About:

Nick Schumacher is assistant professor of music theory at the Michigan State University College of Music, where he teaches courses in the undergraduate core curriculum. As a dual performer and music theorist, Schumacher is passionate about helping students forge powerful connections between their study of analysis and their work as performers. His pedagogy centers around musical expectation, which empowers students to have meaningful, theoretically informed, and accessible conversations in private lessons, with audiences during concerts, and in their own teaching. His current research projects include a performance and analysis guide to Paul Jeanjean’s 18 Etudes for the Clarinet, for which he received the MSU Graduate School’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and a film score analysis of the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale. In addition to his work as a theorist, Schumacher maintains an active career performing and teaching clarinet throughout mid-Michigan. Recent performances include the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, and the 2021 Midwest Clinic.

Schumacher received a Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance from the University of Northern Iowa. He holds Master of Music degrees in both clarinet performance and music theory from Michigan State University, where he is in the final stages of his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance.