John Tafoya
Professor of Music (Percussion); Chair, Department of Percussion
jtafoya@indiana.edu
(812) 855-4839
East Studio Building, JS025
Education
M.M., Master of Music, Indiana University, 1989
B.M., Bachelor of Music, Indiana University, 1985
Biography
John Tafoya is a professor of percussion and chair of the Department of Percussion at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He served as principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1999 to 2007. He has held previous principal timpani positions with the American Wind Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony (Ky.), Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra (Ind.), and Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Tafoya has presented numerous master classes and clinics at universities across the United States and Canada. He was a featured clinician at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in 2002, 2007, and 2011. His website, johntafoya.com, is accessed by thousands of percussion students and professional players each month. He has served on the music department faculties at the University of Evansville, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Florida International University, and the University of Maryland. He is the author of two orchestral timpani repertoire books: “The Working Timpanist’s Survival Guide” (2004), published by Carl Fischer, and “Beyond the Audition Screen” (2011), distributed by Hal Leonard.
Tafoya performed on the award-winning recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 by the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of James Judd and on orchestral recordings by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. He can also be heard on the American Wind Symphony Orchestra’s CD Concertos All and Sundry performing Kaoru Wada's Concertante for Timpani, Percussion, and Winds under the direction of Robert Austin Boudreau. Tafoya also participated on the 1987 Summit Brass CD, All American Brass, on the Pro Arte label and on the 1992 Arkay CD of William Albright’s Music for Organ and Harpsichord, featuring organist Douglas Reed.
Tafoya has worked under many prestigious conductors, including Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, James Conlon, Jiri Belohlavek, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Valery Gergiev, Christopher Hogwood, Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Osmo Vanska, John Williams, Hugh Wolff, and David Zinman.
He proudly endorses American Drum Manufacturing Co., Avedis Zildjian Company, Grover Pro Percussion, Remo Inc., and Yamaha Corporation.
Kevin Bobo
Professor of Music (Percussion)
kbobo@indiana.edu
(812) 855-0541
East Studio Building, JS027
Education
M.M., Master of Music, Ithaca College, 1999
B.M., Bachelor of Music, Wichita State University, 1997
Biography
Kevin Bobo is professor of percussion at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a position he has held since 2007. Prior to his appointment at IU, he served as assistant professor of percussion at the University of Kansas (2003-07).
He studied percussion with J. C. Combs and Gordon Stout, and composition with Greg Woodward and Dana Wilson.
Internationally respected as a solo marimba artist, Bobo has performed on five continents. His travels have taken him to Taiwan, Singapore, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, and nearly 40 states in the U.S.
As a composer, Bobo’s compositions are performed all over the world, with his solo works frequently appearing on international competition repertoire lists. He has authored two method books and composed numerous pieces for a variety of instruments and ensembles.
Bobo currently lives in Bloomington, Ind., with his wife, Emily, and their children, Penelope and Eli.
Steve Houghton
Professor of Music (Percussion and Jazz)
stehough@indiana.edu
(812) 856-3674
East Studio Building, JS031
Biography
Internationally renowned jazz drummer, percussionist, clinician, author, and educator, Steve Houghton initially received acclaim at age twenty as the drummer with Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd. Since then he has shared stage and studio with luminaries Gary Burton, Clay Jenkins, Shelly Berg, Dave Samuels, Toots Thielemans, Christian McBride, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Freddie Hubbard, Lyle Mays, Bob Sheppard, Billy Childs, Bobby Hutcherson, Pat LaBarbara, Arturo Sandoval, Joe Henderson, Karrin Allyson, Dianne Reeves, Rosemary Clooney and Maureen McGovern.
As band leader Houghton's discography includes: The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited (TNC), a recent release of John Williams' charts for big band and quintet, the Steve Houghton Quintet Live @ the Senator (Jazz Compass), Windsong (SHPERC Records), Remembrances (Warner Bros.), and Steve Houghton Signature (Mesa-Bluemoon). In total Houghton attributes more than one hundred recordings to his credit as a participating artist. As a classical percussionist, Houghton has performed with the Boston, and Philadelphia Pops orchestras, as well as the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He frequently appears as a soloist with numerous orchestras and wind ensembles throughout the world.
As an author, Houghton's publications boast more than thirty educational books, videos and DVDs including: Drumset 101, Kid's Drumset Course, Essential Styles- books 1 & 2 (Alfred), The Ultimate Drumset Chart Reading Anthology, Play and Teach Percussion (GIA), and The Drumset Soloist, and his latest project, Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors is a DVD-book series that addresses the entire rhythm section.
Houghton is currently Professor of Percussion and Jazz at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In addition to his academic duties, he presents yearly clinics and master classes to students around the world. Houghton is President of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and endorses Pearl drums, Adams percussion, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks and mallets, and Remo world percussion products and drumheads.
Michael Spiro
Associate Professor of Music (Percussion)
mspiro@indiana.edu
(812) 855-0986
East Studio Building, JS029
Biography
Michael Spiro is a world-renowned percussionist, recording artist, and educator, known specifically for his work in the Latin music field.
Spiro's formal education includes a bachelor's degree with honors in Latin American Studies from the University of California, and three and a half years of graduate work in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. His practical education consists of a seven- year apprenticeship with Francisco Aguabella (a relationship which continues today) and extensive study throughout Latin America. He has studied annually in Cuba since 1984 with musicians such as Jose Luis Quintana ("Changuito"), Esteban Vega Bacallao ("Cha-Cha"), Daniel Diaz and Juan "Claro" Blanco of Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, Regino Jimenez, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas and Grupo Afro-Cuba de Matanzas. In addition, in 1986, he spent two months training at G.R.E.S. Portela, the famous Escola de Samba in Rio de Janeiro.
Spiro currently resides in San Francisco, Calif., where he is an integral part of the Bay Area music scene. He records and produces with groups throughout the West Coast and still tours world-wide with the percussion trio Talking Drums, which he co-leads with David Garibaldi and Jesus Diaz. In June 1996, his recording Bata-Ketu was released on Bembe Records to international critical acclaim, including being voted one of the top 50 drum records of all time by Drum Magazine.
In 2004, Spiro received a Grammy nomination for his work as both producer and artist on Mark Levine's Latin/jazz release Isla, and, in 2005, he released BataMbira, which he wrote and produced with Professor B. Michael Williams. The CD received rave reviews around the world for its fusion of Afro-Cuban folkloric music with the mbira music of Zimbabwe, and that same year, he was voted runner-up in the jazz/fusion category in Drum Magazine's Reader's Poll Awards. In 2006, Chuck Sher Publications released his book, The Conga Drummer's Guidebook, and it has already become the standard in the field for intermediate/advanced instruction.
He is a frequent visiting artist at universities worldwide. In addition to the position he held in the Jazz Department at the University of California, Berkeley, Spiro has taught at numerous colleges throughout North America and Europe, and continues to be a presenter at national and statewide conventions of the Percussive Arts Society and the International Association of Jazz Educators.
Spiro's recording and performing credits include such diverse artists as David Byrne, Cachao, The Caribbean Jazz Project, Dori Caymmi, Changuito, Richard Egues, Frank Emilio Flynn, Ella Fitzgerald, David Garibaldi, Gilberto Gil, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ray Holman, Toninho Horta, Bobby Hutcherson, Dr. John, Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge, Machete Ensemble, Bobby McFerrin, Andy Narell, Ray Obiedo, Chico O'Farrill, Eddie Palmieri, Lazaro Ros, David Rudder, Carlos Santana, Grace Slick, Omar Sosa, Talking Drums, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner and Charlie Watts. In addition, he has recorded on soundtracks to such major motion pictures as Soapdish, Henry and June, True Stories, Sworn To The Drum, Walker, Eddie Macon's Run and Dragon-The Life of Bruce Lee. He also wrote several arrangements for the Tony Award-winning Broadway show BLAST!, which was released on video by PBS in 2002.
