[ Music ]

Faculty Profiles

Timothy Hays
Doug Beach
Judith E. Grimes
Mark A. Harbold
Ross Kellan
Susan Moninger
Kevin Olson

Timothy Hays
Tim Hays, music department chair and director of the music business program, serves as president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), the world's leading organization devoted to music business education. He has been a founding member of three companies, including a record company with multimedia connections.

Doug Beach
Doug Beach's career encompasses many facets of the music world, including performer, publisher, teacher, clinician, and adjudicator. He is the founder of Doug Beach Music, one of the leading publishers of educational jazz music in the world today. As a composer, he has been commissioned to write numerous pieces for high school all-state groups, most recently for Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Delaware.

Under Professor Beach's direction, the Elmhurst College Jazz Band has frequently toured Europe, twice at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, and appeared with countless jazz greats. Among his many awards are a 1995 ASCAP award in composition and a Grammy for the New York Voices recording of his arrangement of "Cottontail."

To read more about Doug Beach, see the recent profile of him in Prospect, the College's award-winning magazine.

Judith E. Grimes
Professor Judith E. Grimes is the director of the Elmhurst College and Community Band and the College Wind Ensemble. She is the founder and executive director of the Western Jamaica International Music Festival and the author of 100-plus articles found regularly in music journals.

Professor Grimes has received several awards, including the Caleb Mills Outstanding Teaching Award from Indiana State University and the Outstanding Service in Music Education Award from Western Jamaica Colleges and High Schools. She frequently serves as a guest clinician/conductor for concert bands across the United States and in Jamaica and Japan.

Mark A. Harbold
Mark Harbold is a composer, author, teacher, software developer, and performing musician. Among his recent compositions are Fingerpaint, a chamber opera, and an arrangement of Vaughan Williams' Sweet Baby, Sleep. Dr. Harbold's works have been performed by the Elmhurst College Concert Choir, St. Olaf Contemporary Ensemble, SUNY/Buffalo Composers Forum, Bach Chamber Choir, Wisconsin Baptist Festival Choir, and church choirs around the country.

Dr. Harbold's most substantial publications are four editions of the Instructor's Resource Manual to Accompany Joseph Kerman's LISTEN. In addition, Dr. Harbold has developed a variety of software teaching tools.

Ross Kellan
Ross Kellan is director of Elmhurst's music education program and conductor of the Symphonic Band. He has served as guest conductor for the Illinois All-State Band, the All-Carolina Band Festival, and the Eastern Illinois Concert Band Festival. Mr. Kellan has received the Mary Hoffman Music Educator Award for teaching excellence from the Illinois Music Educators Association and the John Paynter Music Educator Award from Quinlan & Fabish Music Company.

Susan Moninger
Susan Moninger is an international clinician and guest conductor representing all styles of music. Her original compositions and arrangements are featured in Kjos Publications of the Susan Moninger Vocal Jazz Series books. She is the director for all three of the College's choral groups and for the Vocal Jazz Ensemble. As co-founder and director of Showchoir Camps of America, Inc., Ms. Moninger conducts summer workshops for music educators and students held in Illinois, Ohio, and Florida.

Kevin Olson
Kevin Olson is an active pianist, composer, and teacher. As a faculty member at Elmhurst College, he teaches classical and jazz piano and music theory, and serves as director of music admission. More than 40 of his books and compositions have been published by the FJH Music Company, with whom he also works as a part-time pedagogical editor and clinician. His compositions have been commissioned and premiered by such groups as the American Piano Quartet, Chicago a cappella, the Rich Matteson Jazz Festival, and the Elmhurst College Chamber Singers. Dr. Olson holds a doctor of education degree from National-Louis University and master's and bachelor's degrees in composition and theory from Brigham Young University.