Baton Rouge Bassoonist to join Jacobs faculty

This fall, bassoonist William Ludwig will join the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music. Ludwig began playing the saxophone in middle school because he wanted to become a jazz musician. He went on to study at the University of North Texas, which is known for its jazz program.\n“When I got there I realized there were a lot of great jazz players in the world,” Ludwig said. “And I wasn’t a great improviser, which is really the soul of jazz.” \nLudwig, who had also played the bassoon in high school, realized jazz music wasn’t his calling while attending University of North Texas. He soon found out what it was.\n“My strength was interpreting music already written down,” Ludwig said. “By dead guys mostly.” \nLudwig transferred to Louisiana State University to play bassoon, where he earned a Bachelor of Music, then he studied at Temple University, which he left to attend the Yale University School of Music. At Yale, Ludwig studied under Arthur Weisberg while working on his Master of Music. Weisberg is currently a professor of bassoon at IU.\n“It’s an honor to be teaching with my former teacher,” Ludwig said.\nWhen Ludwig finished his own education he briefly became an instructor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Ludwig also taught at the University of South Florida before being named Carruth Professor of Bassoon at his alma mater Louisiana State University, where he has been teaching for the past 21 years.\nLudwig has been an active musician outside the educational setting. He has performed with orchestras such as the Kansas City Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra and the Baton Rouge Symphony. Ludwig said he was named the Principal Bassoonist at the Brevard Music Center, which is a well known summer music festival in Brevard, N.C. Ludwig said he has recorded several solo bassoon CDs as well.\nLudwig is happy to be joining the Jacobs School of Music faculty.\n“It’s really one of the world’s best schools of music,” Ludwig said. “It’s fun to contemplate the challenges of it all.”\nLudwig said some of the challenges he sees are recruiting the talented group of bassoonists the Jacobs School of Music needs while performing on campus and elsewhere around the country.\nMoving from Baton Rouge to Bloomington is another challenge, but Ludwig said he and his wife are at a time in their lives where a new challenge is fun.\n“For such a small town, Bloomington has a high intensity cultural life,” Ludwig said. “My wife and I are excited to be part of that.”\nLudwig said his wife is also a musician and has been teaching elementary music in public schools for the last 13 years.\n“She’s hoping to find something similar here in Bloomington,” Ludwig said.\nAfter changing his career path and transferring schools while he was an undergraduate, Ludwig’s best advice to aspiring students is to be honest and ask themselves why they are going to school.\nSaid Ludwig, “Is it because it’s the next step you’re supposed to take, or is it because you’re trying to figure out what you really want to do?”