Susan Powell is currently Associate Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies in The Ohio State University School of Music. She received the Bachelor of Music Degree from the Eastman School of Music, and both the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees from Northwestern University. Since her hire in the fall of 2000, Powell has brought the percussion program at OSU to national recognition. In both 2008 & 2005 the OSU Percussion Ensemble was selected to perform showcase concerts at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, and also appeared at the 2005 Midwest Clinic in Chicago. An advocate of multi-disciplinary collaborations, Powell founded the yearly event Drums Downtown in 2004, bringing together the genre of percussion with dance, art, theater and multi-media. Each year, Drums Downtown plays multiple nights to sold-out audiences in one of Columbus’ premier performance venues, and has become one of the trademarks of the percussion program at Ohio State. Under her direction, the percussion ensemble will release a CD recording in 2010 that includes music by Nigel Westlake, Rolf Wallin, Amadeo Roldan, Daniel Levitan, Christopher Rouse, Joe Krygier as well as a composition by Powell. As a performer, Powell specializes in the genres of multiple percussion and keyboard percussion, and has particular interest in ragtime xylophone performance. Powell has appeared at both the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar and the Northwestern Summer Keyboard Seminar as performer and clinician, and has presented sessions at multiple Ohio Music Educators Conventions (OMEA) and at the 2005 Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference. She has performed as a solo and chamber musician in Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Germany, England, Sweden and Japan, and has upcoming appearances in Mexico. She is a performing artist for malletech keyboard instruments and mallets and an educational endorser for Zildjian and Grover Pro Percussion. In the spring of 2006 Powell was awarded one of the highest honors granted to faculty at Ohio State, being named one of only ten recipients of the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Out of 1,000 faculty nominated by former and current students, alumni and faculty, Powell was honored by the president and provost of the university, and inducted into the university’s Academy of Teaching, which provides leadership for the improvement of teaching at Ohio State. She was also honored as the 2003 School of Music Distinguished Teacher. She currently serves as a member of the Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Committee and has appeared at numerous past conventions as performer, clinician, panelist and competition judge. Additionally, she hosted the 2002 PASIC convention in Columbus. Prior to teaching at Ohio State, Powell held a one-year appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and has also taught and performed at the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Camp. She is an active composer of works for percussion, having pieces published with both Innovative Percussion Publications and Keyboard Percussion Publications. Powell began her percussion studies at the age of 10 in Anchorage, Alaska. Her former teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross, John Beck, Steve Hemphill, Linda Maxey and Terry Gunderson.
With a specialty in the fusing of multiple styles and cultures, Joseph Krygier utilizes his background in classical, world, commercial and electronic percussion to create a sound that is uniquely his own. He received his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and his Masters degree in performance from Northwestern University. As Senior Lecturer in The Ohio State University School of Music, Krygier co-directs the OSU Percussion Ensemble and teaches applied lessons to percussion majors on both traditional and world percussion instruments. Additionally, he instructs group courses on a variety of topics including percussion equipment repair, hand drumming and drum set history and performance. In addition to his position as Senior Lecturer in the School of Music, Krygier is a percussion accompanist with the internationally recognized OSU Department of Dance where he plays hand percussion and drum set for modern and African dance classes. Krygier is also a percussion accompanist for BalletMet Dance Academy and has previously worked as a dance accompanist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Camp and Ohio Wesleyan University. He has also performed in Honolulu, Hawaii and on the island of Maui as a musician with the TILT Dance Company. As a composer, Krygier has written numerous scores for modern dance performance, in addition to a full 60-minute length work. He has also composed music for several dance video projects for WOSU television as well as a short score performed by the professional dancers of BalletMet (Columbus) for their 2008 performances of Aladdin. His world percussion composition, Hot Pants, Op. 54, was awarded second prize in the 2006 James P. and Shirley O’Brien Composition Contest for Cross Talk, the University of Arizona electronic percussion group. Krygier spent four years as a member of the United States Air Force Academy Band (formerly the Band of the Rockies) where he performed with the concert band, rock band, country band and brass quintet, and was a featured marimba soloist on a midwest tour. He has also performed with the Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago-the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony-and performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Maestro Daniel Barenboim. Krygier’s musical studies began in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, where he played regularly with his family’s wedding band from the time he was twelve until he began his studies at Eastman. His teachers include John Beck, Michael Burritt, Lynn Harbold, Tony Miranda, Ruben Alvarez and Paul Wertico. Krygier is an educational endorser for the Zildjian Company and Grover Pro Percussion.
SUSAN POWELL
JOSEPH KRYGIER
click here to learn more about the Pendulum DuoPendulum_Duo.html

Canned Heat-Eckhard Kopetzki

Susan Powell, multiple percussion

Bongo-O-Roberto Sierra

Joseph Krygier, bongos & voice

FACULTY

Visit Susan Powell’s new site at www.susanpowellpercussion.com