Dr. Amy Schumaker Bliss is a euphonium artist and music educator based in the Philadelphia area. Originally from Ohio, she attended Capital University Conservatory of Music in Columbus where she double majored in euphonium performance and music education, studying with Dr. Thomas Zugger and James Swearingen. She earned her master’s degree in euphonium performance studying with Steven Mead and David Thornton at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England where she earned Honors with Distinction in Performance. In 2015, she graduated from Rutgers University as the school's first doctoral euphonium student, studying with Dr. Stephen Arthur Allen and working with Aaron VanderWeele.
Amy has been building a career that combines her love for performing with her love for teaching music. She began teaching euphonium at Rowan University in 2012, where she also works with the Rowan University Brass Band, coaches the tuba/euphonium quartet, works with the Atlantic Youth Brass Band, conducts summer brass choir, and teaches private lessons on euphonium, baritone, and tuba to community members.
As a performer, Amy's current ongoing projects include playing solo euphonium for the Atlantic Brass Band (North American Brass Band Champions, 2011, 2012, and 2016), Liberty Wind Ensemble (a professional wind ensemble in southeastern Pennsylvania), and collaborating with area musicians for brass quintet, orchestral, wind ensemble, solo, and low brass performances.
Other than her work at Rowan and her performance projects, Amy is particularly interested in the areas of British brass band in North America and the advancement of women in brass. Her most recent scholarship includes a paper that was published in the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Journal, “The Brass Band Bridge and J. Perry Watson: A Link to the Beginning of the North American British Brass Band Movement.” The paper was praised as being “probably the best history of the establishment of the British-brass band movement in North America” (William Berz, editor WASBE Journal). Additionally, she recently adjudicated the youth section of the North American Brass Band Association's championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2016). Amy serves on the commissions committee (chairperson) of the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) and was a host to the organization's 2017 conference at Rowan University. Amy lives outside Philadelphia in Collingswood, New Jersey with her husband Adam, her son Simon.
Amy has been building a career that combines her love for performing with her love for teaching music. She began teaching euphonium at Rowan University in 2012, where she also works with the Rowan University Brass Band, coaches the tuba/euphonium quartet, works with the Atlantic Youth Brass Band, conducts summer brass choir, and teaches private lessons on euphonium, baritone, and tuba to community members.
As a performer, Amy's current ongoing projects include playing solo euphonium for the Atlantic Brass Band (North American Brass Band Champions, 2011, 2012, and 2016), Liberty Wind Ensemble (a professional wind ensemble in southeastern Pennsylvania), and collaborating with area musicians for brass quintet, orchestral, wind ensemble, solo, and low brass performances.
Other than her work at Rowan and her performance projects, Amy is particularly interested in the areas of British brass band in North America and the advancement of women in brass. Her most recent scholarship includes a paper that was published in the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Journal, “The Brass Band Bridge and J. Perry Watson: A Link to the Beginning of the North American British Brass Band Movement.” The paper was praised as being “probably the best history of the establishment of the British-brass band movement in North America” (William Berz, editor WASBE Journal). Additionally, she recently adjudicated the youth section of the North American Brass Band Association's championships in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2016). Amy serves on the commissions committee (chairperson) of the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) and was a host to the organization's 2017 conference at Rowan University. Amy lives outside Philadelphia in Collingswood, New Jersey with her husband Adam, her son Simon.
