Justin Lamb

Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, Applied Percussion

Contact: [email protected]

Dr. Justin Lamb is an active performer, educator, composer, and arranger based in the metro-Detroit area and currently serves as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Oakland University. Before moving to the Detroit area, Justin held various teaching roles with the Eastman School of Music (NY), the Eastman Community Music School (NY), James F. Byrnes High School (SC), and League Academy (SC).

Committed to contemporary music and performance, Justin has premiered several new works for percussion by composers Paul Lansky, John Psathas, Michael Burritt, Baljinder Sekhon, Ivan Trevino, and more. Recently, Justin led a consortium to commission composer and multi-instrumentalist Connor Shafran. Connor’s new work, What I Know, is a unique intersection of contemporary percussion theatre utilizing unique components of music technology. Justin recently gave the premiere of this work in April 2023. Available on all major streaming platforms, Justin can be heard performing on The John Psathas Percussion Project, Vol. 1 and recently performed with the John Psathas Project at PASIC 2024 alongside international soloist Fabian Ziegler. Justin also serves as the Principal Percussionist of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, performs regularly in orchestras, theatre pits, and chamber concert halls with his percussion duo partner Emma Gierszal, who teaches at the Crane School of Music.

Passionate for teaching younger percussionists, Justin has taught extensively at middle and high schools in South Carolina and New York, including James F. Byrnes High School, League Academy, and the Eastman Community Music School. Additionally, outside of his work as a concert artist, Justin has also performed with the Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps (2013, 2014) and continues to remain active in the marching arts as a clinician, percussion arranger, and adjudicator. Moreover, in his free time, Justin enjoys arranging and composing in a variety of settings. His popular solo marimba arrangement of Misty by Erroll Garner has been performed all around the world and is available for purchase at Tapspace publications.

Justin holds MM and DMA degrees from the Eastman School of Music­, where he was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, the Milton Schlesinger Percussion Prize, and the Arts Leadership Certificate. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Furman University. His teachers have included Michael Burritt, James Ross, Chip Ross, Rich Thompson, Dr. Omar Carmenates, and Justin Watt. Justin is a proud Tapspace artist and Malletech performing artist.

https://www.jlambmusic.com/