Bethany Robinson is a Yamaha Performing Artist, 2022 GRAMMY Music Educator Award Finalist, NAfME Jazz Council Chair, Past-President of the Indiana Jazz Educators Association, and serves on the Jazz Education Network Board. She is currently the Jazz Band Director for Noblesville Schools in Noblesville, Indiana. Since 2010, the jazz program has expanded from one to six bands, and the top jazz ensemble qualified for the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival in 2021 and 2022, and was awarded the 2023 ISSMA Honor Jazz Band for the state of Indiana.
Bethany was the 2014 Indiana Jazz Educator of the Year, 2015 Noblesville Teacher of the Year, and 2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist. She was also named a 2022 Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association and the 2023 Indiana Outstanding High School Music Educator of the Year. She is a 2-time Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellow, receiving grants to study jazz and culture in both the U.S. (2011) and Brazil (2019). Each spring, Bethany helps to lead Indiana Jazz Girls Day, hosting workshops and side-by-side concerts for students around the state of Indiana to elevate student leaders through jazz.
Bethany was a keynote speaker for the 2021 Australia National Band and Orchestra Conference and was a presenter at the 2021 Indiana Music Educator Association Conference, the 2022 International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, and the 2023 Oklahoma and New York State Band Conferences. She is a clinician and adjudicator independently and for Jazz at Lincoln Center.
As an avid performer on upright bass, electric bass, and vocals, Bethany has performed over the years at the Indy Jazz Fest, Indianapolis Jazz Kitchen, The Center for the Performing Arts (Carmel, IN), Carmel Jazz Fest, the Indianapolis Zoo Jazz Series, and Zoobilation with many artists including Everett Greene, Sarah Scharbrough, Katherine Nagy, and has opened for Yamaha Artists Dave Koz and Gabe Dixon.
