Dr. Neil Wetzel is Professor of Music, Chair of the Music Department, and Director of Jazz Studies at Moravian University. He is the director of Big Bands at the Karel Velebny Summer Jazz Workshop in the Czech Republic. He earned a BM in Jazz Performance and MAT degree from the University of the Arts Philadelphia, as well as a doctorate (EdD) at Teachers College, Columbia University. Additionally, he has performed with the Water Gap Jazz Orchestra, Phil Woods Celebration Saxophone Quartet, and the Rob Stoneback Big Band. As director of Moravian University’s summer jazz camps, Dr. Wetzel has worked and played with Clark Terry, Al Grey, Terrell Stafford, Stanley Turrentine, and Bobby Watson. His recordings include Live at Carnegie Hall, the 50th Anniversary Concert with Patti Page (won the 1999 Grammy for Best Pop Traditional Performance), Frydlant Nights with the Skip Wilkins Rosta/Fras Quintet, and Simone on Simone with the Rob Stoneback Big Band. He recorded two CDs as a leader, Misunderestimated and Cowboys in Capes. Recent recordings include After Midnight in Frydlant, Neil Wetzel—Gary Rissmiller and the 5 O’Clock Big Band, and The Saxophone Music of Phil Woods; Celebration Saxophone Quartet. Dr. Wetzel has also played and taught at the Lana Jazz Festival in Lana, Italy.
What inspired you to go into your field of study?
My older siblings were all in band through high school – I thought they were COOL, so I assumed I should do that, too! When I got involved with the saxophone in grade school and junior high, I realized that this was something I was good at and received positive attention for making music. Growing up, I wanted to be a musician. Then, after my conservatory training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, I also discovered that I enjoyed teaching. It became logical then to cobble together a career in both performing and teaching music. I also liked teaching older, more advanced students, so I planned on eventually working toward a doctorate to teach at a college or university.
What research are you currently working on?
Musicians and artists have a different path than “traditional” research fields. While writing books or scholarly articles is something we also do, performers’ research includes hours of practice and studying pertinent recordings and performances. My research includes waking early every morning and practicing for 1-2 hours after my first cup of coffee.
This past summer, I completed a summer SOAR project with two other music majors here at Moravian University, Coby Gumulak and Nick Mancini. Our study was focused on the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet (HSQ) and their first album, which was released in the late 1950s. We made newly engraved parts from old, tattered, copied-and-recopied arrangements. We researched the members of the quartet and the writers/arrangers/composers of the selections on the first album. We also presented a concert in Foy Concert Hall back in October of 2024. We presented a poster at the Presentation of the International Conference of the Jazz Educators Network (JEN) in January 2025. We (Coby, Nick, and I) attended the conference and presented our findings.
What do you think is the most recent important development in your field of study?
Technology and music technology have changed how music is made and consumed since sound recordings were made possible in the 19th century. I explained to my students that one hundred years ago, chances are that live musicians were making iticians if you heard music. In 1925, every movie theater employed live musicians; sometimes, music was performed by a single organist or piano player. However, the larger theaters employed entire orchestras – the same as the music heard on the radio. There were live musicians providing music in real-time.
Today, that paradigm has been completely inverted – people nowadays have to seek out live music, and most of the music you hear on broadcast is pre-recorded.
While musicianship (aural skills) and theory are relatively the same, the continual development of music technology changes how music is offered and consumed. Think about the fact that now everyone has almost unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of songs, recordings, and performances, accessible by the phone in your pocket. Your ancestors would find this mind-boggling.
What job would you have if you couldn’t be a professor, regardless of salary and job outcome?
I might have chosen to teach Kindergarten if I were not a music professor. I think it would be fun to teach students at this level since they learn a lot through play, discovery, and guided educational activities.
What do you know now that you wished you knew when you were in college?
I wish I could play then like I play now – with knowledge of the same songs, technical ability, and understanding of the jazz tradition and canon. However, I learned long ago that we need to focus on where we are now and continue to set goals and personal objectives.
What is your biggest student pet peeve?
That’s a tricky question since much learning is often “constructivist,” meaning everyone constructs their own knowledge and is experiential. Subsequently, we must try to meet each student where they are in their academic journey. I feel bad for the current music students since they missed one or two years of large ensemble music learning (choirs, bands, orchestras, etc.) due to COVID-19. I don’t think we understand entirely the effects this will have on students, specifically those studying music and other performing arts in colleges and universities.
What should students expect from your classes? What is the secret to succeeding in your classes?
I love students who are engaged and “doing” rather than waiting to “have it done” to them. When I was young, I often had a terrible attitude and habit of sitting in the back of the room, trying to be cool and almost daring the instructor to “teach me.”
However, if a student comes to a class or lesson, hasn’t done what I asked, has instead gone onto a completely different (but related) topic, and has done some work, I get very enthusiastic! This is a teachable moment and a valuable opportunity for me to modify my goals for this lesson/class/ensemble and to meet and encourage students’ passions and interests.
What was the last streaming show that you binge-watched or the last good book that you read?
This is a difficult question since I currently have several books going simultaneously. The last book I completed was a biography by the great jazz pedagogue and publisher Art Dedrick. However, I am also a bit of a “train nerd” and am reading about past and current railroads in Pennsylvania.
I have a stack of jazz artists’ biographies and autobiographies that I am still working through.
What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?
My ancestors (Wetzels) were early settlers in this immediate area and were mentioned in the “Bethlehem Diaries” (The Bethlehem Diary Volume I, 1742-1744).
Is there any advice you have for aspiring musicians or anyone studying music?
Many important lessons I learned in the music conservatory were music-related, but many were not. These lessons are more general than professional, and overall life lessons that make everyone marketable and valued colleagues. These include:
- Mastering your time management and planning daily – including your downtime and recreation time.
- To be early to appointments, classes, and gigs is to be on time. To arrive exactly on time is to be late.
- Be a careful and discerning listener, especially to your teachers and work supervisors.
- Have a plan – make personal and professional goals. Then, work methodically and consciously to attain those goals.
Lastly: practice, practice, practice!
