FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Andy Miller as lecturer in music in percussion, effective Aug. 1.
A Jacobs alumnus, Miller has previously taught percussion at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Olivet Nazarene University and Bembé Drum and Dance.
Since 2017, he has served as music director of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Dance Department, where he has accompanied classes in styles including modern, ballet, West African and Afro-Latin dance. His collaborations with choreographers as a composer/performer have been premiered at Gibney Dance in New York City, throughout the Midwest and internationally.
Miller navigates the diverse world of percussion with technical and musical precision across a broad range of artistic practices. Fostering a deep interest in the percussion music of the African diaspora, he has studied with master percussionists in the United States and internationally.
“As a multispecialized teacher, scholar and performer, Andy Miller will significantly enhance our percussion, jazz studies and Latin American Music Center curriculums, offering even greater opportunities for our students,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “We excitedly welcome him to the Jacobs School of Music faculty.”
In 2011, Miller received a Fulbright Grant to Colombia, where he studied Afro-Colombian currulao, cumbia and bullerengue with “La Wey” Segura, Francis Lara and Emilsen Pacheco. He returned to Colombia with a Presser Graduate Music Award in 2015 to study joropo music with Fernando Torres Ramirez. For his doctoral project, Miller conducted field research in Brazil with Jorge Alabê on the “Language of Afro-Brazilian Candomblé Drumming.”
Recently, Miller’s study of bomba percussion, song and dance took him to Puerto Rico to study with Beto Torrens, Marién Torres, Rafa Maya and Hector “Coco” Baréz. From 2009 to 2012, he studied mande drumming from Guinea with master percussionist Bolokada Conde, and from 2014 to 2017, he studied Afro-Cuban folkloric and popular percussion with former Jacobs professor Michael Spiro.
“The Jacobs Percussion Department is thrilled to welcome Andy Miller to our faculty this fall,” said Joseph Gramley, department chair. “His appointment accentuates the mission of our vast IU percussion curriculum: one of comprehensiveness, versatility and an eye and ear toward the 21st-century artist/teacher/researcher.
“Dr. Miller’s expertise in the music, dance and culture of the African diaspora will enrich our offerings not only in percussion, but also in jazz studies and Latin American music. His work will serve our iconic IU Latin Jazz Ensemble and historic IU Brazilian Ensemble, while supporting our new degree minor in Latin American and Caribbean music. We also will be able to develop new course offerings and performance ensembles based upon his unique and extensive areas of specialization.”