Dr. Alan Apple is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Kutztown University where he is in his nineteenth year of teaching, conducting, and performing. He directs two vocal jazz groups and conducts the University Chamber Singers, in addition to his classroom and studio teaching.

Dr. Apple has been performing and teaching jazz studies on the college and university level for more than thirty-five
years. He is an active jazz pianist and leads his own jazz trio as well as performing with the KU Faculty Jazz Combo. He has played with many top jazz musicians in both combos and big bands, but he specializes in solo jazz piano.

He directs the Vocal Jazz Studies and Jazz Piano programs at Kutztown University. He conducts two vocal jazz groups, AfterHours and Main Street, in addition to his private studio teaching in Jazz Voice and Jazz Piano. While much of his work in jazz education has been with college students, he always makes time to be involved with younger student jazz musicians in high school, middle school, and even on the elementary level, a teaching area he particularly enjoys—yes, children can and do “speak jazz” very well.

Dr. Apple received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from Temple University in Philadelphia and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder.