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BioDebbie Gruber has been playing the piano since she was 5 years old and singing all of her life. Her piano lessons were very traditional, based on classical music and note-reading. When she was 23 years old, she met a jazz piano player who gave her lessons every week for 5 months. This totally changed her musical world – exposing her to jazz, jazz theory, and chordal embellishments.Debbie attended The University of Rochester, studying piano at the Eastman School of Music. She then graduated from The University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Music Education Degree (voice and piano focus). She received her Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from Western Michigan University where she was a Lecturer in jazz appreciation and an Assistant Conductor of Gold Company II, a 24-voice highly-acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble. Debbie has taught in high school, both privately and publicly. She operated her own music school for 11 years in Brookline, MA called The Coolidge Corner Music Studio where she taught over 35 students and employed two additional teachers. Debbie Gruber also sang with The Tanglewood Festival Chorus for 8 years after graduate school, performing with the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall and Seiji Ozawa Hall under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Keith Lockhart and Robert Shaw. She has performed with such luminaries as Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and Bobby McFerrin. Ms. Gruber also founded the award-winning 6-voice a cappella vocal jazz group “The Wicked Pitches” which has performed at many popular clubs in the Boston area including Johny D’s, All Asia, Ryles and at many wedding and community functions. Currently, Debbie teaches private piano and voice in Burlington, MA. She also teaches at The Brookline Center for Adult and Community Education, The Boston Center for Adult Education, The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, The Learning Connection, and Assabet Valley Regional Technical School. Children’s choirs have also been a life-long interest of Debbie’s. In 2004 she founded and became the Artistic Director of The Children’s Chorus in Burlington, MA. It has grown into 3 choruses with a combined membership of 75 children, ages 5-11. Debbie Gruber resides in Burlington with her husband Ralph and two children, Claire and Joseph, ages 9 and 7. Her two passions – teaching music and being with her family keep her very busy. Always looking for a challenge and to learn more about music, Debbie looks forward to many more prosperous years of teaching and learning.
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