I teach piano, advanced keyboard and harmony piano lab, the year long music history sequence and a small MIDI course in sequencing and printing music on the Mac at UMM.
I grew up in a big town, coming from a suburb of Denver. I really like living in the small town of Morris. I especially like the lack of stop lights and the fact I can see fields and countryside from many places in town. I went to a small undergraduate school, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, and a huge graduate school, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. I like both of those environments, each has their pros and cons.
My professional training has all been in piano. I have a masters and doctorate in piano from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Now I think of myself more as a composing musician. I work both from rough pencil scores that are then loaded to the sequencer and from improvisations using a sequencer. I have been producing music for over 12 years now. At first it was all instrumental but in that last few years I have been writing a mix of songs and instrumental works.
My wife Jeanne also teaches at the University. Her studio consists of flute and piano students. She plays flute in the Fergus Falls Community Orchestra and is a fanatic follower of the FluteList. Flute players communicate a lot and she regularly has hundreds of messages to sort through. We met in the music department at Concordia College as students. We have two children. Mari, our daughter, is grown and has degrees in Art and Music from St. Olaf College. She works expediting toy designs for the Manhattan Toy Company in Minneapolis. Chris, our son, is at St. Olaf now.
Check out Jean's Interests and Hobbies
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Email Jean at: (richarrj@caa.morris.umn.edu)