Dr. Kristen R. Bromley is a gifted and sought-after instructor, as well as a loved performer and composer. In addition to directing ensembles and teaching guitar and jazz studies courses at Brigham Young University, Dr. Bromley works as a professional arranging/composing, performing, and recording musician, and she is the owner and primary featured artist of Kristen R. Bromley Music, LLC.
Kristen has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education from Boston University, a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies, with an additional BA major in Family History and Genealogy, from Brigham Young University.
In January 2016, Dr. Bromley suffered a severe break to her left-arm humerus bone, which likewise involved the crushing of her left-arm radial nerve. Despite a very grim prognosis, which suggested that in a best-case-scenario she would regain a very small percentage of the function of her left-arm and hand, Dr. Bromley works as a musician and guitarist today. At the time of the injury, she was given a special priesthood blessing wherein God promised her that because of her faith, she would experience a complete recovery. Truly, this miraculous promise has become a reality. After several months of patience and waiting, she slowly began regaining the ability to move her wrist and fingers, and weeks later was able to start gradually developing her ability to play the guitar again.
In November of 2018, Dr. Bromley recorded a debut album called Simply Miraculous, which celebrated her miraculous return to professional guitar playing. Since then, she has recorded and released 5 additional albums: a) Amazing Grace, which features Kristen playing hymn arrangements as a guitar soloist; b) Bluish Tide, which features Kristen in a jazz quintet setting; c) Finding Fields, which features Kristen in a jazz quartet setting with her faculty ensemble Groove Axis; d) Silent Night, which features Kristen playing Christmas songs as a guitar soloist; and e) Kristen’s newest album, Muagsician, which features her mainly as a jazz guitar soloist.
Dr. Bromley is the author of several guitar method books, and runs a music instruction channel on youtube: Dr. Kristen R. Bromley’s Online Music Academy. She has toured as a musician across parts of North America and Europe, and has performed at several highly prestigious jazz festivals with her university ensembles, such as the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival in Scotland, the Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival in England, the Marlborough International Jazz Festival in England, the Loulé Jazz Festival in Portugal, the San Sebastian International Jazz Festival in Spain, and the Ezcaray Jazz Festival in Spain. Dr. Bromley has also performed and presented clinics at Jazz Education Network and International Association for Jazz Education conferences. In 2006 and 2007, she was named the outstanding guitar soloist at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival.
As a scholar, Dr. Bromley has focused much of her research on discovering ways to create more interactive and person-centered educational environments wherein individuals experience whole-person learning outcomes as they grow through cognitive, emotional, and experiential means, develop greater self-discipline, and become more fully-functioning persons. (For more information see Person-Centered Learning in a Collegiate Jazz Combo by Kristen R. Bromley)
Kristen loves life, is deeply religious, and truly believes in the awesome power music has to uplift and edify the soul. She has devoted her career to enriching, uplifting, edifying, and inspiring lives through the education, performance, scholarship, composition, recording, and publishing of music.
