Andy Jarema (b. 1988) is a music educator, sound designer, and trumpet player in the metro-Detroit area. He holds degrees from Michigan State University (B.A. Music Education/Jazz Studies Minor) and Wayne State University (M.M. Music Composition).

As a native of Troy, Michigan, he was a member of the Troy High School Bands, Zenith Brass Ensemble, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Jazz Ensemble. During his time at Michigan State he was a member of the Almost Unique Brass Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to finding the intersection between popular music, classical music, multi-media presentations, and music technology. He was also a member of the Michigan State Symphony Band, Glee Club, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble II, and Spartan Marching Band. He has privately studied trumpet with Gordon Simmons, Benjamin Albright, Richard Illman, and Derrick Gardner, as well as privately studied music composition with Matt Schoendorff and Jonathan Anderson.

Andy has a decade of music teaching experience in the public schools, including four years as a middle school band director in Howell, Michigan. As the director of the Highlander Way Middle School Band Program, he developed an expanded music curriculum that encouraged his students to compose, improvise, apply theoretical concepts, create small group arrangements, and conduct their peers in an ensemble setting. As a composer, he collaborated with his students in the premiere of three original wind band compositions and over twenty arrangements for various ensembles. His most recent public school position was teaching K-6 general music/band in the Warren Woods Public Schools, where he continued to expand the music education curriculum to incorporate regional musical influences (Motown and the Detroit beat maker J Dilla) and work towards making elements of Black American pop music a foundational aspect of his curriculum.

Andy frequently showcases his ideas to colleagues across the state of Michigan through sessions at the Michigan Music Conference. His first presentation in 2015 was entitled “Working the Crowd: Creative Ideas to Engage Your Audiences at Concerts.” He also presented at the 2019 and 2020 conferences, including a session on the intersection of his roles as a music educator and a composer entitled “Let Them Write! How Composition Can Be Utilized As Your Most Effective Teaching Tool.” He has also presented “Non-Linear Narratives, Control, and Agency: Video Games and Andrew Norman's Play” at the 2018 University of Toronto Graduate Music Conference and the 2019 Kansas City University-Lawrence Graduate Music Conference.

As a composer, Andy was commissioned by the Detroit Composers Project in 2018 and was nominated for the Detroit Music Awards in 2021. His artistic and academic work has also been featured in the Earth Day Art Model Telematic Festivals in 2020, 2021, and 2022. His concert band works have been performed by ensembles across the state of Michigan, most notably his Great Lakes Suite.

Andy was granted a 2016 fellowship from Fund For Teachers, an organization that empowers public school teachers to create their own unique, innovative professional development opportunities. He embarked on a 28 day trip on Route 66, researching how the historic highway drove American culture and affected the transmission of musical genres across the country. In addition to filming a music video for Bobby Troup’s classic song “Route 66” at various waypoints along the road, he composed a short piece for wind ensemble (“Route 66 Fanfare”) as a tribute to the natural and cultural landmarks along Route 66.

Andy has been selected several times for Artist in Residence positions in the National Park Service. In addition to running workshops and interacting with visitors, he recorded natural sound throughout each park and created electronically processed soundscapes and “nature beats” using the computer software Max/MSP. Some of his residencies include Great Smoky Mountains National Park (August 2018) and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (August 2019).

Andy is a past member of the Southeastern Michigan Wind Ensemble, a collective of professional musicians, semi-professional musicians, and music teachers in the metro-Detroit area. He is also a past member of the Grand Rapids-based rock band Stone Soup and the Broken Teeth.

Andy is currently a virtual private music lessons teacher in both traditional (classical instruments) and non-traditional (video game music and digital audio production) contexts. He is currently serving as a virtual music teacher for the Great Bend Center for Music in Washington state, developing new curriculum to teach Video Game Music, Digital Audio Production, Family Ukulele, and other virtual music courses. In his spare time he enjoys experimenting with musical field recording projects, visiting Michigan’s finest breweries, taking massive road trips to national parks with his partner Danielle, obsessing over bird song, and playing with an insanely cute Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Aoife and a wildly expressive baby girl named Etta.