Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Oliverio
Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up in New York, beginning band students chose their instrument at the end of 3rd grade, going into 4th. While being evaluated for band and orchestra I was given two options, the trumpet and the bass. I desperately wanted to play the bass because of its impressive size and the color of sound it produced. Unfortunately, bass wasn’t in the cards for me so I started playing the trumpet at age 8, having no idea the longstanding impact that this decision would have on my career.
I made the decision to go into music when entering my junior year of high school. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else and certainly didn’t have the same intense interest in any other specialty, so it felt like the only option for me. Out of pure luck, I grew up 30 minutes from the Eastman School of Music and through the incredible support of my family was able to enroll in their community music program. While there I took trumpet lessons with Herb Smith, history and theory classes, played in ensembles, and joined the Eastman Youth Trumpet Ensemble, under the direction of Wes Nance. The seeds that were planted there as a student sprouted into a life-long love of music.
I studied music education and trumpet performance at Ithaca College for my BM. I loved the energy, teachers, and intense playing standards there. I also loved that I was pushed outside of my comfort zone and in my senior year I was encouraged to pursue a MM in trumpet performance by my professor at the time Frank Gabriel Campos. I auditioned and was accepted into the program at the University of Arkansas – Fayetteville on a graduate teaching assistantship. This experience (and life change) affected me in such major ways, particularly in the infancy of my career. I met my husband, set my sights on a job teaching at the collegiate level, and met friends that would become lifelong colleagues. Following my time there, I auditioned and was accepted into the DMA program at the University of Missouri – Kansas City under the tutelage of Keith Benjamin, continuing towards the goal of a trumpet professorship.
My time in Kansas City has colored my teaching and performance in overwhelmingly meaningful ways. My first college teaching job, joining the Fountain City Brass Band, entering the freelance community and developing my own approach to pedagogy and performance style can largely be attributed to the connections I have made here.
I now work at Missouri Western State University as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet, maintaining our trumpet studio and teaching our music history sequence at the university. I also play principal cornet in the Fountain City Brass Band, flugelhorn in the all-women’s Athena Brass Band, and teach and perform internationally.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My path to where I am now has not always been easy. Some of the challenges along the way have also been the human experiences that I treasure the most. I work hard to identify as more than just a trumpet player; the birth of my son threw that reality into sharp focus. Prior to that, I had the freedom to focus almost exclusively on my own personal and professional goals. I realized very quickly that there are things outside of music that are so much more precious, they need to take priority and that sometimes means that I need to make adjustments to my goals or timeline in the interest of my family.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My full-time job is teaching the trumpet studio and music history courses at MWSU. In addition to that, I also maintain a private trumpet studio and work as a freelance clinician and performer. While most of what I do on campus centers around trumpet performance, my energy as a performer is most often spent playing cornet/flugelhorn and conducting in British-style brass bands. I regularly commission and perform new works and enjoy travelling to conduct and clinic ensembles across the United States. I’m proud and excited about the work I do in this area of the music community and love to see the impact this has on the greater brass-banding community as well as my students.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something that might come as a surprise to everyone is that for a long time, I wanted to work in elementary music education rather than as a college professor. I loved (and still do) teaching young kids. Their energy is contagious, and they participate in music activities without fear. For a short period of time, I taught middle school band but quickly realized that I enjoyed working with students that have already built a foundation on their instruments more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jenniferoliverio.com/
- Instagram: @jenoliveriotrpt
- Facebook: Jennifer Oliverio – Trumpet
- Youtube: @jenniferoliverio
Image Credits
Patrick Oliverio – Oliverio Studios
