Andy Miller - Bodhran (online only)

Andy Miller is the Music Director in the Dance Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As a composer-performer for dance, he has premiered works in New York (Gibney Dance Center, Judson Church), the Midwest (Krannert Center, St. Olaf, Carthage College), and internationally at the IX Festival Santander en Escena (Bucaramanga, Colombia). As a percussionist, he specializes in Latin Jazz and Afro-Latin hand drumming and has taught at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, and Olivet Nazarene University. He is a recipient of a Fulbright Research Grant to Colombia (2011-2012) and the Graduate Presser Award (2015) for his research on Afro-Colombian percussion music. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University and his dissertation project The Language of Drumming in Afro-Brazilian Candomblé Ketu based on the performance practice of master drummer Jorge Alabê.

Andy picked up the bodhrán in 2011 after meeting his wife, Erin Brooker-Miller, an accomplished Irish and Classical harpist. He plays regularly in the Milwaukee area session scene as well as for Ceili, Set, and Contra dances with groups such as Blackthorn Folly, Áthas, and Fearn. Andy has performed at Irish Fest and taught for the Irishfest Summer School. His bodhrán playing style is influenced by traditional players such as Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh and Junior Davies while also exploring contemporary groove-based rhythms from his deep experience in Afro-Latin percussion.

In addition to performing and teaching, Andy builds custom bodhráns and tippers. For more information visit his website at www.andymillerpercussion.com