Marc Benamou, an ethnomusicologist and associate professor of music at Earlham College, in Indiana, is serving as the John and Barbara Glynn Family Professor at Washington and Lee University during the 2012 Spring Term.

Benamou, who is teaching a new course in world music during the four-week term, specializes in gamelan music, a traditional form of music, popular in Java, that incorporates various percussion instruments, including gongs.

He has performed extensively in Java and elsewhere as a vocalist of traditional Javanese music, has founded and directed a number of gamelan ensembles in the U.S., and currently leads Earlham's gamelan group. He is the author of "Rasa: Affect and Intuition in Javanese Music" (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Benamou received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College, his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and the D.E.A. from Universidad de Paris.

The John and Barbara Glynn Family Professorship (Glynn Family Scholar) was established in 2001 to fund annually a visiting professor who is an accomplished scholar and teacher, preferably one who brings new expertise to cover under-represented areas of importance within the curriculum. The endowment is the gift of John W. Glynn Jr. and Barbara A. Glynn in honor of their daughter, Alexandra Glynn Rowe '92, and other family members.

Source: Washington and Lee University