Ethnomusicologist • Percussionist • Educator
I strive to unite worlds, transcend cultural boundaries, and expand musical minds. Currently, that involves teaching Ethnomusicology and Spanish at Purdue University. Recently, it has also meant working as the Executive Director for the Indiana Fiddlers' Gathering and serving as co-founder and co-director for Nuestra Escuelita, a Spanish school for heritage speakers of Spanish.
In addition to Purdue, I have taught music and ethnomusicology at UCLA, Butler University, California State University Dominguez Hills, Loyola Marymount University, Malcolm X College, and College of Lake County. Classes I commonly teach include Music of Latin America, World Music, Music Appreciation, Jazz History, and others.
Teaching experience was the natural outcome of a PhD in ethnomusicology from UCLA, an MA in musicology from Tufts University, and a BMus from Berklee College of Music in music business and hand percussion performance. I also studied Spanish formally in places like the Universidad de La Habana and the Universidad de Guadalajara. More importantly, estudié en la universidad de la gente, en las montañas de Jalisco y las calles de La Habana.
As a musician, I currently work with Clave Caribe to bring the music of Latin America to the Midwest of the U.S. We play a mix of salsa, cumbia, merengue, bachata, Latin rock, pop, bolero, reggaetón, champeta, and other genres from around Latin America. I also teach percussion and music fundamentals privately.
Feel free to drop me a line.