American Double Bassist Dan Swaim has Died, Aged 89

Swaim was a pioneering Suzuki bass teacher and taught bass at the collegiate level for 39 years

Born in 1934 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Dr. Dan Swaim earned degrees from the University of North Carolina and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. 

He also attended Indiana University, where he became the first bassist to be awarded the Performer’s Certificate of Music. His principal teachers were Joseph Van Reck and Murray Grodner. 

As an educator at the collegiate level for nearly 40 years, Swaim taught double bass, music theory, and jazz studies at Wichita State University and later served as professor emeritus of double bass at Arizona State University. He also taught strings in U.S. public schools.

His concert engagements included the Atlanta, Dallas, Fort Worth, Phoenix, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras, and at the Kansas City and Wichita Jazz Festivals, Arizona Opera, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra.

In 1988, Swaim joined the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) and helped develop the repertoire for the Suzuki Bass School. In 1993, he became the first SAA Bass Teacher Trainer, and was appointed chair of the SAA ad hoc Bass Committee. 

Over the last two decades, Swaim had revised the first three original Suzuki Bass School books and helped publish the fourth and fifth books of the series. 

Additionally, he served for over 30 years as a presenter at major conferences across Albuquerque, Brazil, Chicago, Matsumoto, Kansas City, Las Cruces, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Rochester, San Francisco, and Savannah.

After retiring from university teaching, Swaim maintained a studio of young bass students, many of whom have won professional orchestral jobs and recognition at the state and national levels. In 2009, the Arizona Chapter of the American String Teachers recognized him as Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year. 

Dr. Swaim is survived by his wife, three children, five grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Our condolences to his family, friends, students, and colleagues.