Bridget (Bri) Olenik is an active performer, composer, arranger and educator in the Midwest. She has coached drum lines, bands, percussion ensembles, front ensembles and private students throughout states of Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio. As a performer, Bridget has played in a wide variety of genres from the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra to the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. Currently, she is principal timpanist for the Urbana Pops Orchestra. When not in the concert hall, Bridget enjoys performing for school music programs all over the midwest, inspiring the next generation of music makers through her performance and guidance. For the past four years, she has been involved as an artist, administrator, and board member with the Heartland Marimba Festival, a non profit chamber music organization that specializes in promoting and performing the marimba across Iowa and the greater Midwest. You can see more about the organization, music, and musicians involved on the website: www.heartlandmarimbafestival.com. Most recently, Bridget enlisted in the Ohio Army National Guard as a percussionist with the 122nd Army Band.
As an educator, she has taught elementary, middle and high school students and ensembles as well as college methods and ensembles. She has served as an instructor for four seasons with the Colt Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. She has worked with many school programs such as Carmel High School (IN), Dowling Catholic High School (IA), Defiance College, Siena Heights University, Urbana University, among others. Bridget is currently the associate Band Director for the Fostoria City Schools in Fostoria, Ohio. She maintains an active clinician schedule and private studio alongside her duties at Fostoria.
Bridget has arranged and composed music for bands, drum lines, percussion ensembles, front ensembles and for solo percussion. Bridget received her bachelor’s degree in music performance at Iowa State University with Dr. Matthew Coley and Dr. Barry Larkin. She completed her master’s degree in performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with Kevin Bobo, John Tafoya, Steve Houghton, and Michael Spiro.
Bridget Olenik proudly endorses Sabian and Vater Percussion.
As an educator, she has taught elementary, middle and high school students and ensembles as well as college methods and ensembles. She has served as an instructor for four seasons with the Colt Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. She has worked with many school programs such as Carmel High School (IN), Dowling Catholic High School (IA), Defiance College, Siena Heights University, Urbana University, among others. Bridget is currently the associate Band Director for the Fostoria City Schools in Fostoria, Ohio. She maintains an active clinician schedule and private studio alongside her duties at Fostoria.
Bridget has arranged and composed music for bands, drum lines, percussion ensembles, front ensembles and for solo percussion. Bridget received her bachelor’s degree in music performance at Iowa State University with Dr. Matthew Coley and Dr. Barry Larkin. She completed her master’s degree in performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with Kevin Bobo, John Tafoya, Steve Houghton, and Michael Spiro.
Bridget Olenik proudly endorses Sabian and Vater Percussion.