Kristen Shiner McGuire (b. 1958), Professor in Performance Practice, is the Coordinator of Percussion Studies and former Program Director for Music Business at Nazareth University School of Music, where she has taught since 1984. Her awards include Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society induction in 2023, the 2021 Nazareth University Distinction in Teaching Award, the 2016 Monroe County School Music Association Richard Snook Award for outstanding contributions to music education and the 1998 Nazareth College Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. The Nazareth University Percussion Ensemble has performed at state at National conventions and in schools across New York State. Kristen holds a Bachelor of Music degree with Highest Honors from the University of Illinois and a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. From 1980-81, she was a marimba student of marimba virtuoso, Keiko Abe, at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. Her other teachers include John Beck, Thomas Siwe, Jim Petercsak, Keith Copeland and Jamey Haddad.
Kristen’s performing talents run the gamut from jazz singer and drummer, jazz vibraphonist, solo marimbist, orchestral percussionist and timpanist, to contemporary chamber musician. She has been the Principal Percussionist of the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic for 25 years. Kristen has performed with Ben Folds, The Irish Tenors, Johnnie Mathis, Mickey Rooney, the Pan Gaia Steel Band, the New Japan Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and for the travelling Broadway musical, The Temptations: Ain’t Too Proud to Beg. Her recordings include those with fivebyfive, the Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble , Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Dave McGrath, Linda Foster, Jon Seiger and The All Stars, the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus, the Pop Tarts, and on her own album, Kristen Sings and Plays and Rings. Kristen has performed at the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival in Jamaica, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Suncoast Jazz Festival, the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and several venues in St. Thomas.
A published author and composer, Kristen is widely known in the percussion field for her distinct and accessible writing style. Her compositions include Declaration, Song, and Dance for solo timpani (Ludwig Music), Colors of Earth and Sea for solo marimba (Media Press Inc), Celestial Welcome (Alfred Publishing) and Caboo percussion quartet (C. Alan Publishing). Her book, Mallet Percussion Workout is distributed by Alfred Music Publishing. Kristen’s Kendor Music publications include Baroque for Marimba, Jazz Solos for Mallets, Two By Two (mallet duets), Juniper and Re-Action. Her articles are published in School Music News, The Instrumentalist, and Percussive Notes.
As a clinician for KOIDE Cymbals, Mike Balter Mallets, and Regal Tip Calato Sticks, Kristen is a well-known percussion educator and performer throughout the United States. Kristen currently performs as a freelance artist, as the mallet percussionist with The Rita Collective, the drummer for Dean Keller’s Soul Jazz Joint and with the RPO Marimba Band and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Kristen has been actively involved in the international Percussive Arts Society for over 40 years. She has served on the Diversity Alliance, the Education Committee, the Board of Directors, and as the New York State Chapter President from 1990-1999. During that time, she coordinated Days of Percussion annually, edited the State Newsletter; and continues to present clinics at State and National conventions. In 1993, she received the Outstanding Chapter President Award out of 65 chapters worldwide. She served as the Secretary for the Executive Council from 1999-2002; the first woman in twenty years to be chosen for this governing position.
