Benjamin Guerrero is an Assistant Professor of Music at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA, where he teaches percussion, music education, and music technology courses. His research areas include music creativity and technology, online professional development, artificial intelligence and music, and the perception and cognition of groove in popular music.
Ben is currently working on a $1.8m National Science Foundation collaborative research grant called “Toward an Ecosystem of Artificial-intelligence-powered Music Production (TEAMuP),” where an interdisciplinary team aims to empower future musicians to fully leverage AI tools in the creation, performance, and dissemination of their music, while also accelerating audio AI research. Ben is also working on a National Endowment for the Arts research grant exploring creative methods of teaching music composition online.
Ben holds a Bachelor’s in Drum Set Performance and Contemporary Writing & Production from Berklee College of Music. He earned his Master’s in Music Technology from New York University and PhD in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music.
Ben currently serves as a NAfME AI Task Force member and SMTE Professional Development ASPA facilitator. He previously taught at James Madison University and El Paso Community College in his hometown of El Paso, TX. He’s taught percussion at various middle schools and high schools and has presented at state, regional, national, and international music conferences, including:
- National Association for Music Education National Conference
- National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference
- National Association of Music Merchants
- Texas Music Educators Association Conference
- Symposium on Music Teacher Education
- College Music Society National Conference
- Association for Technology in Music Instruction National Conference
- Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition
- International Society for Technology in Education Conference
- International Society for Music Education World Conference
