Erin Walker Bliss

Erin Walker Bliss is a Lecturer in World Music at the University of Kentucky. Her undergraduate and graduate degrees are from Northern Illinois University and DePaul University respectively, and she holds a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Kentucky. Erin is also ABD in a PhD in musicology/ethnomusicology at UK. Erin has taught courses in music appreciation, jazz history, Asian music, and the history of rock at the University of Kentucky and was a temporary instructor at Northern Illinois University in the summer of 2007. As a percussionist with an extensive background in world music, Erin’s diverse musical interests have allowed her to travel to Korea, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Thailand, Canada, Croatia, and throughout the United States. She has presented papers at various conferences including SEM, CMS, IASPM, Musica Scotica, and Music in 19^th-Century Britain. She is a founding member of the nief-norf project, a contemporary percussion ensemble. In Lexington, Erin is the director of the Central Music Academy, a non-profit music program that gives free music lessons to financially disadvantaged children.