“If you use all the abilities you were designed with, you should become stronger….”
-Zero, Mega Man X
On a never-ending quest to use all the abilities he was designed with, Eric Hagmann has been actively working toward becoming stronger as a vocalist, pianist, arranger, and educator. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Minnesota: Duluth where he studied Music Theory and Composition with an emphasis in piano under the tutelage of Justin Rubin and Tom Wegren. In June of 2021, he completed his Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies with an emphasis in Jazz Voice at the University of Northern Colorado where he was proud to hold the position of the Vocal Jazz Teaching Assistant for the 2020-2021 school year. While there, he was fortunate to study with Brennan Baglio and, later, Marion Powers. He began teaching at Northwest College in Powell, WY in the Fall of 2021 where he is the Vocal Music Instructor and director of Collegiate Chorale and Vocal Jazz.
Before pursuing his Master’s, Eric spent seven years as an adjunct faculty at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN where he had the privilege of directing Vocal Revolution, a contemporary pop a cappella ensemble. His experience with vocal music runs deep having sung with choirs as early as elementary school. In college, he sang with the Downbeat Award-winning vocal jazz ensemble, Lake Effect, under the direction of mentor Tina Thielen-Gaffey. Toward the end of his undergrad, he cofounded Fermata Nowhere, an a cappella ensemble consisting of fellow vocal jazz members for which he acted as the primary arranger. After graduation, he had the great honor of performing with the Phil Mattson Singers, and he was fortunate to participate in Phil’s final DCINY Vocal Jazz Festival held at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Later, Eric spent four years singing with the Twin Ports Choral Project in Duluth, MN under the direction of Bret Amundson.
Eric’s time at UMD provided him with ways to develop his piano skills which lead to several performance opportunities in his future. For 12 years, he accompanied UMD’s vocal jazz ensembles for auditions, retreats, and concerts. Additionally, he accompanied the high school faction of the Lake Superior Youth Chorus and travelled with them on their 2012 tour through Ireland. He spent two years playing with the Troppo Big Band in Chippewa Falls, WI. While teaching in Duluth, he also performed with the St. Scholastica Jazz Band, and he gigged with the Zenith City Sharps, a local jazz quartet, for one year before pursuing his graduate studies. His most recent side project was playing with The Squalls, a variety group made up of current and former students from UNC.
Arranging has been a long-term passion that took hold in high school when he and his friends desperately wanted to perform Rockapella’s “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” but didn’t have any sheet music in order to learn it, forcing him to create it on his own. Since then, he has arranged music for other vocal ensembles, show choirs, and he has provided music for UMD’s annual Cabaret show for 10 years. He currently has over 45 published arrangements available on sheetmusicplus.com consisting mostly of contemporary pop a cappella tunes in various voicings. He has also been newly added as an arranger to Anchor Music Publications from which you can access his most recent vocal jazz charts. Lately, he has been building his chops in Logic Pro X to make demo tracks of his work.
Eric has provided private lessons both in-person and online for students in music theory, composition, voice, and piano. Additionally, he possesses 10+ years of practical music industry knowledge in sheet music, instrument sales, and equipment consultation. As a personal goal, part of this website will be dedicated to providing learning resources in various topics to educators and students that are based on Eric’s experiences/research.
When Eric’s not spending time on music, he loves learning, art, and creating content that’s engaging and entertaining. For 2020, he challenged himself to create monthly articles about various gaming topics – all based on horrible puns. In an effort to reach a wider audience and retain at least a little bit of personality in what’s supposed to be a professional website, be on the lookout for regular updates that will be published directly to this page!
Teaching
Conducting the final combined a cappella piece at the 2019 Vocal Revolution collaborative concert at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN.
Performing
Working with Phil Mattson at his last vocal jazz workshop at Concordia College in 2010.
And more…
A recent crayon art project depicting characters from Kirby’s Dream Land!
Making all of this content takes a lot of energy and work! If you’re feeling generous and would like to support my projects, consider “buying me a coffee” or two or ten from the following website:
Eric Hagmann Music 