James Swearingen (born 1947) is an American composer and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. He holds a

Master’s Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from Bowling Green State University and is Professor of Music Emeritus, Department Chair of

Music Education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

Capital University Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. The music he writes is part of a small genre played in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

high school band classes as Concert Literature, generally two- to six-minute-long pieces played for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

band concerts. He is a recipient of several

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

awards.

Biography

James Swearingen is currently one of several resident composers at Capital University and is also a staff arranger for the

Ohio State University Marching Band The Ohio State University Marching Band (OSUMB) is a university marching band named for and a part of the Ohio State University. The band, popularly nicknamed The Best Damn Band in the Land (TBDBITL), performs at football games and other events d ...

. Prior to his appointment at Capital in 1987, he spent eighteen years teaching instrumental music in the public schools of central

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. His first teaching assignment was in

Sunbury, Ohio Sunbury is a city in Delaware County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,389 during the 2010 census. The city is centered on a New England-styled traditional town square with a historic village hall located in the center of a village gree ...

. He then spent fourteen years as Director of Instrumental Music at Grove City High School, teaching

marching Marching refers to the organized, uniformed, steady walking forward in either rhythmic or route-step time; and, typically, it refers to overland movements on foot of military troops and units under field orders. Marching is often performed t ...

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

s. Swearingen is also a guest conductor, adjudicator and educational clinician in the US and internationally. He has travelled throughout the United States,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

The Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

. With over 600 published works, he has written band compositions and arrangements in a variety of musical forms and styles. Many of his pieces, including 81 commissioned works, have been chosen for contest and festival lists. He is a recipient of several ASCAP awards for published compositions and in 1992 was selected as an Accomplished Graduate of the Fine and Performing Arts from Bowling Green State University. Most recently, he received the 2002 Community Music Educator Award given annually by the

Columbus Symphony Orchestra The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Columbus, Ohio. The oldest performing arts organization in the city, its home is the Ohio Theatre. The orchestra's current Executive Director is Denise Rehg. Ross ...

. He is a member of the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), MENC: The National Association for Music Education, American School Band Directors Association (ASBDA),

Phi Beta Mu Phi Beta Mu, International Bandmasters' Fraternity (), is an honorary fraternity for band directors. The fraternity was designed to honor outstanding band directors at the state level, with only one potential chapter per state. There are current ...

Pi Kappa Lambda Pi Kappa Lambda () is an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors of music. There are over 270 chapters nationally; a complete roster of current chapters is listed in the organization's official web si ...

, and

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...

. In March 2000, he was invited to join the

American Bandmasters Association The American Bandmasters Association (ABA) was formed in 1929 by Edwin Franko Goldman to promote concert band music.Raoul F. Camus. "American Bandmasters Association." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/sub ...

Recordings

Several of Swearingen's band compositions have been recorded by The Washington Winds and are available on compact discs from Walking Frog Records. His recordings include ''In All Its Glory'', ''Exaltation'', ''Panther in the Sky'', ''Celebration For Winds And Percussion'', ''The Light Of Dawn'', and the newest release, ''Flight of Valor''.

Grading Scale

According to Swearingen's web site, he grades the difficulty of performing his compositions using the following scale: * 1 - Easy (for first year beginning bands) * 2 - Medium Easy (for second and third year bands) * 3 - Medium (for intermediate or early high school bands) * 4 - Medium Difficult (for most high school bands)

References

External links

James Swearingen Official Website

Swearingen bio and list of works at C. L. Barnhouse Co. official websiteSeagate Overture on Youtube.comJames Swearingen Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swearingen, James 1947 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male musicians Brass band composers Male classical composers Bowling Green State University alumni Capital University faculty