BIOGRAPHY

Erik Piazza has spent most of his professional life as a high school instrumental music teacher in the Webster Central School District. Erik is a NYSSMA certified woodwind adjudicator whose students have been selected to perform with county, state, and national honors ensembles. Prior to teaching in Webster, Erik taught in Palmyra-Macedon CSD, and served as adjunct faculty in 2008 at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he taught saxophone lessons and directed a Saxology ensemble.

 

Erik earned an M.M. in music education and a B.M. in saxophone performance and music education from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Erik is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Music Teaching and Learning (ABD). He has presented at regional, state, and national conferences. Additionally, Erik has been invited to present lectures at numerous colleges and institutions. His current research examines school music teachers’ beliefs regarding creative musical activities and their inclusion in practice, and he is published in School Music News and the Journal of Music Teacher Education.

 

Erik has performed with the Eastman Community Music School Music Educators' Wind Ensemble, the Penfield Symphony Orchestra and the Finger Lakes Saxophone Quartet, and was a guest conductor for the Orleans County All-County Senior High Band. Erik studied saxophone with Chien-Kwan Lin, Chris Vadala, Dave Demsey, and Ray Ricker, and conducting with Donald Hunsberger, Mark Scatterday, and Brad Lubman.