Deanna Walker-Tipps holds a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance
Pedagogy from Eastern New Mexico University and a Master's degree in Composition
from Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Walker-Tipps
recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she joined the faculty of
Vanderbilt University.
Ms. Walker-Tipps co-authored Alfred's Basic Piano
Library Composition Books, Levels 1–3. She recently adjudicated the
national finals of the Music Teachers National Association composition
contest, where her student, Katy Beck-Eichert, was the elementary level
winner. The winning entry, an oboe and piano piece entitled View from
the Grass, was later performed at the association's national convention
in Nashville in March 1998.
Ms. Walker-Tipps has been a speaker at national, division,
state and local MTNA conventions and has received numerous commissions
for her compositions. Living Arts of Tulsa, in conjunction with the Oklahoma
Arts Council, presented a concert of Ms. Walker-Tipps' works on April
25, 1998. In the spring of 1997 Tulsa's premier chamber music society,
Concertime, commissioned Theme and Motivations for piano trio.
The piece was well received at its world premiere by the Tulsa ensemble
Trio Brioso. Ms. Walker-Tipps also recently completed Trio, a work
for saxophone, flute and piano that was commissioned by the Research Services
Council of the University of Nebraska at Kearney and premiered in Chicago
in March of 1998. One of her pieces, Suite for Two Pianos, won
third place in the MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year competition,
which included noted composers from more than 30 states. Suite for
Two Pianos had originally been commissioned by the Oklahoma Music
Teacher's Association.