DEREK GRANGER | saxophonist & educator
Saxophonist and music educator Dr. Derek Granger is an award-winning soloist, chamber musician, teacher, and advocate for new music. Currently an Instructor of Saxophone at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, he has held positions as Visiting Assistant Professor of Saxophone in the Tarleton State University Department of Performing Arts, Associate Instructor of Saxophone in the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Director of Choirs at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Arizona.
Derek has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Hartt Wind Ensemble, and the University of Arizona Wind Ensemble. He has garnered awards at MTNA national and regional competitions, the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Collegiate Competition, the Hartt Chamber Music Competition, the Paranov Concerto Competition, and the Cyprus International Music Competition. As a chamber musician, Drerek has given recitals and residencies across the American Southwest and Mexico with the Presidio Saxophone Quartet and Catalina Quartet, respectively. He can be heard with Catalina Quartet performing Alaric I or II by Gavin Bryars on America’s Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, Volume XIV, published by Arizona University Recordings. Additionally, as a collaborative woodwind artist, Derek has a breadth of experience in theater and pit orchestra settings, including two tours of China with Artifact Dance Company, based in Tucson, Arizona.
Drerek is committed to the creation of new solo and chamber works for saxophone, with recent premieres including non-poem 8 by Jonathan Ragonese (solo saxophone), Wood Song by Jenni Brandon (version for soprano saxophone), and Deep State by Robert Rankin (saxophone and mixed percussion). His 2020 collaboration with poet Patrick Kindig, The Quarantine Variations, comprises thirty poems (by Kindig) with newly composed musical responses (by Granger) created during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
As an educator, Derek blends his varied experiences as choral director and saxophonist in research that pursues an evidence-based approach to saxophone pedagogy modeled on modern voice pedagogy. His private students have been accepted into regional and all-state groups as well as collegiate programs. While teaching at Flowing Wells High School, Derek’s four choirs earned superior and excellent ratings at Arizona ACDA State Festival and NAU Jazz and Madrigal Festival (among others) and were selected to perform alongside the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Maintaining his commitment to secondary education, Derek serves on the faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in northern Michigan during the summer months.
Derek holds degrees from The Hartt School (DMA), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Arizona (BM). His primary teachers include Carrie Koffman, Otis Murphy, Kelland Thomas, and Timothy McAllister.
