Peter Jacobson, Founder & Director
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Peter Jacobson is a music artist-teacher with a passion for making and teaching music in a way that includes the whole person – mind, body and spirit. His work stands at the intersection of health, music, learning and creativity. His is also a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship – using innovation and ingenuity to address long-standing problems in the music field.
He has earned advanced degrees in Orchestral Conducting from University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University as well as a bachelors of music education from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). His teachers have included Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher and Markand Thakar.
In addition to being a teacher, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger, Peter is an AmSAT-certified (American Society of the Alexander Technique) teacher of the Alexander Technique. He did his 3-year, 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher training at the Alexander Technique Mid-Atlantic (with Nancy Romita & Wendy Salkind) and Alexander Technique Urbana (with Rose Bronec & Rick Carbaugh). He is also a Certified Transformative Coach (Supercoach Academy with Michael Neill). Â
Peter is the Founder and Executive Director of The Mind Body Music School, which offers an innovative and integrative approach to music education that combines Alexander Technique (and other relevant fields) with the core principles of effective music learning.
He has taught workshops to musicians at: Peabody Conservatory (USA), Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Belgium), Toronto NATS Chapter (Canada), Gettysburg College (USA), Shepherd University (USA), Orchestra Institute of Napa Valley (USA), Towson University (USA), Zagreb Academy of Music (Croatia), University of Graz (Austria), University of Minnesota-Morris (USA), Gustavus Adolphus College (USA) and Mindful Music Making (Germany).
Peter lives in the historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. When he's not working, you'll find him playing squash, listening to a podcast, reading 7 books at once or cooking up something tasty in the kitchen.