Mitchell Greco

Areas of Study

Mitchell J. Greco is a percussionist, music educator, and ethnomusicologist from Rochester, NY.  He is currently earning his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance as a doctoral fellow. He earned his Masters of Music Performance at Appalachian State University, and previously received his B.M. and B.A. from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Mitch is currently a candidate for the Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology at Kent State University, defending his thesis on teaching and learning traditional Ghanaian dance-drumming outside the cultural context this fall. His thesis calls upon his five-year study with master Ghanaian xylophonist Bernard Woma and two study abroad sessions in Ghana.

Mitch is particularly dedicated to the pedagogy found in world music ensembles and the student cognition in such ensembles. In addition to concert percussion, he is also practiced in West African drumming styles and the balafon and gyil xylophones, as well as the steel pan from Trinidad and Tobago, and the tabla from North India, among others. He has performed professionally in a variety of music genres in the Western, non-Western and improvisational traditions. He continues to be an active freelance musician and the dance accompanist for the WVU dance department. He has previously served as music faculty at Emory & Henry College in Emory VA and at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, NC.