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Wanda Neese
Staff Accompanist—Secondary Piano
Office: AMC: 110
Office Phone: 803.321.5183
Email: wanda.neese@newberry.edu
Department: Department of Music
Degrees:
M.M. | Piano Performance, Columbia College (1993)
B.M. | Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy, Columbia College (1988)
Bio:
Wanda Neese received a Bachelor of Music from Columbia College with majors in both Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy, with a heavy concentration in Music Education. She received a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Columbia College. Ms. Neese has worked with numerous internationally acclaimed pianists throughout the years. She continues to work with world-renowned concert pianist, Dr. Pawel Checinski of Chicago.
Ms. Neese joined the Newberry College Music Department in l988 as departmental accompanist and founding instructor of Preparatory Music at Newberry College. She joined the adjunct faculty in l990 and has taught privately and in the classroom. During her career at Newberry College, Wanda has taught hundreds of children and college students. She has worked with singers, instrumentalists, choral groups, the Jazz Band, and taught class piano, Music Appreciation, and the History of American Music. Her preparatory students have worked in master classes with renowned pianists/pedagogues such as Pawel Checinski, Ian Hobson, Erik Larsen, Daniel Pollock, Constance Knox Carroll, Nelita True, Alexander Peskanov, and Zadel Skolovsky. Neese's preparatory students have performed successfully in concerts and competitions across South Carolina and in Virginia.
In 2012, Wanda Neese and Bill Long, along with Newberry College students and alumnae, performed a concert devoted to the music of Argentine composer, Astor Piazzolla. Accompanying many instrumental students, she played with the Newberry College Jazz Big Band.
In addition to her duties in the Music Department, Ms. Neese has served as President of the Newberry College Women’s League. She and other league members are working with college administrators towards funding special campus safety and maintenance projects.
Wanda Neese is the mother of a daughter Laura Elizabeth and a son Berkley Gantt .
