Dr. Douglas E. Spaniol, bassoon
Dr. Spaniol's Personal Jukebox
Doug Spaniol is Professor of Music and Coordinator of Woodwinds
in the School of Music at Butler University's Jordan College of
Fine Arts, where he teaches bassoon and courses in reed-making,
pedagogy, theory, and chamber music. In the summers, he serves as
instructor of bassoon at the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp.
He was previously a member of the faculty at Valdosta State
University and has twice served as visiting professor at The Ohio
State University. His instructional book for bassoonists, The
New Weissenborn Method for Bassoon (Hal Leonard, 2010), has
been called "a must for all your beginning
students" (The Double Reed) and "an invaluable addition to
bassoon literature...a landmark in 'pedagogy'" (Double Reed
News).
His bassoon students have enjoyed remarkable success, including
being named a winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists
Competition, an alternate in the International Double Reed
Society's Young Artists Competition, and semi-finalist in the Meg
Quigley Vivaldi Competition. Other competition successes have lead
to concerto performances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
(two students), the Butler Symphony Orchestra (five students),
Interlochen's World Youth Symphony Orchestra (three students), the
Kokomo Symphony Orchestra, and the Kokomo Park Band. In addition,
his students have performed on National Public Radio's From the
Top, been offered scholarships and graduate assistantships to
this country's finest music schools, and have won prizes in
competitions sponsored by Pi Kappa Lambda, the Indianapolis Matinee
Musicale, and the American Federation of Musicians. His students
have won positions and/or performed with the Louisville Orchestra,
Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, and many other
ensembles. Dynamic Agenda, a bassoon quartet of Butler
students, appeared on an Emmy-winning episode of WFYI's Across
Indiana television magazine.
Dr. Spaniol has recently been named a Fulbright Scholar and is
spending spring of 2012 in England teaching at the University of
York and furthering his research and restoration of the pedagogical
bassoon works of Julius Weissenborn. Previously, he was named a
Marshall Scholar and subsequently studied at the Royal Northern
College of Music in Manchester, England, where he was awarded the
prestigious postgraduate diploma in performance. As such, he may be
the only person to ever receive both a Marshall Scholarship and a
Fulbright Scholar Award to the UK.
Dr. Spaniol has presented masterclasses at the St. Petersburg
Conservatory, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin,
and for the Music for All/Bands of America National Festival, among
many others. He frequently appears as a performer/presenter at
conferences of the International Double Reed Society, and he served
for six years as the Bassoon Chair for the IDRS's Fernand Gillet -
Hugo Fox Competition.
As a performer, Dr. Spaniol has appeared as concerto soloist
with Sinfonia da Camera, the St. Petersburg Classical Symphony
Orchestra, Solisti St. Petersburg, the Central Ohio Symphony
Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis, and Butler's
Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Jordan Sinfonia. He can be heard as
soloist on two CDs: Bassoon with a View (Innova 520) and Frank
Felice: Sidewalk Music (Capstone CPS-8707). As a member of Arbítrio
(with Alicia Cordoba Tait, oboe, and Bradley Haag, piano) he has
performed throughout the Midwest, in St. Petersburg, Russia, and
Buenos Aires, Argentina, and recorded a CD for Centaur Records (CRC
3013). As principal bassoonist of Sinfonia da Camera, Dr. Spaniol
has toured England, been heard on NPR's Performance Today,
and appears on CDs on Albany and Zephyr Records and the
Classical Music for Dummies CD. He has performed with the
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra,
Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, and many other ensembles. He
has also performed and/or recorded with artists such as Art
Garfunkel, Sandi Patty, Michael Feinstein, Nancy Griffith, Daniel
Narducci, and country star Collin Raye.
Dr. Spaniol earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Ohio
State University as well as Master of Music and Bachelor of Music
degrees from the University of Illinois. His bassoon teachers
include Christopher Weait, William Waterhouse, and E. Sanford
Berry. An Artist/Clinician for Yamaha Corporation, Dr. Spaniol
plays a Yamaha YFG-811 bassoon.
- Learn more about bassoon study at Butler University
Bassoon Study (PDF)
- Enjoy a musical performance by Dr. Spaniol in his personal
jukebox.
(317) 940-8368
dspaniol@butler.edu