Scott Jeppesen

Dr. Scott Jeppesen

Assistant Professor, Music, CLASS

Dr. Scott Jeppesen, an accomplished musician, composer, arranger, and professor, is passionate about teaching people music through creation. Whether teaching courses or conducting ensembles, his teaching is guided by his core belief that people learn best if it is fun.

In 2017, Jeppesen joined the MSU Billings community, eager to implement a more hands-on approach to many subjects within the music curriculum. As a music theory teacher, Jeppesen implemented practices that encourage students to learn by composing and improvising rather than purely by analysis. As a music history teacher, Jeppesen has challenged students to act as musicologists rather than memorize facts and works by various artists.

In 2019, Jeppesen formed the Rocky Mountain Jazz Collective for which he writes, arranges and is a major soloist. Since its inception, the Collective has participated in numerous performances at the historic Babcock Theatre. One of his nominators shares that “creating the Collective is a terrific example of how Dr. Jeppesen is continually looking for ways to expand our department’s offerings and at the same time increase our collaboration and visibility within Billings and the region.”

Dr. Jeppesen is a proponent of a flexible music curriculum to support the rapidly changing music industry. As such, he helped to write and launch a new degree in Commercial Music last fall. The new degree incorporates skills essential to succeeding in the music industry today. A nominator shares that “Dr. Jeppesen’s teaching is exceptional. I observed a class he taught and was extremely impressed with his balance of great command of the subject, his engaging and accessible teaching style, and most importantly, amazing use of cutting-edge media tools in his presentation.”

Jeppesen has achieved prestigious milestones in his musical career and been instrumental in updating the music curriculum, creating the Yellowjacket Recording Studio, and ensuring student success at MSUB. For his immeasurable impacts to the next generation of musicians, Dr. Scott Jeppesen is named a 2022 Winston and Helen Cox Fellowship Award recipient.