Pianist, Teacher, Clinician

J. P. Murphy serves as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma where he teaches applied piano, graduate piano pedagogy, and coordinates the secondary piano studies program. An active clinician and adjudicator, he frequently presents workshops and guest lectures at the state and national levels. His research on keyboard skills, DEI in the piano studio, effective classroom communication, and early-advanced teaching literature has been featured at numerous organizations, including the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum (GP3), and the MTNA Collegiate Chapters Piano Pedagogy Symposium. With the Frances Clark Center, he has appeared in the From the Artist Bench lecture-performance series, as a contributing instructor in the Intermediate Teacher Education virtual course, and as a panelist at the annual DEI Summit. His work has been published in Piano Magazine and the MTNA e-Journal.
Passionate about art song literature, Murphy frequently performs in recital as a collaborative artist. Highlights from the 2021-2022 season include performances of Fauré’s La chanson d’Ève with Lorraine Ernest and Célia Wollenberg and Schumann’s Kerner Lieder with Leslie John Flannigan. He previously served as a staff accompanist in the pre-college and college divisions of the Manhattan School of Music.
He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Oklahoma as a Graduate College Alumni Fellow and was awarded the Provost’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching for outstanding instruction. He earned a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Manhattan School of Music and completed dual majors in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and Music Education while earning his Bachelor of Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Murphy completed additional studies at the Orford Music Academy in Orford, Canada, the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, the Golandsky Institute at Princeton University, and Orff-Schulwerk training at Hofstra University.
Dr. Murphy currently serves as President-Elect of the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, as a member of the GP3 Steering Committee, and as a member of the NCKP Teacher Education in Higher Education Committee.