Graduate Profile: Erik Janners
The most important thing Erik Janners learned during his time at Alma College was to care for each individual performer under his direction.
“No matter how large the band, orchestra or choir, each person in the group is still an individual with his or her own problems, successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses,” the 1994 graduate says. “The Alma music faculty got to know me, and all of us in the program, as individual people, and gave each of us what we needed personally to grow.”
The music performance major is the director of music at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. He directs the University Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensembles and Pep Bands, as well as overseeing the music program and faculty. He was previously employed at University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, and at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Ill.
“The myriad of opportunities I was fortunate enough to have at Alma as a performer and scholar gave me the edge in the wide world of music,” he says. “I found that I was better prepared than my peers as an academic and as a player due to the excellence of the Alma music faculty and their wonderful collaboration with each other to create a program of unparalleled quality.”
Beginning his music career as a percussionist, Janners was attracted to Alma by a scholarship opportunity. He quickly realized the campus atmosphere and the vast music opportunities made Alma College stand out.
Janners went on to earn his master's degree in percussion from the University of Utah and his doctorate in conducting at the University of Alabama.
While at Alma, Janners was involved with the Alma College Orchestra, Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble.
