Bassoon, performing, teaching, acoustics, dogs, tacos, and family. That’s me! Here is the longer version: I am the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Lawrence University and Conservatory, where I am grateful to create art in a beautiful city with inspiring people. This untraditional bio will give you some background about who I am and why I indisputably have the coolest job in the world. Scroll to the bottom of this page if you would like to jump straight to a more traditional list of accomplishments.

Appleton, Wisconsin is my home! My path took me from Arizona to Tennessee to Texas, arriving in Wisconsin in 2023 for this teaching position. Appleton is a musically rich city with a beautiful community, which has captured my heart. Ask me about my newfound experience in a curling league, favorite downtown performance venue, and favorite vendor at the farmers market. It is a privilege to be a part of the Lawrence community, with forward-thinking inspirational students and colleagues.

Since the age of 5, my dream job was to be a musician. Today, I am living that dream! Although 5-year-old Brigit thought she would be a pianist, she would later meet an endearingly illogical instrument that became her primary means of expression: the bassoon. And yes, it was taller than me when I began playing it. A few years and degrees later, I now have a few inches over it.

Starting in high school, my vision of the future was complicated by an increasing interest in mathematics. I wanted to study both music and math, but discovered that this division of time was often discouraged explicity or implicitly in the university or conservatory setting. I am thankful that 18-year-old Brigit had wise council and was brave enough to whole-heartedly pursue both of my interests. It is a gift to have passion(s)! This is something that drew me to teaching at Lawrence University, which actively encourages and supports academic exploration. It is my mission to encourage students to discover and pursue their passions, just as my teachers did for me. (Shoutout to Kristin Wolfe Jensen, Peter Kolkay, Albie Micklich, and Martin VanKlompenberg.)

Over the course of the next few years, I continued studying bassoon performance through the doctoral level, while taking abundant coursework in physical acoustics. My current research applies these passions in the development of a bassoon intonation book with Mountain Peak Music (coming start of 2026) and the creation of resources for performers interested in utilizing acoustic principles to optimize their performance goals. Also, ask me about creation and exit from a start-up company that developed paritally synthetic reeds for the purpose of increasing economic access to double reed instruments!

Now, I recognize that this is an untraditional bio. Although I have a list of accomplishments that I am proud of, I believe the above information is most important to knowing who I am as a person. Keep scrolling for the traditional bio.