Rate My Professor Kip Franklin

Kip Franklin, Associate Professor of Clarinet in the Department of Music at the University of South Alabama, is an acclaimed performer, educator, and champion of contemporary clarinet repertoire. He earned a Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University, studying with Deborah Paull, and both a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Michigan State University under Heidi Phoenix and Guy Yehuda. His DMA dissertation, completed in 2014, provides an in-depth analysis of David Maslanka's Eternal Garden: Four Songs for Clarinet and Piano, a work he co-commissioned as part of a national consortium. Before joining the University of South Alabama around 2016, initially as Assistant Professor and promoted to Associate Professor, Franklin taught at Hillsdale College, Albion College, and the University of Michigan. At USA, he instructs clarinet studio, music theory, and aural skills, directs the USA Clarinet Ensemble, and organizes the annual USA Clarinet Day.

Franklin performs extensively as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral principal across the United States and Europe, including with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and Mobile Opera Orchestra. He has presented clinics and recitals at the Midwest Clinic, American Band College, Alabama Music Educators Association, and numerous International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests in Ostend, Belgium, Orlando, Baton Rouge, and other locations. A proponent of new music, he co-commissioned Maslanka's Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2014) and works by David Biedenbender, Roger Zare, and Philip Wharton. His debut solo recording, Crossroads: Twenty-First Century Music for Clarinet (2018), showcases exclusively 21st-century compositions with world premiere recordings, produced with support from College of Arts and Sciences faculty development and seed grants. He also released Perpetuum Mobile (2016) with the USA Faculty Wind Trio and premiered an original arrangement of Carl Maria von Weber's Fantasia and Rondo at ClarinetFest 2024 in Dublin, funded by an Arts and Humanities Seed Grant. Franklin serves as Treasurer of the International Clarinet Association, previously as Audio Reviews Editor, and adjudicates for the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association, and Pensacola Music Teachers Association.