Comments on James Grant as teacher

...James Grant's teaching is driven by a firm conviction that every student has innate musical abilities... his teaching attitude is unfailingly optimistic, positive, and encouraging...   I have never seen such high morale as in his classroom... his passion is to uncover abilities, develop them, celebrate them... the leaps of improvement students make from assignment to assignment are almost bewildering... students who stay with him for the full four semesters of composition are composing sophisticated, energetic, clever, adventurous music — music I would not expect to hear even at the graduate level... Jim is a supportive colleague, tirelessly attentive to the growth and shaping of our curriculum and the concerns of members of the department... 

Prof. George B. Todd, Chair of Music Department (retired)
Middlebury College, VT

... a first-rate composition teacher... allows his student incredible freedom, while still teaching advanced compositional techniques and skills... his advice is informative and helpful on both a technical and a musical level.... [we] come up with an infinite variety of ways to solve compositional problems, then I choose the best in my own mind...  he has taught me the most important principle of all: to think freely for myself...

Sheridan Seyfried, age 18
private composition student now studying at Curtis Institute
2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award
2001 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Award
2002 Presidential Scholar

TO