Featured Faculty Friday: Benjamin Whitcomb
May 3rd, 2013 by Ann Ricca
The featured faculty for this Friday is Benjamin Whitcomb from the Music Department! Whitcomb teaches and plays the cello as well as music theory. In addition to this, he also performs over 30 concerts each year, some of those being with the UW-Whitewater in the Music Department’s series Musical Mosaics faculty concerts. Interested to find out more about Whitcomb? Keep reading to learn more.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Stillwater, OK.
Q: What do you do at UW-Whitewater?
A: Teach cello and music theory
Q: What is your favorite thing about UW-Whitewater?
A: My colleagues.
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: Reading, playing & listening to music, and playing contract bridge.
Q: If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?
A: I’m actually content with being human.
Q: What’s the best thing that you have ever done that you suggest others try?
A: Play the cello.
Q: What’s your favorite movie? Book?
A: Atlas Shrugged.
Q: What is your best advice for students?
A: Take responsibility for your own life and actions.
Q: What’s one thing that you want people to know about you?
A: That, if they play the cello, they should come and study with me.
Whitcomb’s professional bio is below:
Benjamin Whitcomb, cellist and music theorist, has earned an international reputation as a performer and teacher of music. An active recitalist and chamber musician, he performs more than thirty concerts a year. He appears regularly on Wisconsin Public Radio. He collaborates with pianist Vincent de Vries in frequent recitals around the country and overseas, and he is a member of the Ancora String Quartet and the UW-Whitewater Piano Trio. Dr. Whitcomb is a frequent guest clinician and performer at universities and conferences throughout the country and abroad. His book, The Advancing Cellist’s Handbook, has received rave reviews from Strings magazine plus the journals of ASTA and AUSTA. A companion book, The Advancing Bassist’s Handbook, was published in 2013. He is a contributing author to Sharpen Your String Technique and Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra. He has published numerous articles on cello and on music theory, and has presented many papers at national and international conferences as well. He is also a reviewer for the American String Teacher journal, and has served as Secretary of ASTA.
Dr. Whitcomb is a Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, where he has received awards for his teaching, research, and service. Also at UW-Whitewater, he initiated and continues to coordinate the Theory/History Colloquium speaker series, the Musical Mosaics Faculty Concert Series, the Chancellor’s Quartet program, and the Summer String Camp. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Oklahoma State University, and he has studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing.
Thank you for being the featured faculty of the week Benjamin Whitcomb! Check back next week to see who the next featured faculty will be.