Name: Deborah Loomer
Title: Adjunct Faculty of Music
Education: D.M.A., Clarinet Performance, SUNY Stony Brook
M.M., Clarinet Performance, Miami University
B.M., Music Education, Miami University
Office: 214 Conservatory of Music
Phone: 803/323-4512
E-mail: loomerd@winthrop.edu
Area(s): Clarinet, Clarinet Choir, Woodwind Quintet
Clarinetist Deborah Loomer earned the B.M. and M.M. degrees from Miami University and a D.M.A. from SUNY Stony Brook. She served as the principal clarinetist of the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra for 17 seasons, was principal with the Ballantyne Chamber Orchestra, and has performed extensively as a soloist and with orchestras, chamber groups, and wind ensembles across the eastern US and Europe. Her teachers have included John Hardy, Carmine Campione of the Cincinnati Symphony, and David Glazer, soloist and chamber musician, of the New York Woodwind Quintet. She enjoys performing in chamber ensembles, contemporary music ensembles, and theater productions, and is a member of the Carolinas Wind Orchestra, the Border Wind Quintet and Border Trio. She is an active adjudicator, arranger, and conductor, and maintains memberships in the International Clarinet Association, MTNA, and SCMEA. Dr. Loomer has also taught privately in Charlotte and regularly presents master classes to area clarinetists. Her students have earned opportunities for further study at institutions including Interlochen, Boston Conservatory, Shenandoah Conservatory, Bard College Conservatory of Music, University of Georgia, and Indiana University.
At Winthrop University, Dr. Loomer teaches applied clarinet, directs the Clarinet Choir, coaches the Woodwind Quintet and clarinet chamber groups, and teaches directed study courses in Woodwind Methods and Clarinet Literature. In her studio teaching, it is important to Dr. Loomer that all students become fine teachers, as well as fine players. Students are also introduced to various methods to combat repetitive motion injuries, including the Chinese practice of Qi Gong.
In her free time, Dr. Loomer enjoys travel with her husband, especially to visit their daughters: Kasey, a cake artist and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu enthusiast in Austin, Texas, and Dr. Diana Loomer of Asheville, North Carolina, who is a member of the percussion faculties at Appalachian State University and Western Carolina University, and directs the Steely Pan Steel Band at ASU.
