Brahms symposium celebrates professor's fifty remarkable years of service

In honor and celebration of Professor Roger McKinney’s 50 years of remarkable commitment to The College of New Jersey and the community, the music department at TCNJ offered a day's worth of delightful musical events on Wednesday, March 7.   

For 50 consecutive years, Professor of Music Roger McKinney has been teaching clarinet performance and music history at the College.  He is the conductor of the TCNJ Chamber Winds and is coordinator of student woodwind ensembles.  It is estimated that during his tenure at the College, he has tutored more than 400 student clarinetists, many of whom have gone on to successful careers as performers and teachers in New Jersey and around the country. 

Hailing from Plattsburgh, NY, McKinney joined the music department in 1957, shortly after completing his graduate studies at The Juilliard School in New York.  During the 1995-1996 academic year, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany as Exchange Professor to the University of Frankfurt.  He performed as principal clarinetist with the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra for 30 years.  He also served as principal clarinetist with the Princeton Chamber Orchestra and the Pro Musica of New Hope.  Some of his current lectures include “The Art of Single Reed Mouthpiece Customizing.”

In celebration of his remarkable milestone, the music department offered a composition seminar by award-winning composer and author Jan Swafford. Swafford teaches at the Boston Conservatory and is a frequent musical commentator on National Public Radio. as well as an evening Brahms Symposium, featuring discussions about the life and music of Johannes Brahms. The event featured musical interludes, recordings and multimedia, along with McKinney himself, a noted pedagogue on Brahms.