Mary Emmons
Mary Emmons is percussionist and educator currently based in the Greater Twin Cities Area of Minnesota where she serves as the Adjunct Professor of Percussion at St. Cloud State University, as well as part of the Percussion Faculty at the MacPhail Center for Music. At SCSU she teaches Applied Percussion, leads the World Drumming Group, and assists the Husky Sports Band. She also assists the Eastview High School Marching Band as a Front Ensemble Tech in Apple Valley, MN. Most recently, Mary completed her Masters in Percussion Performance at the University of Missouri. Before coming to Missouri, Mary received her Bachelor’s in Music Performance from the University of Tennessee-Martin. It was at UT Martin where she found her passion for pedagogy, chamber music, and African Diasporic music. Prior to her appointment at SCSU and MacPhail, Mary served as the Percussion Studio Teaching Assistant at Mizzou and maintained a studio of private students through the Community Music Program. In her appointment at Mizzou, she taught applied percussion, Percussion techniques, directed the Non-Major Percussion Ensemble, and co-taught the World Percussion Ensemble alongside Dr. Megan Arns. In addition to this, Mary taught music theory for the Missouri Symphony Conservatory and served as the Assistant Conservatory Coordinator. She has presented clinics and masterclasses at public schools and universities across Tennessee and Missouri. As a performer, Mary has been seen with the Memphis Repertory Orchestra (Memphis, TN), the Jackson Symphony Orchestra (Jackson, TN), the 9th Street Philharmonic (Columbia, MO), the Columbia Civic Orchestra (Columbia, MO), and the Missouri Symphony (Columbia, MO), and has participated in the NYU Broadway Percussion Seminar, the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, and the Nief Norf Summer Music Festival. Committed to the creation of new music, Mary has commissioned and premiered several new works, from composers including Stephen Downing, Gavin Kitchen, Maria Disandro, Luke Waddell, and Rain Michael. Outside of her formal studies at UT Martin and Mizzou, Mary has traveled to Ghana to study traditional music and dance at the Dagara Music Center in Medie and has worked with other master musicians such as Musekiwa Chingodza, Taffie Mature, and Othnell Moyo. When not teaching percussion, Mary enjoys hiking and exploring the outdoors with her partner.
“One of the things I love most about percussion is its accessibility. At its simplest form, you don’t need any prior knowledge or technical foundations to create a sound. The act of striking a drum is something that excites most everyone. My approach to teaching is just that— to keep the art of percussion simple, exciting, and, above all, accessible. Rooted in many oral traditions and cultures around the world, drumming is something that becomes available to those who don’t or can’t read music, yet has still become a highly refined art. Drumming takes many forms for many audiences, and I embrace the simple and complex, catering to each students’ desires and needs. I aim for students to feel their music is valuable no matter the genre or level; for students to maintain healthy, efficient, and simple motions to enable life-long playing; and for accessible and globalized teaching methods to influence their lives outside of music.”