Dr. Kyle Forsthoff is a diverse percussion educator and performer based in Richmond, Rhode Island. His positions include appointments at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. He is also an instructor at the Rhody Center for World Music and Dance.
Kyle earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the University of Kentucky in May 2010, where he was a student of Professor James B. Campbell. He received his Master’s degree in Percussion Performance in December 2006 from Arizona State University, where he studied with Dr. J.B. Smith, and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education in May 2005 from the University of Kentucky. In 2010, Kyle served as an Adjunct Professor at Capital University in Columbus Ohio, coordinating the percussion instruction in the Conservatory College Preparatory Division. Performance credits include a presentation at the 2012 nief-norf Festival Research Summit, an appearance at the Kentucky New Music Festival, and a tour of Taiwan as a member of the XPlorium! Chamber Ensemble.
Kyle is highly involved in world music and has studied Afro-Cuban music with Michael Spiro, Irish bodhran with Harry Sawatski and Rolf Wagels, Tabla with Dr. David Courtney, hand drumming with N. Scott Robinson and Randy Gloss, Javanese Gamelan with Dr. Ted Solis, Balinese Gamelan with Dr. Kuo-Huang Han and Wayne Vitale, and Korean Samulnori percussion with Dr. Donna Kwon. His performance credits include seven appearances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention as well as concerts in Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, China, and Taiwan.
As an instructor, Kyle has directed the UK Percussion Ensemble and UK Balinese Gamelan and served as the director and arranger for the ASU Pan Devils Steel Band. Kyle has also served as a musical and visual technician for drumlines and front ensembles in Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Georgia and served on the faculty of the Music for All Summer Symposium in 2007 and 2008. Kyle was a member of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps Front Ensemble in 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2008.
Kyle has taught music to young children at the Frankfurt International School in Frankfurt, Germany and has served as a guest instructor at the Musikskolan in Upplands Vasby, Sweden. He also ran a private studio, collaborated as a performer and composer with the FIS Dance Ensemble, and was a featured instructor at the POP Goes Culture! Learning Festival. Kyle also performed with locally-renowned musician Stormin’ Norman Hartnett, recorded for Leiselaut Records, was active in the Irish Traditional Music scene throughout central Germany, and performed in Piteå, Sweden as a member of the Fortuity Percussion Duo. In May 2008, Kyle was involved in a six-concert tour of China with the University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble.
Kyle is the Percussive Arts Society Rhode Island Chapter President and he is a proud endorser of Yamaha Percussion Instruments, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, and Cooperman Hand Drums.
