James Swearingen
James Swearingen (born 1947) is an American composer and arranger. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Ohio State University and a Bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University and is Professor of Music Emeritus, Department Chair of Music Education at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. The music he writes is part of a small genre played in American high school band classes as Concert Literature, generally two- to six-minute-long pieces played for high school band concerts.
James Swearingen
- Name
- James Swearingen
- Occupation
- Composer
- Born
- 26 September 1947
- Birthplace
- Dayton, Ohio
- Education
- Bowling Green State University · Butler High School
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for James Swearingen. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q3271118 · wikipedia · James Swearingen
In this article
Biography
Biography
He is a recipient of several ASCAP awards.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — James Swearingen • Occupation — Composer • Years Active — 1947-Present • Born — 26 September 1947 • Birthplace — Dayton, Ohio
Biography
Biography
James Swearingen is currently one of several resident composers at Capital University and is also a staff arranger for the Ohio State University Marching Band. Prior to his appointment at Capital in 1987, he spent eighteen years teaching instrumental music in the public schools of central Ohio. His first teaching assignment was in Sunbury, Ohio. He then spent fourteen years as Director of Instrumental Music at Grove City High School, teaching marching, concert and jazz bands. Swearingen is also a guest conductor, adjudicator and educational clinician in the US and internationally. He has travelled throughout the United States, Japan, Australia, Europe, Canada and The Republic of China. With over 600 published works, he has written band compositions and arrangements in a variety of musical forms and styles. Many of his pieces, including 81 commissioned works, have been chosen for contest and festival lists. He is a recipient of several ASCAP awards for published compositions and in 1992 was selected as an Accomplished Graduate of the Fine and Performing Arts from Bowling Green State University. Most recently, he received the 2002 Community Music Educator Award given annually by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), MENC: The National Association for Music Education, American School Band Directors Association (ASBDA), Phi Beta Mu, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In March 2000, he was invited to join the American Bandmasters Association.
Grading Scale
Grading Scale
According to Swearingen's web site, he grades the difficulty of performing his compositions using the following scale: • 1 - Easy (for first year beginning bands) • 2 - Medium Easy (for second and third year bands) • 3 - Medium (for intermediate or early high school bands) • 4 - Medium Difficult (for most high school bands)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1947
James Swearingen born.
Recordings
Several of Swearingen's band compositions have been recorded by The Washington Winds and are available on compact discs from Walking Frog Records. His recordings include In All Its Glory, Exaltation, Panther in the Sky, Celebration For Winds And Percussion, The Light Of Dawn, and the newest release, Flight of Valor.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article James Swearingen, revision 1357937445 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- Bowling Green State UniversityOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
James Swearingen is recorded as having studied at Bowling Green State University and Butler High School. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Activity and practice
Within the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 27 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
44,023 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- James SingletonPerson
- James SpauldingPerson
- James StinsonPerson
- James StroudPerson
- James TaylorPerson
- James TenneyPerson
- James TurlePerson
- James V. MonacoPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by James Swearingen?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.