Jeffrey Lyman

Jeffrey Lyman is Associate Professor of bassoon at Arizona State University, and has been at ASU since 1996. Prior to coming to Arizona, he taught at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Born in Montrose, New York, he began bassoon studies after switching from saxophone before his 8th grade year. He credits his interest in bassoon as starting when he heard some bassoonists practicing Simon and Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair after school one day, as well as hearing the bassoon solo in the Rite of Spring in the film Fantasia.

Jeffrey earned his Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance at Temple University under the instruction of Bernard Garfield. He went on to earn his Master of Music and the DMA in Bassoon Performance from the University of Michigan as a student of Richard Beene.

After finishing his undergraduate work, Jeffrey's first job was that of Principal Bassoonist for the Savannah Symphony in Georgia. He has played bassoon in orchestras across the country, including Colorado Music Festival, the Bellingham Festival, the Vermont Mozart Festival and many more, and has played contrabassoon in the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He also plays the seven-keyed classical bassoon and has performed on this bassoon in the Connecticut Early Music Festival.

In his spare time, Jeffrey enjoys desert landscaping and collecting native Southwestern cacti and agaves. He was also a dessert chef at the restaurant Elizabeth on 37th in Savannah, Georgia. Jeffrey's other passion is the music of Igor Stravinsky, and has lectured and written on many aspects of Stravinsky's music. Since he is often known as playing music that is out of the ordinary, his advice to young musicians is simply to play what one loves—even if it is not the Mozart concerto.