Introducing our faculty
Arla Clausen
Program Chair
Director of Vocal Music
Phone: (712) 325-3726
Office: Arts Center 113
Email: aclausen@iwcc.edu
Arla Clausen received her degree from N.W.M.S.U. in Maryville, Missouri. She taught 28 years as the vocal director for the Tri-Center High School. Arla has served on the executive board of the I.C.D.A., the District Advisory Board for the I.H.S.M.A., has adjudicated and been a guest director for many competitions and festivals in Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. Arla is currently serving on the liaison committee for the I.H.S.M.A.
Arla also is a co-founder and director for the SWI Honor Touring Choir of a selected 72 voices, which travel to New York City every other year. This last November, Arla directed the Opus 7th and 8th grade choir, which was opening concert for the Iowa All-State Music Festival.
Arla is currently the Program Chair of Music at Iowa Western Community College. Arla also teaches Applied Voice, Concert Choir and Show Choir.
Christine Hitt
Director of Instrumental Music
Phone: (712) 388-7147
Office: Arts Center 112
Email: chitt@iwcc.edu
Christine Hitt has earned degrees from the University of Minnesota and the University of Arizona in piano performance. Christine began performing as a jazz pianist while a member of the United States Air Force Band. After leaving the Air Force in 1993, Christine continued her performing career playing with jazz artists Tome Kennedy, Nick Nrignola, Jake Hanna, Harry Allen, Slide Hampton and Steve Kirby.
Her debut recording on the MAXJAZZ label released in 1999 also features world-renown drummer Jeff Hamilton. "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To is a wholly satisfying survey of deftly performed standards that should make content even the fussiest listener" All About Jazz, September 1999. Hitt's follow up on MAXJAZZ Holiday 2001 features her performing several of her own arrangements with New York musicians Bruce Barth and Ugonna Okegwo.
Dedicated to jazz education, Christine is credited with implementing the vocal jazz studies curriculum at Webster University in St. Louis where she was a professor. Christine has also taught at Washington University, Concordia College, North Dakota State University and Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minnesota. She is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and is in demand as a performer, clinician and recording artist throughout the U.S.
Christine is currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Iowa Western Community College. She also teaches Jazz Ensemble I, Pep Band, jazz piano, and jazz improvisation.
Charles Larish
Instructor, Technical Music Program
Phone: (712) 388-7145
Office: Kanesville, Room 2003
Email: clarish@iwcc.edu
Charles Larish received his B.S. in Music Education from Slippery Rock University, specializing in saxophone under the tutelage of Professor Terry Steele and his M.M. in Music Technology from Northwestern University under the tutelage of Drs. Virgil Moorefield and Gary Kendall where he studied audio synthesis and production, computer programming, video game design, and website design.
Charles has worked professionally for clients such as Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, HIT Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and Hasbro through Publications International, Ltd., a children’s electronic book publisher where he composed music, designed sound effects, recorded and edited voice-over, and aided the graphic arts department with music layout and notation. While with Publications International, he directed voice-over sessions with such talents as Tom Kenny, Tara Strong, Alexander Gould, and Kevin Clash.
Charles has also worked as a voice-over editor for Rosetta Stone, Ltd., the makers of the popular language-learning software “Rosetta Stone”, music director for Northwest Baptist Church, and freelance musician with such artists as The Temptations, the Butler Symphony Orchestra, Bud Hundenski and The Corsairs, and Bill Menk’s Big Band.
Charles is on faculty at Iowa Western Community College directing the Technical Music program.
Amanda Albrecht
Instructor, RPT
Phone: (712) 388-7153
Office: Arts Center 205
Email: aalbrecht@iwcc.edu
Amanda Albrecht earned her Ph.D. in music composition from the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Alex Lubet, Adam Greene, and William Banfield. She holds a Masters in Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she studied composition with William Heinrichs and Yehuda Yannay. She has also studied horn with Caroline Lemen and Gregory Flint and voice with Lisa White, Rachelle Starr, and Antonio Rodrigues-Pavao.
Dr. Albrecht has composed for a wide variety of genres, including orchestra, chorus, chamber music, solo instruments, solo voice, and the electro acoustic medium. The Renegade Ensemble selected her work The Stand: A Quasi-Improvisatory Musical Drama for performance on its spring 2005 season. Zeitgeist, the well-known Twin Cities’ professional new music ensemble, has performed four of her pieces, twice selecting her work through a juried call for scores. This past May, the group premiered two movements from her dissertation, a performance for which she performed the role of narrator.
Dr. Albrecht has a strong background in theatre. While at the U of M, she studied stage directing with Lou Bellamy and Stephen Kanee, and she has written and directed a number of theatrical works. She is interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and has worked on a number of collaborations in the genres of film, dance, theatre, and performance art. Additionally, many of her independent projects have been interdisciplinary in nature.
Dr. Albrecht’s music is concerned with the balance between perceivable musical logic and the “unexpected,” with the goal of creating a language that is both a carrier of meaning and emotionally charged. She is specifically interested in the genre of instrumental theatre. Her dissertation, Violent Illumination: A Music Theatre Experience for Mixed Vocal Ensemble and Onstage Instrumentalists, is her first substantial work with a comprehensive focus on the visual and kinesthetic elements of musical - theatrical performance.
Dr. Albrecht is currently on faculty at Iowa Western Community College, where she teaches the core sequence of music theory and aural skills. She also teaches applied voice, Fundamentals of Music, and a course on the history of American music.
Bruce Bartels
Bruce Bartels received his B.A. from Midland Lutheran College. Bruce is currently adjunct concert band faculty and Director of the IWCC Community band at Iowa Western Community College.
Ron Cooley
Ron Cooley received his M.M. from University of Nebraska at Omaha. Ron Cooley's career as a guitarist and composer spans five decades. Early influences were the Beatles, Chet Atkins, Andre Segovia and a multitude of jazz artists such as Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. Ron has studied with guitarists Mick Goodrick, Eliot Fisk, Oscar Ghiglia and Ricardo Iznaola and has performed on countless stages in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Touring highlights include performing on NBC's Today Show and Tonight with Jay Leno, ABC's Good Morning America, the Regis and Kathy Lee Show and for President Clinton at the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in Washington DC with Mannheim Steamroller.
He has appeared at the Wolftrap Theatre in DC in the "Yellowstone Music of Nature" concerts and also as a solo artist at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In the 70's, he appeared on Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, NBC's Midnight Special and Nashville's Grand Ole Opry as guitarist for the country artist C.W. McCall.
To date, Ron has six solo recordings spanning an eclectic blend of instrumental jazz, pop, classical and contemporary acoustic guitar compositions. He currently is working on his seventh major project.
Ron is currently adjunct guitar faculty at Iowa Western Community College.
Mathew Erickson
Matthew Erickson, originally from Marcus, Iowa, is the bass trombonist for the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band, a position he has held since July 2000. He also serves the band as the group leader and music director for the “Brass in Blue”, a 13 member symphonic brass ensemble. Throughout his Air Force career, he has performed in over 750 performances, appeared on five compact disc and DVD recordings, and has entertained thousands of civilian and military audiences, including four United States Presidents and the Prime Ministers of Japan and Afghanistan.
Matthew has garnered several USAF Public Affairs awards for his musical and administrative efforts. In 2003, he was named Airman of the Year for the USAF Band Career Field.
Mr. Erickson attended the University of South Dakota where he earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree Magna Cum Laude in May 2000. While at USD, Matthew was a finalist in a number of brass competitions, including the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Brass Competition and the International Trombone Association Donald Yaxley Bass Trombone Competition.
As a soloist, Matthew has also been featured with the USAF HOAB Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble on thirteen national tours and also appeared with the Sioux City Municipal Band, the USD Concert Band, the Buena Vista University Wind Ensemble, the University of Nebraska-Omaha Trombone Choir and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Trombone Choir. In March 2002, he was the guest soloist with the Augustana College Trombone Choir at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C. As an arranger, his brass ensemble and trombone choir transcriptions have been performed by the Brass in Blue and collegiate trombone choirs to include: UNO, UNL, Augustana College, USD, and the University of Texas-Austin.
When not on duty with the Air Force, Matthew is the bass trombonist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, a founding member of the trombone quartet, Trombonisti , and a freelance bass trombonist. He has performed with the Omaha, Lincoln, South Dakota and Sioux City Symphonies and notable artist such as: Gladys Knight, David Foster, Linda Rognstadt and Michael Bublé.
He is an adjunct instructor at Iowa Western Community College where he teaches music appreciation classes, low brass lessons, and conducts the trombone choir. Matthew makes his home in Bellevue, NE with his wife, Abby, daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Colin.
Gary Fiscus
Gary Fiscus received his B.M.E. and B.M. from Drake University. Gary retired from teaching at Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs where he taught music for 31 years. He guided the department's expansion from 3 choirs to a 7-choir program. Gary is currently the Director of Music at Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska.
Gary was the conductor and organist for the Mid American Music Tours to Europe in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Gary is the co-founder of the Iowa Choral Directors Association Weston Nobel Endowment Fund, which benefits first year choral directors in Iowa.
He has been a recipient of numerous awards including: Lewis Central Educator of the Year, Council Bluffs Sertoma Educator of the Year, and Governor's Recognition for Teaching Excellence.
Gary has written an article for the Choral Journal entitled Jazz in the Choral Music Rehearsal. He has also co-published a book, I've Learned to Chop Wood and Carry Water.
Gary is currently an adjunct faculty for voice at Iowa Western Community College.
Mark Haar
Mark Haar received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA and a Masters of Music degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In and around Nebraska, Mark has played with the Omaha Symphony, the Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra and was the Principal Bassist of the Sioux City Symphony. Currently, he is a member of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Fontenelle Trio.
Mark has performed in master classes for such renowned bassists as Gary Karr and James VanDemark of the Eastman School of Music. He has performed with many different jazz ensembles, everything from duos to big band jazz ensembles. Some of the groups with which he has performed include the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the Bluffs Big Band, the Las Vegas Lab Band, the Omaha Big Band, the Matt Wallace Quartet, and the Darryl White Quartet.
He has also played with blues bands, worship bands and musical theater pit orchestras including the pit orchestras of Broadway touring productions of Grease and Big, as well as for many different stage productions at the Omaha Community Playhouse. With Mark's current jazz group, Novak & Haar, he has recorded “A Summer’s Carol,” and “A Winter’s Carol," and “Old Friends." All three of these albums have received both national and international attention.
Along with his performing, Mark teaches double bass both at Iowa Western Community College and privately.
Christopher Hammiel
Chris Hammiel received his Bachelor of Music degree from the School of Music at the University of Oklahoma and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree. His influential teachers include Mr. Bill Adam, Dr. Karl Sievers, and Mr. Steve Erickson.
Chris is currently a member of the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band located at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, NE. Chris is an active clinician and private instructor. Artists that Chris has performed with include: the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Enid Symphony Orchestra, Pam Tillis, The Lettermen, Steve Allen, Jim Nabors, Lee Greenwood, The Mills Brothers, The Four Freshmen, Kathy Rigby in the touring Broadway show Peter Pan, the O Jays, and two summers as lead trumpet at the Cedar Point amusement park.
Chris is a busy freelance trumpet player performing with many groups around the Omaha metro area such as the Omaha Symphony, Lonny Lynn Orchestra, Omaha Jazz Orchestra, Nebraska Trumpet Ensemble, Boardwalk Party Band, and the Steve Shininger Little Big Band.
Chris is currently adjunct faculty for trumpet at Iowa Western Community College.
Emily Hammiel
Emily Hammiel received her Master of Music degree from University of Nebraska-Omaha. Emily is currently the Vocal Music Specialist at Fontenelle Elementary school in Omaha, Nebraska. Emily is currently adjunct faculty at Iowa Western Community College.
Stacie Haneline
Stacie Haneline received her M.M. from Manhattan School of Music. Stacie is currently adjunct piano faculty at Iowa Western Community College.
Barry Hitt
Barry Hitt received his B.M. from University of Arizona. Barry is currently adjunct trumpet and brass quintet faculty at Iowa Western Community College
andrew King
Andrew King received his B.M. from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Andrew is currently adjunct faculty for voice at Iowa Western Community College.
Dianne Lawson
Dianne Lawson is a private piano instructor in Harlan, Iowa and a vocal accompanist for the Harlan Community Schools. She is a nationally certified member of the Music Teachers National Association, and received a Bachelor of Education degree from Nebraska Wesleyan and a Master of Music in piano performance degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Dianne Lawson received her M.M. degree from University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dianne is currently adjunct piano faculty at Iowa Western Community College.
Ronald Stephen Lawson
Steve Lawson has been involved in jazz education in Iowa since 1968. He was the middle school band instructor, and middle/high school jazz instructor in the Harlan Community Schools for 32 years, earning two Iowa High School Jazz Championships in class 3A during his tenure.
Since retiring in 2002, he continues to be active as an adjudicator and clinician, teaches privately and serves as director of Faith Sound, an ecumenical youth music ministry performing group.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Nebraska Wesleyan and a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Iowa.
He is currently adjunct faculty for percussion, drum set and trombone Iowa Western Community College.
Darren Pettit
Darren Pettit received his Master’s degree in saxophone performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where he was awarded full scholarship. After graduating from CCM, he moved back to Omaha and has worked as a freelance musician and private teacher.
Darren has performed and/or recorded with the Omaha Big Band, the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the Notables, the Heartland of America Band, Chuck Pennington, Mannheim Steamroller, the Omaha Symphony with Manhattan Transfer, Debbie Boone, Bobby Vinton, Delbert McClinton, the Four Tops, the Diamonds, the Crystals, the Mighty Jailbreakers, the Confidentials, Suzie Thorne, and many others.
Darren directs the Metropolitan Area Youth Jazz Orchestra. He also maintains a large private studio and is in constant demand as a performer.
Darren is also currently adjunct faculty for saxophone, music theory, jazz combo, and jazz improvisation at Iowa Western Community College.
Kate Roberts
Kate Roberts received her M.M. from University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Kate is currently adjunct voice faculty at Iowa Western Community College.
Jeff Scheffler
Jeff Scheffler received his bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. His professional career as a guitarist and teacher has spanned over 30 years and continues to perform and teach all styles of music.
Jeff has performed as a freelance guitarist in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Omaha which gained performances with Bobby Sherman, Debbie Reynolds, Debbie Gibson, Ndugu Chancellor, Rich Little and Bob Mintzer.
Jeff’ currently performs with the Omaha Big Band; Luigi Waites; Steve Raybine; and also performs with his own jazz trio. He also is a member of the Omaha Musician’s Union Local 70-558. As a freelance guitarist, Jeff has performed with the Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha, the Omaha Community Playhouse, the Lincoln Symphony along with many other venues.
Jeff currently is the jazz guitar instructor for Iowa Western Community College, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Nebraska Christian College. He also teaches guitar at Russo’s Guitar Center.
Leigh Ann Singer-Martic
Leigh Ann Martic is adjunct professor of flute and saxophone at IWCC. She is a graduate (2007) of University of Nebraska-Lincoln, earning her Masters of Music in Flute Performance.
She received her Bachelors in Music Education from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, graduating Summa Cum Laude with University Honors. A native of Ottawa, Illinois, Martic has earned many high undergraduate honors such as Honors Scholar, Dean’s List, and Presser Scholar. She was also first place winner of the Flute Society of Kentucky Collegiate Artist Competition (2003), finalist and winner of the Illinois State University Concerto Competition (2004), as well as earning principal positions in the top ensembles at Illinois State. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Leigh Ann Martic was a graduate teaching assistant, and has earned principal flute in UNL’s Symphony Orchestra (2005-2006), Wind Ensemble (2006-2007), and Chamber Orchestra (2006-2007).
Martic’s most recent honors is being accepted as a member of the 2007 International Youth Wind Orchestra at the WASBE Conference in Killarney, Ireland, as well as earning the Student Achievement Recognition Award from the Music Teachers National Association this year, an award recognizing leadership, academic achievement, and excellence in teaching.
Leigh Ann Martic has studied flute with Sue Gillio, Dr. Kimberly McCoul Risinger, and Dr. John Bailey. She has also participated in masterclasses with many renowned flutists, such as Jimmy Walker, Alexa Still, Thomas Robertello, and Ian Clarke. Martic is currently the band director in Council Bluffs, Iowa teaching junior high school bands.