Music Faculty
Chair
Associate Professor
Email: chajee@grinnell.edu
Jee-Weon Cha is a music theorist whose work explores the intersection of music, meaning, and human experience. His research encompasses such topics as analysis and interpretation, perception and cognition, semiotics and aesthetics, gender and sexuality studies, and the history of theory, with a...
Applied Music Associate
Banjo
Fred Buck is currently a AMA of Music at 鶹, where he currently teaches banjo, resphonic guitar (Dobro) and mandolin. He played piano and accordion in his youth and became interested in old time and bluegrass music and has become proficient in most of the old time time instruments...
Applied Music Associate
Bass
Email: charlson@grinnell.edu
Steve Charlson is a native of Waterloo, Iowa and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa. His principal teachers were Eldon Obrecht at the University of Iowa and Stuart Sankey at Indiana University. As a classical bassist, Steve has performed with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls...
Applied Music Associate
Bagpipe
Email: clowerr@grinnell.edu
Rob Clower has been teaching Highland bagpipes for more than 40 years. His students play in pipe bands throughout that U.S. and abroad, many also competing successfully as soloists. In 2007, Rob founded Turlach Ur, now the largest band in Iowa. Under his direction, Turlach Ur enjoyed a highly...
Applied Music Associate
College Organist
Organ
Email: elsbernd@grinnell.edu
Michael Elsbernd teaches organ and provides ceremonial music for various gatherings in Herrick Chapel as 鶹’s College Organist. His research on the North German Baroque musician Johann Adam Reincken was funded by a grant from The Presser Foundation in 2001, upon the recommendation of the...
Applied Music Associate
Harp
Email: ericksonl@grinnell.edu
Laura graduated with a degree in choral music education from the University of Northern Iowa, and a master’s degree in harp performance from the University of Kansas. She has held teaching positions at Washburn University (KS), Simpson College, and currently serves as an associate music artist at...
Lecturer
Applied Music Associate: Jazz Voice and Director of Latin American Jazz Ensemble
Email: espinosa@grinnell.edu
Gabriel Espinosa was born in Merida, Mexico. His love of music began at a very young age. With the help of his mother he began playing the guitar at the age of six. By the age of fourteen, along with his brothers Victor and Patricio, Gabriel performed with their group “Los Deltons”, where he played...
Applied Music Associate
Lecturer
Violin
Email: finkelsht@grinnell.edu
Tracy Finkelshteyn is an accomplished violinist and educator whose artistry and intellectual depth have earned her recognition across North America. She holds both Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.) and Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.) from Northwestern University as well as a Master of Music (M.M.)...
Professor
Senior Faculty
Email: gaub@grinnell.edu
Pianist Eugene Gaub is Professor of Music at 鶹, where he teaches courses in music theory as well as piano. He has recently given lecture-recitals for the International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music, held in Mojácar, Spain, and at the Université Laval in Québec City, with another...
Applied Music Associate
Violin
Email: gentzsch@grinnell.edu
Andrew Gentzsch, a native of Iowa City, is the violin instructor at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa and 鶹 in 鶹, Iowa. Mr. Gentzsch has led the University of Delaware Chamber Orchestra and the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra. Previously, Mr. Gentzsch received music...
Lecturer
Email: grimmma@grinnell.edu
Marlys Grimm is a distinguished collaborative pianist with extensive experience across Iowa's academic and choral communities. As a student at Central College, she studied piano with Donald Gren. Her career highlights a versatile commitment to musical partnership. Grimm has been a dedicated...
Instructor
Email: tinocofel@grinnell.edu
Felipe Guz Tinoco graduated from Berklee College of Music with a BA in performance and jazz composition and earned a PhD in Musicology at Washington University in St. Louis. He has taught guitar, ear training, improvisation, and Brazilian music for over 15 years and comes to 鶹 with...
Applied Music Associate
Cello
Email: hensonal@grinnell.edu
Alan Henson is the cello instructor at 鶹 and has an active private studio in Ames. He is Principal Cellist of the Central Iowa Symphony, and plays double bass for touring Broadway shows at Des Moines Civic Center. He is former Principal Bassist of the Des Moines, Dubuque, and Waterloo...
Assistant Professor
Email: hiranmay@grinnell.edu
Putu Tangkas Adi Hiranmayena is an Indonesian artist-scholar serving as Assistant Professor of Music (Performance and Creativity), where he directs the Balinese Sound Ensemble and teaches courses on Heavy Metal Music, Electronic Music, and Noise and Activism. He also is a founding member of Balinese...
Lecturer
Director of the Young, Gifted, and Black Gospel Choir
Email: jonesbar@grinnell.edu
Barry Jones has been the full-time director for the Young, Gifted, and Black (YGB) Gospel Choir since the fall of 2006. He served as guest director and interim director during the three years prior to his full-time appointment. Barry is also known in the Des Moines, Iowa, community and surrounding...
Applied Music Associate
Collaborative Pianist
Email: joohyeji@grinnell.edu
Dr. Hyejin Joo won the gold medal at the Seattle International Piano Competition and top awards from the Wideman, Chautauqua, Indiana University Concerto Competition, Seoul National University Concerto Competition, and the Kumho Art Foundation Audition. She is a member of the Civic Orchestra of...
Instructor
Email: klassenan@grinnell.edu
Andrea Kate Klassen specializes in medieval plainchant and early music, with an emphasis on medieval notations and manuscript contexts. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music History from the University of Manitoba, and a Master of Arts from Dalhousie University in Musicology. She is currently a...
Associate Professor
Director of Jazz Ensemble
Email: lavermark@grinnell.edu
Dr. Mark Laver, an Associate Professor of Music at 鶹, is a pathbreaking and versatile saxophonist, educator, and scholar. As a jazz musician and creative improviser, Laver has performed with premier international artists including Lee Konitz, Seamus Blake, Kurt Elling, Eddie Prévost...
Applied Music Associate
Email: liuhsinh@grinnell.edu
Hsin-Hui Liu is a passionate performer who enjoys various musical career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and educator. She has presented solo and collaborative recitals in Austria, Canada, China, Taiwan, and the United States. Liu holds a D.M.A in Piano Performance and...
Applied Music Associate
Email: liuxiaoyu@grinnell.edu
Iris Xiaoyu Liu is a bass trombonist from China, currently finishing her DMA degree at the University of Iowa, where she also served as a teaching assistant in the trombone area. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and a Master’s degree from Jacobs School...
Applied Music Associate
Voice
Email: maynetay@grinnell.edu
Taylor Mayne, an Iowa native, holds a Bachelor of Music in voice performance from the University of Iowa and an Master of Music in voice performance from Ohio University. He is currently on faculty at 鶹 as an applied music associate in voice, and Drake University as a teaching artist...
Professor
Director of 鶹 Symphony Orchestra
Email: mcintyr2@grinnell.edu
Eric McIntyre maintains careers as a conductor, composer, instrumental performer, and educator. At 鶹 he teaches music composition courses and directs the 鶹 Symphony Orchestra. He has contributed to 鶹's Liberal Arts in Prison Program, for which he presented lectures...
Professor
Director of Zimbabwean Mbira Ensemble
Email: permanan@grinnell.edu
Tony Perman (ethnomusicology) is a specialist in the music of Zimbabwe and the semiotics of music and emotion. His monograph Signs of the Spirit: Music and the Experience of Meaning in Ndau Ceremonial Life and edited volume Music Making Community were published by the University of Illinois Press in...
Applied Music Associate
Lecturer
Percussion
Stacey Bostwick-Ramirez is currently a faculty member at 鶹 and Des Moines Area Community College. She has presented clinics for the Percussive Arts Society and the Illinois Summer Youth Music Festival. Stacey maintains a private teaching studio at Rieman Music and her students have...
Professor
Blanche Johnson Professor of Music
Email: rommer@grinnell.edu
John Rommereim is a musician who has pursued a varied career as a composer, conductor, keyboardist, and professor. He has written works for choir, solo voice, orchestra, string quartet, saxophone quartet, flute ensemble, guitar, organ, piano, and electronic media, as well as a chamber opera, and...
Applied Music Associate
Guitar
Email: smithrex@grinnell.edu
Pat Smith started playing guitar in 1969 and began teaching in 1974. Growing up in the Chicago area he has always been deeply into Blues and R&B music. Attended two years at Coe College playing in the jazz band and show choir. Graduated from Cornell College in 1987. Many years of professional...
Applied Music Associate
Horn
Email: stoutama@grinnell.edu
Amanda Stout graduated with her BM in horn performance, BA in studio arts, and BA in arts management at the University of Iowa where she studied with Jeffrey Agrell. She received her MM in horn performance from Western Michigan University where she studied with Lin Foulk Baird and actively performed...
Professor
Emeritus
Email: vetter@grinnell.edu
Javanese gamelan music is Vetter's primary research area. He has carried out research on this subject in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta during several visits between 1973 and 2017. These research visits have resulted in published articles on Javanese musical traditions in journals such as...
Applied Music Associate
Lecturer
Piano
Dr. Melinda Westphalen received her Bachelor or Music degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she studied with Professor Robert Lawrence. She went on to receive both her Master of Arts and Doctorate of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa, where she...