Teaching
"I help students discover the processes that will allow them to move freely through their chosen space. Composition, transcription, and analysis are a few of the tools that I use to guide students. The real work begins when a student is able to connect these discoveries to what they wish to accomplish. Acquiring and learning to use these tools help students achieve the confidence and strength to trust their own voice and vision regardless of the countless pressures that a career in music can bring.”
Teaching Bio
Dr. Whitney Ashe is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano and Director of Jazz Studies at Western Illinois University. In addition, he has presented at the Illinois Music Education Conference and the College Music Society National Conference, contributed to Jazz Education in Research and Practice, and been a clinician at numerous festivals including The Bradley University Jazz Festival, Northern Iowa University’s Tallcorn Jazz Festival, and the Illinois All-State Festival. Whitney has directed both beginner and advanced large jazz ensembles and small groups, and taught jazz piano to students from beginners to master’s degree candidates. Additionally, he has taught jazz composition, arranging, class piano, jazz pedagogy, songwriting, music theory, music publishing, and the history of popular music. In curricular development, Whitney created a three-course sequence on jazz fundamentals and improvisation for undergraduate jazz majors and restructured the undergraduate jazz studies curriculum to better serve the needs of students.
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Under his direction, the WIU jazz program frequently brings in guest artists for workshops and performances and provides many off and on campus performance opportunities for the students in his program. In addition, his program provides recording equipment, additional performance opportunities, and faculty expertise for students interested in creating their own projects. Recent graduates have gone on to professorships, prestigious masters and doctoral programs, and successful careers in performance.