Candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder