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Bio:

Dr. Michal Brauhn Damm is a versatile percussionist, educator, and scholar whose work bridges classical, contemporary, and global traditions. With a deep commitment to performance, education, and equity in the arts, she is active as a soloist, chamber musician, composer, and clinician across the United States and internationally.

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She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from the University of Oklahoma  where she served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She also earned a Master of Music from the University of Arizona where she held a Teaching Assistantship under Dr. Morris Palter, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa where she studied with Dr. Dan Moore.

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As a performer, Dr. Brauhn Damm served as Principal Timpanist with the Classical Music Festival Orchestra in Eisenstadt, Austria (2024). Her international experience also includes serving as staff drummer for the Laborie Steel Pan Workshop in St. Lucia (2023), collaborating with steel pan legend Andy Narell. She also performed as the drummer on the album Jungle Music with Narell and the Iowa Steel Band. In 2022, she performed Figure & Form by Molly Joyce at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, reflecting her strong commitment to the performance and advocacy of works by women composers. In addition to her festival and ensemble work, Dr. Brauhn Damm has appeared as a guest solo artist at multiple educational institutions and ensembles, including the University of Arizona, Oklahoma Baptist University, and the Ottumwa Municipal Band, where she has presented performances, residencies, and masterclasses.

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A dedicated educator, Dr. Brauhn Damm currently serves as percussion faculty at Oklahoma Baptist University, is a Black Swamp Percussion Network Educator, and maintains a robust private studio. She is also a faculty artist at the Birch Creek Summer Music Academy, where she coaches percussion ensembles, directs world percussion activities, and serves as a resident performer and equipment manager. In her teaching assistant roles at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Arizona, she taught applied lessons, directed and assisted percussion ensembles including steel bands and Brazilian percussion, and instructed undergraduate courses in drumset. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes technical facilitation, artistic exploration, and the inclusion of underrepresented voices in the percussion repertoire. 

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Dr. Brauhn Damm is also active as a composer and arranger, with works published by Tapspace. Notably, Austin Peay State University commissioned and premiered her composition, Descent to Blue, in 2024. Her scholarship includes published resources in Percussive Notes and the College Music Society Forum, focusing on diversifying percussion pedagogy through the inclusion of women and marginalized composers.