John Churchville is a GRAMMY award winning Tabla player as well as a Two time GRAMMY Music Educator Award nominee and Detroit Music Award winner. John got his start in music at a very early age on the shores of Lake Superior in the town of Marquette Michigan where he forged a love of performing, recording,and teaching music. From there he moved out to California to attend the esteemed California Institute of the Arts where he earned a degree in World Music Performance and began a decades long journey with the Indian tabla drums.
Moving to Ann Arbor with his wife Jody in 2006, John forged a unique path in both the music scene and in music education. Over the next decade, John developed a nationally recognized and award winning elementary music program with a focus on student ownership, creativity, and technology integration. He earned his Masters in Music Education from the University of Michigan in 2015. John is currently the chair of the New Directions Committee for the Michigan Music Education Association (MMEA) and on the Development Committee for the Association for Popular Music Education (APME).
At the same time, John has also been recording, performing and developing his unique style of tabla drumming with many groups including his current project the C.A.R.Ma. Quartet with Grammy Award winning Harmonica player Peter Madcat Ruth. John has recorded, engineered and produced 20+ albums with various groups (Check out the MUSIC page). John is currently working as a performing musician, private and classroom instructor, and freelance Music Education Consultant.
John is available to provide state certified professional development seminars for Elementary Music Educators in all 50 states through the Bureau of Education and Research (BER)
