About

Rose Martin is a sound explorer and educator centered in percussion and voice. With her emerging band, Irisanna, Rose explores themes of courtship, grief, and tender love through song and texture. Irisanna (herself, bassist Andrew Ryan and drummer Jackson Hillmer) made their debut in Spring of 2023. In a recent joyful collaboration with visual artist Nate Clark, Rose created the sound component that was installed alongside Clark's sculptural work at MadArt Studio. Weaving together intricate found object improvisations with field recordings, she built sonic layers that converse with Clark’s intentions to center the senses and return to the body.

As an educator of all ages, Rose grounds her teaching in empathy, creativity, compassion, and empowerment. She is honored to lead and learn alongside young musicians, nurturing a deeper understanding of sound, silence, and listening.  

A great privilege of Rose’s life has been her work as a caregiver. Pragmatically, her music-making may be offered to those she supports as an intuitive therapy, though in a larger sense Rose views much of her art-making through a lens of healing.

Rose holds a Master of Music from University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Denver, Lamont School of Music. With gratitude, Rose has studied with John Kinzie, Dr. Sarah Morelli, Ghanaian master drummer Johnson Kemeh, Ghanaian master of gyil Aaron Bebe Sukura, Ayano Kataoka, Stuart Saunders Smith, and Bonnie Whiting. Rose is currently pursuing a doctorate at University of Washington in Seattle.