Description: Music theory is so much more than scales and chords. Did you know that studying music theory can improve your music reading skills? It can also help you learn how to arrange your favorite pop songs for your instrument or help you know what to improvise when you are playing in a band. Join Jeremy Swider this summer for an online music theory class designed to give string students a head start on college music theory classes or AP High School Music Theory. Students will be asked to complete weekly assignments outside of class.
Biography:Jeremy Swider has been teaching violin and viola at MacPhail for the past 9 years. He enjoys teaching all ages, from 6 to adult. Other positions he holds at MacPhail include: teaching at a partnership at Ascension School in North Minneapolis through the Early Childhood Music Program; serving as Chamber Music Coordinator; and Adult Chamber Music Camps Coordinator. From classical to pop, improvisation and fiddle techniques, Jeremy?s teaching style incorporates a fun, well-balanced mixture of traditional technical materials and exciting musical repertoire to help students quickly gain more confidence in performance or audition situations. He also likes to help students develop their artistry by learning to listen carefully to themselves and form their own musical aesthetics. He performs regularly in the String Quartet con Passione with his wife, violinist Krista Broadway Swider and has performed in the MacPhail Spotlight Series with pianist Gail Olszewski and on MacPhail Faculty Recitals with violist Karena Ferrier. He can also be heard playing in his church?s worship team at Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul. He is a former member of the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra and the Brazos Valley Symphony, both in Texas. Jeremy has a Bachelor of Music degree in applied violin and music composition from the University of Houston and a Master of Music degree in violin performance from the University of Minnesota, where he served as one of the concertmasters of the orchestra. He has also attended many music festivals including: Round Top Festival-Institute, the American Sinfonietta Performance Academy; the ENCORE School for Strings; and the University of Minnesota BRAVO! Summer String and Keyboard Institute. Jeremy?s instructors have included Andrzej Grabiec, Young-Nam Kim, Judith Ingolfssohn, David Russell, Helen Richards, and Mary West.
