Programme Leader, Diploma in Music

Dr Diego Celi

Dr Diego Celi
  • Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Master of Arts in Music Education, Stephen F. Austin State University
  • Baccalaureus Artium in Contemporary Music, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
  • Alumnus in Jazz Studies, Florida International University

Dr Diego Celi is an Ecuadorian jazz guitarist, composer, pedagogue, and scholar with experience as a performer, researcher, and educator across South and North America.

Before joining LASALLE, he served as a full professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito for nearly 18 years, where he held academic leadership roles including Coordinator, Chair, Vice Dean, and Dean of the College of Music.

Dr Celi began his studies in jazz performance at Florida International University and earned a Master of Arts in Music Education from Stephen F. Austin State University. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016, with a doctoral dissertation titled ‘Polymodality, Counterpoint, and Heptatonic Synthetic Scales in Jazz Composition; and Its Application in an Original Piece: Polymodal Jazz Suite for Quartet.’ His current research focuses on Western art compositional techniques applied to jazz, jazz counterpoint, and music education, with an emphasis on jazz guitar pedagogy, jazz theory pedagogy, and curriculum and assessment in higher music education.

Dr Celi’s areas of expertise include traditional and contemporary jazz, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian popular music (MPB), jazz harmony, arranging and composition, as well as theory of the common-practice period and contemporary Western art music. He also specialises in injury prevention for guitarists and pedagogical approaches to teaching jazz guitar, theory, and composition.

His research in jazz theory has been presented at the Jazz Education Network Conference and the International Jazz Composers’ Symposium, and his textbooks have trained hundreds of students over nearly two decades. As a performer, Dr Celi has appeared in concerts and recitals across Ecuador, Cuba, Miami, and Illinois, and he has led clinics and workshops in Colombia and Ecuador.

Read More

Publications

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6203-2732

Books

  • Celi, Diego. Diccionario de escalas, acordes y arpegios para guitarra. 2nd ed. 2011. Reprint, Quito, Ecuador: V&M Gráficas, 2018
  • Celi, Diego. Rudimentos de la música. 1st ed. 2010. Reprint, Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Orión, 2017
  • Celi, Diego. Diccionario de escalas, acordes y arpegios para guitarra. 1st ed. Quito, Ecuador: Editorial Ecuador, 2006

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Celi, Diego. ‘Navigating Chord Changes in Jazz Guitar with Three Different Fingering Approaches: Vertical, Horizontal, and Diagonal’ in Jazz Education in Research and Practice 5, no. 01 (2024)
  • Celi, Diego. ‘Heptatonic Synthetic Scales Nomenclature and Their Teaching in Jazz Theory’ in Jazz Education in Research and Practice 1, no. 01 (2020)
  • Celi, Diego. ‘La importancia de la educación musical en la infancia’ in Líneas de expresión, no. 01 (2014): B5–B8
  • Celi, Diego. ‘Tendencias actuales en la educación musical’ in Anaconda: Cultura y arte, no. 20 (2009): 40–46.

Conference papers

  • Celi, Diego. ‘In Search of a Definitive Jazz Chord-Scale Nomenclature’, Jazz Education Network, 9th Annual Conference; Dallas, TX (2018)
  • Celi, Diego. ‘Polymodality and Its Influence on the Music of George Russell and Dave Brubeck’  International Jazz Composers’ Symposium; Tampa, FL (2017)

Poster sessions

  • Celi, Diego. ‘In Search of a Definitive Jazz Chord-Scale Nomenclature’, Jazz Education Network, 9th Annual Conference; Dallas, TX (2018)

  • Post-tonal and modal jazz harmony
  • Post-tonal Western art compositional techniques applied to jazz Improvisation
  • Jazz counterpoint
  • Jazz guitar pedagogy
  • Jazz and contemporary music education
  • Praxialism in music education
  • University-level music curriculum and assessment
  • Taxonomy of theoretical, instrumental, and improvisational learning

  • Music Theory Society of New York State (MTSNYS)
  • Jazz Education Network (JEN)
  • College Music Society (CMS)
  • International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC).

Professional appointments

  • Editorial Board Member, Jazz Education in Research and Practice Journal.
  • International Baccalaureate Examiner for Music in the Diploma/Career-related program (2019–present).

Academic service

  • External Examiner, University of Melbourne (2024, 2022)
  • External Advisor, Berklee College of Music (2023)
  • Advisory Editor, Jazz Education in Research and Practice Journal (2020–2025)
  • External Proctor, Harvard University (2019)
  • Member, Research Submission Review Committee, Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference (2019–present)
  • External Academic Evaluator in Music, Higher Education Council of Ecuador (2018
  • Committee Member, Arts Research Grants, Universidad de las Artes, Ecuador (2018)

  • Committee member, Arts Research Grants, Universidad de las Artes, Ecuador (2018)