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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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