Collection: James P. O'Brien

James P. O'Brien has been a Professor of Music at The University of Arizona School of Music faculty since 1975.

Since his retirement, he holds the academic rank of Professor Emeritus. He received his B.S. in General Studies from Portland State University and an M. Ed. in Music from Central Washington State College. In 1969 he was awarded the Ph. D. in Music Education at the University of Colorado. He also holds an MBA. from Arizona State University (1986) in marketing and finance.

Before coming to The University of Arizona, he taught public school music and math in Oregon and served as an Associate Professor of Music at Oregon College of Education as well as a Senior Lecturer at Torrens College of Advanced Education in South Australia.

Dr. O'Brien has authored 8 published textbooks and several articles in national journals. He has been the recipient of numerous grants dedicated to the improvement of classroom music teaching through technology. His performance specialty is the keyboard and he is an avid accordionist as well as an arranger/composer of accordion music including over 150 original compositions and arrangements.

He has produced three accordion CDs as a soloist and founded the Accordion Club of Tucson in 1998.

Since retirement from The University of Arizona in 2003, he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S., volunteering at lighthouses as a guide/interpreter as well as providing lectures on the history of accordion, which incorporate live performance and demonstration. He has written and directed numerous musicals for community groups and is also the author of a book on retirement: The Realities of Retirement.

Contact:
Email: jobrien@u.arizona.edu