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UT
Dept. of Music welcomes Piedra, others
Sept. 2011: The University of Toledo, the Department of Music,
welcomes three new faculty members: Olman Piedra as
Assistant Professor of Percussion; Dr. Denise Ritter
Bernardini as Assistant Professor of Voice; and Dr.
Pamela Stover as Assistant Professor of Music Education. All
of the positions are tenure track positions.
Olman E. Piedra left
Costa Rica in 1998 to further his music studies and pursue a
musical career in the United States. He has performed with a
variety of ensembles, including the Sphinx Orchestra (Detroit,
MI), the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Waco
Symphony Orchestra (principal percussion), the American Wind
Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, the Ensamble
de Percusión Costa Rica, the Trombones de Costa Rica
quartet, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, the Michigan
Chamber Players, the Toledo Symphony Percussion Trio, and Roland
Vázquez’ Latin Jazz Combo (Percussive Arts Society International
Convention, Louisville, KY).
As a member of NOMO, an afro-funk band based out of Ann Arbor,
Michigan, he toured throughout the United States, Canada, and
Europe. He has also performed with Grammy Award winning artists,
The New York Voices, at BGSUs vocal jazz camp since 2009.
A recipient of the Avedis Zildjian Percussion Scholars
Scholarship (2003-2004), Olman E Piedra has studied under
Fernando Meza, Bismarck Fernández, Manrique Méndez, Larry
Vanlandingham, Michael Udow, Michael Gould, Ellen Rowe, and
Roger Schupp. He holds two Master's in Music degrees, in
Percussion Performance and in Improvisation from the University
of Michigan, and a BM from Baylor University. He is currently a
DMA candidate in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State
University.
Dr. Ritter Bernardini, who replaces the recently retired Dr. Barbara Rondelli Perry,
comes to UT from the voice faculty of Indiana University-Purdue
University Fort Wayne. She has also served on the faculties of
Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma. She
received a Bachelor’s degree from East Central University, a
Master of Music from Texas Christian University and her DMA from
the University of Oklahoma.
Pamela Stover, PhD,
is an accomplished educator and music historian and has most
recently served as the coordinator of Music Education and
Assistant Professor in the School of Music at the Southern
Illinois University, Carbondale. She received her PhD in Music
Education from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the
Graduate College.
Stover is a leading scholar of
one-room schools, she is currently writing “Singing with the
Schoolmarm; Music from the One-Room School.” Her research
includes archival research of student or teacher diaries and
teaching materials, and oral history interviews with students
and teachers of one-room schools. She has numerous early
childhood music education writings to her credit. Stover has
also taught Music for 10 years in public schools (K-7) and for
several years in private schools (K-12), and she has supervised
student teachers since 1994.
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