Erin Walker Bliss is a Lecturer in World Music at the University of Kentucky. Her undergraduate and master’s degrees are from Northern Illinois University and DePaul University respectively, and she holds a DMA in percussion and a PhD in musicology/ethnomusicology from the University of Kentucky. Erin has taught courses in music appreciation, jazz history, Asian music, and the history of rock at the University of Kentucky and was a temporary instructor at Northern Illinois University in the summer of 2007. As a percussionist with an extensive background in world music, Erin’s diverse musical interests have allowed her to travel to Korea, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Thailand, Canada, Croatia, and throughout the United States. She is a founding member of the nief-norf project, a contemporary percussion ensemble. In Lexington, Erin is the director of the Central Music Academy, a non-profit music program that gives free music lessons to financially disadvantaged children. At CMA, she supervises program and outreach activities and is the organization’s primary grantwriter.