Associate Teachers

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Taylor Mayne is an accomplished vocalist and educator, originally from Afton, Iowa and currently based in Des Moines. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Iowa and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Ohio University. He is presently a doctoral candidate at the University of Iowa, completing his thesis project: a pedagogical approach to the separation of voice and gender. 

Mayne serves on the voice faculty at Grinnell College as an Applied Music Associate and at Drake University as a Teaching Associate in musical theatre voice. His students have achieved notable success, including first-place awards in the Central Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition and performance opportunities with prestigious summer stock theatres across the United States. In his time at Drake, Mayne has been music director for Drake’s mainstage performances of First Date, Legally Blonde, Cabaret, and Little Women.  

As a performer, Mayne has appeared internationally in both operatic and musical theatre repertoire. His stage credits include Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Alfredo (La Traviata), Ralph Rackstraw (HMS Pinafore), Laurie (Little Women), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Vincent (Mireille), Matthew Scott (Sondheim on Sondheim), and Lucano (L’Incoronazione di Poppea). He has also been featured as a soloist in numerous Bach cantatas and in contemporary works such as Tyler’s Suite with the Des Moines Gay Chorus. While studying and performing in France, Mayne worked under the mentorship of Metropolitan Opera tenor William Lewis.

Cirène Mourad is a first-year student at Grinnell College studying English and music. A native New Yorker, Cirène attended a music high school where she trained in classical voice performance. From the age of ten, Cirène  was a member of Manhattan Girls Chorus, with whom she performed at Carnegie Hall several times under the batons of renowned conductors, Zubin Mehta and Leon Botstein, and sang backup for Sting as well as other major recording artists. In New York Cirène had the privilege of teaching voice lessons to children, and she is excited to continue doing so at the Grinnell School of Music. 

 From his formative years in the Des Moines Youth Symphony and Iowa's fiercely competitive show choir circuit, Joshua’s musical destiny was always to embrace diversity, oddity, and excellence. His eclectic path led him from extreme metal and hardcore vocals back to violin in 2008, where he found his niche with the art of fiddling. 

Joshua began his professional fiddling career with regional country music sensation Cactus Hill and has become a linchpin in the Midwestern country music scene, lending his talents to acts like Emmett Bower Band, DJ Bridwell, and the Jason Earl Band. He is the principal player and band director for KC Cameron, and part of acclaimed folk/Americana ensemble, Jack Hotel, which earned the prestigious Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award for Album of the Year, as well as best band in their category for two years in a row. Joshua studied the Cape Breton style of fiddling under the guidance of renowned fiddler Mairi Rankin.

Joshua is also a skilled music producer and composer, specializing in the use of Ableton Live and iOS production tools. Not content with performing and producing, he is equally passionate about sharing his knowledge. He taught alternative strings and guitar at Nissa’s String Studio in Lincoln, NE, and refined his teaching methods, particularly in the iOS music production landscape,  at Blue Raven Studios. 

“My alternative approach to string music is simple: I don’t teach instruments - I teach students how to play them with a confident and creative spirit. Whether your goals are academic or artistic, I am eager to teach you the rules like a professional, before I teach you how to break them like an artist.”

Tish Solomon grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, attending the National School of the Arts for high school and taking piano performance and theory examinations from grade 1-8 through the University of South Africa (UNISA), Trinity School of Music London and The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). She studied and learned the Bach Finger Technique under the prominent South African piano teacher, Dr. Lorraine Joubert.

Tish has been a pianist/organist at her church for over 40 years, and piano teacher and accompanist for most of 34 years. In upstate New York Tish accompanied the Hamilton Central Middle and High School choirs and soloists for their New York State School Music Association evaluations. She accompanied Jubilation! Women’s Vocal Ensemble and Grinnell Children’s Choir. Currently, Tish is the Pianist/Organist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints congregation in Newton Iowa.

Tish loves teaching one on one and working with beginners of all ages.