Dr. William Whipple was born and raised in Iowa, beginning piano studies at age four.  Dr. Whipple completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Pedagogy and Performance with a secondary concentration in Music Education at the University of Iowa. He was the recipient of the University of Iowa Performance Fellowship (The School of Music’s Highest Award) and was a teaching assistant in the piano area. His dissertation, The Legacy of Duo-Pianists Bill and Pat Medley, focuses on their concert life and contains analyses of their pedagogical compositions. Dr. Whipple is the founder and competition organizer for the Medley Pre-College Piano Competition.

 

Dr. Whipple earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. His teachers have included Alan Huckleberry, Howard Aibel, Bill and Pat Medley, Marc Silverman, and Kenneth Amada. He studied vocal accompanying with Raymond Beegle and has also worked with Kenneth Merrill at the Aspen Music Festival. He attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and performed in master classes given by the Muir String Quartet. His formal studies began at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he received the Clef Music Club Award. While in Cincinnati, he was the pianist for the CCM Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band.

 

Dr. Whipple performed with The New York Vocal Arts Ensemble at the Pawling Concert Series, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Showcase, and the Vive La France, Verdi, and Schubert Festivals at Trinity Church-Wall Street in New York City. He has also performed with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Fort Dodge Area Symphony, and the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra (ECCO). He has worked with many notable conductors over the years including Melissa McBride, Frank Battisti, H. Robert Reynolds, Daniel Kleinknecht, and Christian Tiemeyer. 

 

Dr. Whipple has presented sessions at MTNA National Conferences, College Music Society National Conference and is published in the American Music Teacher magazine. He was an active member of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT) serving as its treasurer and MTNA foundation chair. In addition, he assisted in the creation of the newly formed Fresno-Clovis Chapter and served as its vice-president. During his time in Wisconsin, Dr. Whipple served as MTNA foundation chair for the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association (WMTA). 

 

Over the years, Dr. Whipple has taught piano to individuals of all ages,  levels, and unique learning needs. He has presented nationally on neurodiversity within collegiate classrooms and strives to continuously teach and perform with neurodiversity mindfulness at the forefront. He has previously served on the music faculties of Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA, Fresno City College in Fresno, CA, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Currently, Dr. Whipple is Assistant Professor of Music–Piano and Theory at Doane University in Crete, Nebraska.