Mark Gowman

Background

About Mark Gowman

Two things have always defined me in my pursuit of a career: I am a musician, and I am a teacher. I would be content to do either, but I am lucky enough to do both. Teaching music is my passion- Mark Gowman has worked as a public school instrumental music teacher for two decades. Raised as a classical and lead trumpet player with an additional background in corps-style rudimental drumming, Mark is now also respected as a player and teacher of Irish traditional music. For fifteen years, he has led the Irish music programs at Franklin Middle School in Baltimore County, MD and East Rochester High School in western New York State, and regularly presents workshops on the Irish flute, Irish traditional music, and music education with a focus on folk music pedagogies. These workshops include numerous sessions at the Eastman School of Music, three NYSSMA state conferences, the Music Educators National Conference, and others. He is also one of the founders and directors of the Rogue Music Education Conference, which focuses on methods, ensembles, and approaches to music making that are outside of the standard American music education model. Mark is also the percussion caption head of the Victor (NY) Marching Blue Devils and director of the 2015 New York State champion Victor Indoor Percussion Ensemble. Since the mid-1990s Mark has also been active as an amateur website developer and graphic designer, and has recently established Three Thistles Design. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BMus, music education & trumpet performance) and the Eastman School of Music (MA, music education).