BETHANY ROBINSON
BASSIST EDUCATOR CLINICIAN
01 bio
GRAMMY Music Educator Award Finalist (2022) and Yamaha Performing Artist Bethany Robinson currently serves as the Director of Jazz at Purdue University (July, 2024) after building the jazz program in the Noblesville (IN) School District.
In 2011, Bethany received her first Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, and traveled to New Orleans and New York City, exploring the current trends of jazz in those two cities. She attended the Band Director Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center, composed her first piece for big band, and came home to Noblesville High School with a whole new concept of jazz pedagogy at the secondary level. Upon returning from this experience, her jazz program at Noblesville expanded from 1 to 6 high school big bands over the next 10 years, and the top band made regular appearances at the ISSMA Indiana Jazz State Finals, placing first in 2023, additional first place finishes at both Ball State and Purdue University Jazz Festivals, and was a 2-time finalist for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Festival and Competition in New York City.
In 2014, Bethany was named "Indiana Jazz Educator of the Year" by the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation. In 2015, she was named "Teacher of the Year" for Noblesville Schools, the 11th largest public high school in Indiana. In 2016, Bethany was a Semi-Finalist for Indiana Teacher of the Year. She is a 2022 Grammy Music Educator Award Finalist, 3x nominee, and was named one of the 2022 Jazz Heroes by the Jazz Journalists Association, which honors advocates who have had a significant impact in their local communities. Bethany was also recently named the 2023 "High School Music Educator of the Year" by the Indiana Music Educator Association.
Bethany currently serves as Chair of the National Association for Music Education Jazz Council (NAfME), Board Member for the Jazz Education Network, and Past-President of the Indiana Jazz Educators Association. During her time as IJEA President, she spearheaded efforts to create the All-District Jazz Program, a Junior All-State Jazz Ensemble, began a partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and partnered with Indy Jazz Fest Artistic Director Rob Dixon to feature the Indiana All-State Jazz Combo at the annual Indy Jazz Fest.
In 2018, Bethany was a part of the inaugural Indiana Jazz Girls Day, traveling around the state playing bass at concerts and workshops with New York City Musicians Leni Stern, Jamie Baum, and Austria-based Monika Herzig. She continues to travel with this group annually in the spring, playing bass and serving as a clinician at workshops around the state of Indiana, inspiring young jazz musicians to be leaders on the bandstand.
Bethany received her second Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, and spent the summer of 2019 exploring the Brazilian cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, taking in the sounds of choro, Bossa nova, and samba while exploring her mother's childhood home, creating music for her students, and collaborating with Brazilian musicians.
Bethany has been a featured presenter for music education students at Ball State University, Butler University, Vanderbilt University, Purdue Fort Wayne, and for community members at the Center for Performing Arts/Palladium (Carmel, Indiana), and has adjudicated events including the Benny Golson Jazz Festival at Butler University, the Clark Terry Jazz Festival at Southeast Missouri State University, and the Western Australian Schools' Jazz Festival, and the Elizabeth City State University Max Roach Centennial. She has also adjudicated the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Newark Academy New Jersey Essentially Ellington Regionals as a clinician for Jazz at Lincoln Center.
In September 2021, Bethany was a keynote speaker for the Australia National Band and Orchestra Conference, speaking on topics like building jazz culture, teaching jazz for those new to jazz, and building leaders through the Jazz Girls Day Event. Bethany was also a presenter at the 2022 Indiana Music Educators Conference, the 2022 International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, IL, the Oklahoma Bandmasters Summer Convention, and was the keynote speaker for the 2023 New York State Summer Music Conference. In 2024 Bethany led workshops at the Music For All National Concert Band Festival and workshops and clinics in Perth, Western Australia. Bethany also served as the chief adjudicator for the Victoria Schools' Jazz Festival in Melbourne, and in December will be the Guest Conductor for the 2024 New York All State Jazz Ensemble.
As an avid performer on upright bass, electric bass, and vocals Bethany has performed over the years at the Indy jazz Fest, Indianapolis Jazz Kitchen, The Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel Jazz Fest, the Indianapolis Zoo Jazz Series, Zoobliation, and Irish Fest with many artists including Everett Greene, Sarah Scharbrough, and Katherine Nagy, and has opened for YAMAHA Artist Dave Koz.
02 shows
Nov 22-24
Sarah Scharbrough Annual Holiday Show
Bass/Vocals
7 Shows
The Jazz Kitchen
Indianapolis, IN
Dec 5-7
New York All-State Jazz Ensemble
Guest Conductor
Rochester, NY
Dec 11
NAfME Jazz Council
National Town Hall/Webinar
7-8pm
Dec 21
Eric Baker Band
Bass
2 Holiday Shows
Sara's Soiree
Noblesville, IN
Jan 10
Jazz Education Network Conference
Artist Meet and Greet
YAMAHA Booth, 10-11am
Atlanta, GA
Feb 7
Jazz at Lincoln Center Clinician
Essentially Ellington Regional
Endicott College
Beverly, MA
Feb 14
Evening of Romance at Purdue University
Feat. Purdue Jazz Band
Marriott Hall
West Lafayette, IN
Feb 21
Swing Dance Night at Purdue University
Feat. 5 Purdue Jazz Bands
Marriott Hall
West Lafayette, IN
Feb 22
Elmhurst Jazz Festival
Purdue Jazz Band
Elmhurst College, Illinois
March 13
Music for All
Clinician
National Concert Band Festival
Indianapolis, IN
April 3 & 4
Purdue Jazz Bands Spring Concerts
Loeb Playhouse
Purdue University, 7:30pm
West Lafayette, IN
April 5
Indiana Jazz Girls Day
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
April 8
Guest Artist
Downers Grove HS Spring Concert
Downers Grove, Illinois
April 10-12
North Carolina All State Jazz
Guest Conductor
North Carolina Central University
Durham, North Carolina
April 15
Indiana Jazz Girls Day
Clinician/Artist
Noblesville High School
Noblesville, IN
May 14-16
Iowa All State Jazz Band
Guest Conductor
Des Moines, Iowa
03 music & media
MEDIA
Noblesville HS "Road to Essentially Ellington" 2022
YAMAHA: Education as Foundation
Noblesville HS 2022 Essentially Ellington Performance
BANDS/GUEST APPEARANCES
Sarah Scharbrough-Video
Monika Herzig's Sheroes-Video
Katherine Nagy Music- Video
Everett Greene
Groove Essential
Jennie DeVoe
Shed Zeppelin
Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra
Kokomo Park Band Big Band
Carmel Symphony Orchestra
Anderson Symphony Orchestra
DOCUMENTARY APPEARANCES
(Jazz Legend/Civil Rights Leader Dr. Marvin Chandler)
(Women In Jazz, Indiana Girls Day)
BOOKINGS
For Speaking/Clinics/Music Inquiries
Click "CONTACT" tab
04 jazz education
Whether teaching one of her school's 6 big bands, or serving on state or national jazz organization boards, Bethany has a passion for jazz education. She spends her time working with and bringing in professionals to work with her students, sharing the stories of her classroom with the community and around the world through conferences, and lending resources to anyone interested in increasing their comfort level in front of a jazz band. She has developed an extensive warm-up package including engaging students in singing, dancing, long-tones, different scale modes, tuning, quoting blues vocabulary, and a variety of options integrating improvisation, student engagement, and leadership development into the daily rehearsal.
In addition to her own classroom, Bethany has partnered with Monika Herzig to organize the annual Indiana Jazz Girls Day, a series of free concerts and clinics for girls grades 7-12 around the state with other guest musicians from Indiana, New York City, and California. She has contributed articles to publications including the Indiana MEA "INform" Magazine (Vol 75, Issue 3), the NAfME "Teaching Music" Magazine (January 2022), and was featured alongside other jazz educators in the April/May 2022 edition of the "Instrumentalist" national publication. In the "Play Jazz" method book series by Josh Weirich and Ryan Fraley, Bethany contributed the chapter on bass tips for young players.
Bethany is a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellow, and has the distinguished honor of earning 2 coveted grants. Her grants took her to New York City & New Orleans in 2011, and to Salvador & Rio de Janeiro in 2019. The experiences during both grants have transformed and propelled her teaching with new approaches, genres, techniques, and even renewed love for the craft of teaching.
As a result of her 2011 New York City grant, Bethany discovered the Band Director Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she discovered a new world of jazz pedagogy, and returned to Noblesville High School to build a jazz band from 1 to 6 bands, 5 time qualifier for the Indiana Jazz State Finals, placed 2nd at the 2021 & 2022 National Jazz Festival, and was a 2021 & 2022 Essentially Ellington Festival Finalist. Jazz 1 was also named the Honor Band at the 2023 ISSMA Jazz State Finals.