Drum & Percussion Faculty
Jennifer Gapasin
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Jennifer is a musician/actress based out of the SF Bay Area. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Sacramento State where she studied opera with Michael Sokol, and since then has been involved in the performing arts for over a decade as an educator and performer. She studied acting/movement at Michael Howard Studios in New York, Waterfront Conservatory in Berkeley and Yat/Bentley Centre in Oakland. She began her career in music as choir director and piano accompanist for St. Anthony Church in Winters, and following that taught voice and piano at Natomas School of Music in Sacramento. She has performed onstage in many different modes, from rock, R&B and funk (as singer/drummer/keyboardist) to operas, plays and musicals. Notably, she was the drummer for the Beatles cover band, the Peptones. She also played drums for her local church group at Holy Spirit Church in Fairfield. Favorite theatre credits include: Sue (Fefu and Her Friends), Leila (Iolanthe), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), and Satirino, Destino, and Echo (La Calisto). She is grateful to be joining the team at Amabile. In addition, outside of music teaching she is a driving instructor.
In her own words: Music is a great outlet to express oneself and develop practical skills such as focus, listening, coordination and timing. There is nothing quite like music that combines fun, complexity and discipline all at once. I am happy to share that experience with others as a performer and teacher. |
Ethan Lin
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Dr. Yi-Hsuan Lin earned his Master of Music degree in Percussion Studies from New York University and Professional Studies Diploma degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the prestigious principal percussion of the San Francisco Symphony, Jack Van Geem. In 2015, Dr. Lin earned his doctoral degree in Percussion Performance from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Ricardo Flores and William Moersch. Specializing in marimba playing, his doctoral thesis is on the unique six-mallet marimba techniques in selected works.
Dr. Lin’s concerto experiences include Alfred Reed’s Concertino for Marimba and Ming-Shong Li’s Chinese Drum Concerto with the school orchestras in Taiwan (2005 and 2007). As a soloist, he has performed numerous recitals and has been active in orchestra and ensemble performances. Recently, he was invited to perform Steve Reich's marimba ensemble work, Six Marimbas, with the San Francisco Symphony members for celebrating the composer's 80th birthday at Davies Symphony Hall. Dr. Lin had participated in various music festivals, such as Nancy Zeltsman Marimba Festival (2010 & 2015), Keiko Abe Marimba Academy (2013), and SoundSCAPE (2014). In 2007, he won the first prize in the percussion category of Taiwan Music Competition. In addition to performing, Dr. Lin enjoys teaching as well. Having plenty of experience coaching percussion ensemble and teaching private lessons, Dr. Lin recently teaches percussion lessons and group class in the bay area. His teaching philosophy is to make music enjoyable to students at all times! His wish for his students is to not only gain musical knowledge but also to feel the joy and peace which music brings to them. |