Yi-Jan (Rachel) Liu holds a doctorate of musical arts degree in percussion performance from University of North Texas where she also received her master’s degree. She has studied with Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Robert Schietroma, Paul Rennick, Ed Smith, Ed Soph, Pei-Ching Wu and many other prestigious musicians.
Since in Taiwan, Dr. Liu has been an active musician working with many wind ensembles. Not only performing as soloist, she has played orchestral/band percussion, chamber music, and percussion ensemble. She also participated in the only drum corps in Taiwan, Taipei Yueh-Fu and later became the instructor of the group. During her time at University of North Texas, she participated in numerous percussion ensembles and played in the world renowned UNT Wind Symphony under the direction of Eugene Corporon with which she participated in recording projects with. Dr. Liu has performed with world-renowned artists such as Japanese marimbist Keiko Abe and French organist Maitre Jean Guillou. She has also presented recitals, clinics, and master classes at several universities such as University of Tennessee and Utah State University.
Besides Western music, Dr. Liu is interested in world music and is especially inspired by Taiwanese music, Balinese music and Chinese traditional music. She plays a few Chinese percussion instruments such as Si-quai and Chinese drums and has travelled to Bali to learn Balinese traditional music, gender wayang. She composes and arranges music that incorporates elements from these countries’ musical styles. She has formed a percussion/piano duo with pianist Mei-En Chou. Their duo mainly performs music in fusion style of Eastern and Western Music.
Dr. Liu also has significant teaching experience at different levels ranging from college to high school and middle school. She served as an Adjunct Professor at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. Currently, she teaches percussion lessons at both the middle and high school levels in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Her students have performed very well in a variety of musical arenas, earning accolades at solo and ensemble competitions, playing in major ensemble concerts, and achieving very high rankings in auditions with organizations such as the Texas Music Educators Association. Several of her high school students have been accepted as music majors into universities with renowned percussion programs.
Dr. Liu is endorsed with Innovative Percussion.