Shirazette Tinnin

Image by Bex Wade

Shirazette “She Beats” Tinnin

Associate Professor
Affiliated Departments
Percussion
drum set technique
hip-hop
Personal Websites
Shirazette Tinnin's website

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Shirazette Tinnin is a Make Jazz fellow, Fulbright scholar, drummer, composer, and bandleader. She is a full-time associate professor at Berklee College of Music in the Percussion Department. Tinnin performs with Lea DeLaria (Orange Is the New Black), Endea Owens, Yuri Juárez’s Afro-Peruano, Afrikkanitha, and Mimi Jones. She also leads her own projects, the Sonic WallPaper Band and her jazz trio for political injustices, Moods of Her. Tinnin has television credit for the first season of NBC's The Meredith Vieira Show (2015). Her most recent album, The Cards That Life Can Deal, is available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify.

Tinnin’s accomplishments include serving as music coordinator for Urban Bush Women, founded by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; serving as musical director for Alan Harris’s Cross That River; and curating the final festival presentation at Little Island (summer 2021), Jazz Women. She has a background in classical percussion, world percussion, and (primarily) drum set.

Tinnin also has a diverse background in fitness with certifications in TRX, DNA fitness programming, and corrective exercise and exercise therapy from ISSA and NASM.

Career Highlights
  • Performances with Dee Dee Bridgewater (big band and small group), Alan Harris Band, Alicia Keys (Black Girls Rock on BET), Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, Tia Fuller, Kat Rodriguez (Orange Coffee), and Tony Touch (on his album The Peace Maker)
  • Mentioned in Modern Drummer, JazzTimes, All About Jazz, and Tom Tom Magazine
Awards
  • Winner, Sisters in Jazz 
  • First-round Grammy nominee for Shirazette & Sonic WallPaper's The Cards That Life Can Deal
  • Fulbright Scholar
Education
  • Northern Illinois University
    Illinois
    Master of Music (MM)
    Music
  • Appalachian State University
    North Carolina
    Bachelor of Science (BS)
    Music Industry Leadership
In Their Own Words

"I want each of my students to leave my lessons as more confident, fearless, and open-minded in their sound, technique, and feel. I want them to love their craft and exude that in their playing, and, most of all, understand that learning should be fun, even at its most difficult times."

"My professional background has provided me with experiences from all over the world, which have allowed my mind to think outside of the box. I try to bring that outside-of-the-box thinking into my teaching. It allows me to have flexibility toward each student instead of teaching each one in a single-file line. Lines are meant to become messy and broken at times and so is this art form of music."

"Her Powerful Locks" by Shirazette Tinnin