Dr. Ira T. Wiggins
North Carolina Central University
Dr. Ira T. Wiggins is an associate professor and director of the Jazz Studies program in the Department of Music at North Carolina Central University. A member of the department since 1986, he has been instrumental in developing Jazz Studies into a program of distinction, directing the university's Jazz Ensemble, and bringing national and international recognition to NCCU's student musicians. At the same time, as a saxophonist/flutist, he has 15 albums to his credit as a sideman and soloist.
Dr. Wiggins was born the son of sharecroppers in rural Lenoir County, in the farming community of Grifton, North Carolina. Recognizing his early passion for music, his parents bought him a drum set when he was five years old. Largely self-taught, his first formal training began when he attended college at North Carolina Central University and majored in music education. He returned to NCCU to as a faculty member to help rebuild and strengthen a struggling program. When he began, the Department of Music had two Jazz Studies majors and a small ensemble of ten students. Now, the program boasts three big bands, a vocal jazz ensemble, four small combos, and a guitar ensemble. In 2005, he began establishing the Masters of Music in Jazz Performance and Composition, a dream that became a reality in 2008. One student recalls his first experience learning from Dr. Wiggins: "He would go over a lesson again and again with the patience of a saint, never once showing boredom or frustration at my lack of ability. He offered instead encouragement and different ways to work on it to get better." This student, one of the first class of graduates of the master's program in Jazz Studies, writes, "Knowing how humble of a man he is, I'm sure he has struggled with even going forward with this nomination. To him, the students and the music are his greatest rewards."
Known for his passion for teaching, Dr. Wiggins has devoted his career to making a difference in the lives of students and opening the world to them. Students in the jazz program at NCCU have performed at numerous festivals and received top honors, including notable performances at the Montreux, Switzerland, Jazz Festival (in 1996 and 1999), the Newport Jazz Festival (in 2009), and the New York Jazz Festival at Lincoln Center (in 2010), to name only a few. In 2008, the NCCU Instrumental and Vocal Jazz Ensembles performed at the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) Conference in Toronto with artists-in-residence Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo. Because of Dr. Wiggins, NCCU students have had the opportunity to work with and learn from the best jazz musicians in the country. As one of his colleagues notes, "In his quiet, humble way, he has made a lasting and far-reaching impact on jazz education at NCCU, in North Carolina, and far beyond!"
After receiving his bachelor's degree from North Carolina Central University, Dr. Wiggins earned his master's in Music from Virginia Commonwealth University and his PhD in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.