Specialties
Groundbreaking Research in Music Education
Dr. Jennifer Blackwell, PhD.
Joined CYM in 2024
Community Partner: Music Education Associate Professor, Northwestern University
Education & Certifications
Meet Dr Jennifer Blackwell – a Craft Your Music Community Partner, educator, musician, and researcher who works to train musicians to be the best educators they can be.
Her research focuses on expertise in teaching music performance, including what excellent teachers do, how they think, how they build community, and how they engage the emotional aspects of music. Music performance teachers – especially those who teach privately or in one-to-one environments – are often excellent performers but have not received any focused training on how to teach others. Dr. Blackwell’s work aims to demystify teaching and help excellent musicians to become excellent pedagogues.
Dr. Blackwell has worked extensively as a woodwind studio teacher and ensemble director in both Canada and the United States, working with students aged 10-85 in a variety of settings including middle school, high school, community ensembles, and universities. She is an active woodwind clinician in both Canada and the United States and continues to perform as a classical saxophonist. Since 2021, she has worked with the Australian Music Examinations Board to develop syllabi and resources for certificate programs in studio music teaching for use in both Australia and Vietnam. Her edited book, Teaching Music Performance: A Guide for Evidence-Based Pedagogy, will be released by the AMEB in 2024.
Dr. Blackwell holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Western Ontario, master’s degrees in music education and saxophone performance from Central Michigan University, and a PhD in music education with a minor in saxophone performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Currently serving as assistant professor of Music Education at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, Dr. Blackwell was previously assistant professor of instrumental music education at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she received the 2022 Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching.
For more information on her research, visit Optimal Music Performance and Center for the Study of Education and the Musical Experience