Kendall Campus

Education

• Bachelor of Music (Piano Performance) from the University of South Alabama
• Master of Music (Piano Performance) from Florida State University
• Postgraduate Work at the University of Miami
  Fulbright Hayes Group Study Abroad at Ghana, West Africa

Biography

Professor Kevin Wayne Bumpers is a concert pianist holding both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Piano Performance from the University of South Alabama and Florida State University. He has done postgraduate studies at the University of Miami. His teachers include Katie B. Armstrong, Dr. Edward Daniel, Leonard Mastrogiacomo, James Stream and Dr. J. B. Floyd. He has participated in master classes with notable concert pianist such as Ruth Slanchenska, Nalita True, and Susan Starr.

Mr. Bumpers is a full-time tenured faculty member and coordinator of the Keyboard Arts Area at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus since 1991 at the rank of Associate Professor Senior. He was awarded the prestigious Robert H. McCabe Endowed Teaching Chair in 1999 at Miami Dade College and the NISOD Award for his teaching excellence. In 2006 Mr. Bumpers received a Fulbright-Hayes Group Study Abroad Scholarship to Ghana, West Africa to study traditional religious music in their various dialects. He is the founder and artistic director of the Miami Dade College High School Piano Competition and the Piano Sonata Competition. He is the former choir director of the national award-winning JUBA Gospel Ensemble of Miami Dade College Kendall Campus. His choir recorded their first compact disc in 1996 and filmed their first live television concert for Public Television in 1997. They have been featured on the Bobby Jones Gospel Show on the BET Network and the Spanish Channel Telemundo.

He is an award-winning pianist. At the age of 18 he made his concert stage debut performing the Gershwin Piano Concerto in F with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra conducted by Barry Douglas. He has won several Piano Competitions including the Tourgee DeBose National Piano Competition, Omega Psi Phi National Talent Hunt, Mobile Music Teachers Scholarship Competition, The Chester Memorial Piano Scholarship Competition and the Florida Music Teachers Association Collegiate Competition.

Mr. Bumpers is a composer and arranger. He has written three books of piano solo arrangements of Popular Hymns and Christmas Hymns accompanied by a compact disc. He was commissioned to write two songs for the Miami Children’s Choir and his choral works have been performed by local and international choirs. He is currently collecting piano duets and duos by Black Composers to record and publish. He has shared the performance stage with several national recording artists such as Daniel Romaine, Yolanda Adams, Shirley Caesar, Mary Mary and Donnie McClurkin. He performed a music and comedy routine with Don Knox, the actor who plays Barnie Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. He has entertained such dignitaries as Alex Haley, Henry Kissinger, Rosa Parks and Governor George Wallace. He served as the Religious Music Coordinator for the NAACP National Convention on Miami Beach in 2003.

Mr. Bumpers is a sought after classical and gospel pianist, accompanist, music workshop clinician and adjudicator of talent competitions. He maintains a private piano studio in Miami, Florida and has been a leader in church music ministry for over thirty plus years. He is married to Katrina Battle Bumpers and they have three children, Kevin, Karina and Kami.

Awards

• Fulbright-Hayes Group Study Abroad, Ghana, West Africa, 2006
• Robert H. McCabe Endowed Teaching Chair, 1999-2001
• NISOD Award for Teaching Excellence, 1999
• Delores Auzenne Fellowship, 1988
• Florida Music Teachers Association Collegiate Competition, 1987
• Tourgee DeBose National Piano Competition, 1984, 1985, 1987
• Chester Piano Scholarship Competition, 1984, 1986
• Mobile Music Teachers Scholarship Competition, 1983
• Omega Psi Phi National Talent Hunt, 1983

Courses Taught

• Class Piano I (MVK 1111)
• Class Piano II (MVK 1112)
• Class Piano III (MVK 2121)
• Class Piano IV (MVK 2122)
• Applied Piano Lessons (MVK 1011 - 2321)
• Jazz and Popular Music History (MUL 2380)