faculty/staff

Jennifer Sacher Wiley, D.M.A.

I enjoy tending a modest garden outside my office. I've been having trouble with the mums, and the astilbe one of my students donated is withering—too much sun, maybe?  But I'm patient with this "office garden" because I plan to be here for many more years, and I’m not in a hurry to have perfection right away. 

Studying music at the college level is a process, just like a garden. Sure, my students enjoy moments of clarity and triumph along the way: solo violin performances in our music major forum, in studio class and in formal solo recitals; or pinnacle orchestral performances like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5,  Mahler songs or a world premiere in Carnegie Hall. But as music professors who tend our “gardens” of students year after year, we know that the process of practicing, rehearsing, discovering a new theoretical concept or simply interacting with fellow musicians—that these are the most profound and spiritually sustaining activities in a music program.

In my special corner of our music world at Susquehanna University, I hope to provide a solid home base for young violinists and orchestral musicians. I seek to provide good amounts of sun and water so that they develop into healthy, inspired citizens of the arts.