Robert Pippin is the Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Southwestern Oklahoma State University where he directs the Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, The “Pride of the Great Southwest” marching band, and the “Wild Dawgs” pep band. In addition to ensemble directing, he teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting and music education courses.
Prior to teaching as SWOSU, Dr. Pippin was the Dennis C. Dau Professor of Instrumental Music and Assistant Professor of Low Brass and Music Education at Northwest Missouri State University, where he taught Concert Band, Studio Jazz Ensemble, the low brass studio, conducting, and music education courses. He is the former director of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. Immediately prior to his appointment to Northwest, he was Director of The Johns Hopkins University Wind Ensemble.
Robert completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Harlan Parker. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Conducting from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado where he studied conducting with J. Steven Moore, Wilfred Schwartz, Michael Schaff, David Shaner, and Lee Egbert, and studied low brass with Robert Brewer.
Before attending Peabody, Robert was a high school band director in Colorado, where he developed comprehensive curriculums in concert bands, jazz ensembles, athletic bands, and chamber music. In addition to teaching, Robert was an active performer in Colorado and Wyoming, playing trombone as a tenured member of the Fort Collins Symphony, and as a freelance artist regularly performing classical, jazz, pop, and chamber music.
In recent years, Robert has been a performer, adjudicator, and clinician with bands, orchestras, and jazz ensembles in Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, Texas, Maryland, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Hawai’i, and Idaho, as well as presenting clinics at the College Band Directors National Association Southwest Division Conference, Hawaii University International Conferences, NACWPI National Convention, College Music Society Great Plains and Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, Missouri and Iowa Music Educators Association Inservice/Workshop Conferences, and the Colorado Bandmasters Association Convention.
Dr. Pippin’s wife, Holly is pursuing her PhD in Music Education with an emphasis in Ethnomusicology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Robert holds down the fort in Weatherford, Oklahoma with their overly-energetic dog Watson. When not making music at SWOSU or traveling for scholarly musical activities, Robert enjoys mountain biking, trail running, swimming, and triathlon. He is currently playing trombone in “The Phil Collins Experience,” a Kansas City-based tribute band performing the hits of Phil Collins and GENESIS, occasionally touring regionally and nationally.
Dr. Pippin’s personal website: www.robertpippin.com