Marty McGinn

My journey in music started at age 9 after I inherited my grandmother’s electric organ. I earned my bachelor of music degree in music composition from The University of Iowa in 2003.

In 2003 I moved to California to attend Mills College where I studied music composition with Pauline Oliveros. After completing my masters I began teaching and playing the piano professionally. In 2009 I began a singer-songwriter project called Art Elliot which continues to the present. In addition to original music I’ve recorded and played with Jack O' the Clock and The Eli Wise Band. In 2020 I collaborated with author and singer Dominic Lim to create the original song, A Part I Play, for his novel All the Right Notes.

I love sharing my love and knowledge of music with children and adults alike. My various experiences have taught me that music is more than one style, one way of playing, or one way of sense-making. Music can be a form for expression just as much as it can be a form of experimentation. What is music to you?