Dr. Philip Pennington has taught thousands of people to play piano, guitar, and sing their favorite songs. He has been playing concerts on piano, guitar, and pipe organ for decades and has served as a Music Director/Conductor/Composer in countless venues from the Spoleto Festival to Duke Chapel.

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In recent years he has been a Music Producer and Session Pianist/Guitarist working out of Northstar Studios on the Screen Gems movie lot and at Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

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Philip is the founder of SOUNDAMERICA (clients included: Olivia Newton John, Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffett, Heart, Lionel Ritchie, ZZ Top, Alabama, Hall & Oates, Kenny Loggins, the Beach Boys and other multi-Platinum artists).

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During his Music Production work at Northstar on the Screen Gems movie lot (the largest film studio east of Hollywood!) a new television pilot was put on the screen in front of Philip.  Seeing the show for the first time, he improvised the music that was used to pitch the show to investors. 

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Philip's concert work goes beyond playing instruments.  He was the Technical Director for concerts with 60,000+ SRO crowds, coordinating everything from digital delay towers to fireworks synchronization. 

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While renting a stage for the Kenny Loggins show, he was asked if he could provide the massive power distribution necessary for the light system.  Within hours he had a tractor trailer rig lined up from the Louisiana oil fields!

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His undergraduate thesis was entitled 'Applied Acoustical Analysis.' It included some reverberation field programs years before such programs became commercially available.  The insights he gleaned from this led to consultations with James Madison University (Tom Petty concert) and other venues. 

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When he rented his piano to Luther Vandross he learned many piano nuances from Luther's brilliant work.  And on a different Luther note; his doctoral thesis at Luther explored ways nonprofits could use music to enhance their programs.  The statistical analysis of the data he collected was conclusive and affirming to the style of music he developed over 30 years of playing. 

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In the spirit of a renaissance man;  Philip also won the 1997 Cray Supercomputing Award at Duke for his research on cardiac morphometrics.  He served in both the Duke Department of Surgery and the Duke Department of Biomedical Engineering, conducting cardiovascular research in diastolic RV morphometry.  He was designated as the leader of a diverse international team of graduate students who published their work in leading medical journals.

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These diverse activities and accomplishments have led Dr. Pennington to be a music educator dedicated to clarity and kindness.  Every one of his lessons on every instrument reflects this caring spirit of gratitude.  At times the lessons are therapeutic, at times just a lot of fun!  At all times, his students receive far more than technical methodology.

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Yes, Dr. Pennington can introduce music to a beginner who marvels at the elegance of music theory.  And yes, he can have even beginner students playing along with their favorite songs after just a couple of lessons.  And certainly he can coach performing professional musicians to be their best onstage and in the studio.  But perhaps the greatest of all these, are the treasures his students receive when they discover the magic of music that is theirs for a lifetime.

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