About Gretchen
Gretchen Hary
Gretchen
holds a Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from Boston Conservatory, a Master of Music in percussion pedagogy from Belmont University and a Graduate Certificate in Music and Autism from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She has studied with Nancy Zeltsman, Tim Genis, Patrick Hollenbeck and Christopher Norton PhD.
She is currently a freelance percussionist in Connecticut.
Teaching Experience
Since 2006 Ms. Hary has taught private percussion lessons at
Neighborhood Music School (NMS), in New Haven CT, one of the largest community music schools on the country. She teaches students on marimba, timpani, various orchestral auxiliary instruments and drumset.
Her students range in age from five to adult and she tailors each lesson to fit the individual needs of the student. With her experience teaching students with special needs, she often uses alternative notation and other various modifications and accommodations. At NMS she also directs percussion ensembles, coaches the percussion section of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Youth orchestra, teaches Meet the Drumset class and theory.
Ms. Hary has been teaching at ACES Educational for the Arts (ECA), an arts magnet high school in New Haven CT, since 2011. There she teaches percussion technique, theory, musicianship, percussion ensemble and rock band/contemporary ensemble.
In the fall of 2021 Ms. Hary joined the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education as a teacher with their new online program ConnectABLE. She currently teaches private drum lessons and theory lessons. She also taught on campus with their summer program ABLE Day Sessions in 2022.
Upcoming
Currently working on composing a beginner drumset method book for neurodiverse learners.
New member of the Percussive Arts Society Diversity Alliance Accessibility Committee.