Warren Wilson Music Department On an “Upward Trajectory”
Solie Lawson | April 7, 2026
Photo of music faculty playing in Bryson Gym at Warren Wilson College (WWC) in Swannanoa, N.C. (Taylor McCallum/Echo).
Now that spring has sprung, students at Warren Wilson College (WWC) can enjoy hearing music outdoors across campus. The music department has grown exponentially over the last 10years, and there are even more aspiring student musicians to serenade those on campus.
Jason DeCristofaro is an assistant professor and the chair of the music department. In his 10 years at WWC, he has seen growth in the department and says the campus has a strong music community.
“I've seen the college go through so many changes and transitions,” DeCristofaro said. “Right now, at least in my ten years here, [the music department] feels like the best it's ever been. I feel like it's making this upward trajectory.”
DeCristofaro explained how the music offerings at WWC have grown. The music department now offers a wide range of ensembles, including five jazz ensembles, two old-time bands, two bluegrass bands, a Celtic folk ensemble, a chamber ensemble, a college choir, a West African ensemble, an Indonesian gamelan, a beginning string band and a klezmer ensemble. He also noted that a little over a third of the undergraduate student population is enrolled in a music course.
“There's a lot of opportunities in the department,” DeCristofaro said. “If you have an interest that's maybe outside the usual path of what you'd see in the college music curriculum, you can take that, and the faculty in this department work with the students really closely to try and help them find [their] voice.”
John Cloyd Miller, an adjunct music professor who was brought in by Kevin Kehrberg, the former chair of the music department, to start a singer-songwriting program, discussed the beauty of the WWC musical campus.
“The music department is incredibly vibrant and diverse, and it's continuing to expand,” Cloyd Miller said. “It just [continues to have] more [and] more offerings, and we're all really excited about it.”
Natalya Weinstein Miller, who is the director of the traditional music department and Cloyd Miller’s wife, spoke on the importance of teaching music.
“I think John's broad musical background has helped him to work with students that like all different kinds of music,” Weinstein Miller said. “It's not necessarily traditional, like bluegrass songwriting. That's something I [find] special.”
Weinstein Miller mentioned a new series hosted by the WWC music department in partnership with Ginger's Revenge, a local business that makes alcoholic ginger beers. The company will be hosting traditional music sessions every Friday, coordinated by a different adjunct faculty member each week.
With these progressions, Cloyd Miller noted, the music faculty continues to flourish and grow.
Clarke Williams is an adjunct music professor at WWC who focuses on teaching old time music. He also emphasized the growth of the department and how offering different programs has allowed students to excel and continue to build a musical community.
“When I'm teaching students, and then I can tell they're having fun and getting together on their own playing tunes, that's my goal: getting people to start [making] music with each other,” Williams said.
The music department at WWC continues to excel and to inspire students to take different musical paths. Its faculty is excited by the department’s growth, increasing quality, new opportunities and helping to build a vibrant musical scene on campus.