David Keep
Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. David Keep teaches piano and music theory. He also serves as the Department of Music鈥檚 keyboard area head. He has taught at Hope since 2020.
In his teaching, Dr. Keep is passionate about cultivating the whole musician: mind, body and soul. His award-winning students excel as pianists, scholars and artists. Dr. Keep prepares his students for lifelong learning through piano lessons, aural skills, music theory and the seminar in music. He often advises student researchers in the summers, focusing especially on the intersections of piano performance and analysis.
Dr. Keep loves exploring with his students how music has meaning, whether through listening, sight-singing, analysis, performing or research. One of his primary goals is to empower students to have deeper musical experiences and to share their experiences with others.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Dr. Keep鈥檚 areas of expertise center around piano performance, Western art music of the 19th century, music theory and the intersections of faith and music.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., music theory, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
- M.M., piano performance, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
- B.M., piano performance, Lawrence University
Publication
- 鈥淭he Voice of Enigma: Intertextuality in 鈥業m wundersch枚nen Monat Mai,鈥欌�� Int茅gral: The Journal of Applied Musical Thought, 2023
- 鈥淏rahms 鈥榲ersus鈥� Liszt: The Internalization of Virtuosity,鈥� in Liszt and Virtuosity (edited by Robert Duran), co-winner of the American Liszt Society鈥檚 2023 Triennial Alan Walker Book Prize, University of Rochester Press, 2020
Presentations
- 鈥淔rom Song to Concerto: Recomposition, Retrieval, and Closure in Amy Beach鈥檚 Piano Concerto in C# minor, op. 45,鈥� presentation at Society for Music Theory conference, Jacksonville, Florida, 2024
- 鈥淭he Brahmsian Sublime,鈥� presentation at American Brahms Society conference, New Orleans, 2022
Perfomances
- Solo piano recital (Brahms Fantasien, op. 116 and Waltzes, op. 39), Lake Michigan Music Series, St. Joseph, Michigan, 2024
- Four-hand piano recital with Dr. Allison Keep at Brahms Gesamtausgabe, Christian-Albrechts-Universit盲t in Kiel, Germany, 2023
Outside the college
Dr. Keep lives in Holland with his wife, Dr. Allison Keep, who also teaches piano in Hope鈥檚 Department of Music. Together they lead a church history course for high school students at 14th Street Christian Reformed Church. The Drs. Keep love coffee, pastries and debates about which states are truly mitten-shaped.