Nick Schumacher is assistant professor of music theory at the Michigan State University College of Music, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses since 2022. As a dual performer and music theorist, Schumacher is passionate about helping students forge powerful connections between their study of analysis and their work as performers. His pedagogy centers around musical expectation, which empowers students to have meaningful, theoretically informed, and accessible conversations in private lessons, with audiences during concerts, and in their own teaching. Ongoing research projects include a performance and analysis guide to Paul Jeanjean’s 18 Etudes for the Clarinet along with a film-score analysis of the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale. In addition to his work as a theorist, Schumacher has performed with a number of regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Lansing and Jackson Symphony Orchestras.
Schumacher received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 2017. He earned master’s degrees in clarinet performance (2019) and music theory (2021) along with a Doctor of Musical Arts (2022) from Michigan State University.