Égide Duo (Stefanie and Joshua Gardner) 

Stefanie Harger Gardner is an active professional clarinetist in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, where she is on the faculty at Glendale Community College, maintains a large private clarinet studio, and hosts summer chamber music workshops. Previously she has served on the faculty at Northern Arizona University, Mesa Community College, and GateWay Community College. Gardner frequently performs with the internationally recognized Paradise Winds, Égide Duo, Seventh Roadrunner, Arizona Opera, and the Phoenix Symphony. She has performed in conferences for the International Clarinet Association, the International Double Reed Society, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the International Viola Society, and abroad in Belgium, France, Italy, and Japan. In addition to performing and teaching, Gardner has a strong interest in woodwind pedagogy. In 2012, she won first prize at the International Clarinet Association Research Competition with her study, “An Investigation of Finger Motion and Hand Posture during Clarinet Performance,” where Gardner collaborated with the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at Arizona State University to study hand posture and finger motion during clarinet performance using CyberGloves®.

Joshua Gardner is Clinical Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Performance Physiology Research Laboratory at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 2011. He maintains an active performance career, performing with several ensembles, including the internationally recognized Paradise Winds and Égide Duo, and is a frequent soloist with high school and college bands. He has performed and lectured at conferences for the International Clarinet Association, European Clarinet Association, International Double Reed Society, and North American Saxophone Alliance and has been featured on American Public Radio’s Performance Today. In addition to performing and teaching, Gardner has a strong interest in woodwind pedagogy and research. He won first prize at the International Clarinet Association Research Competition in 2008 and has presented lectures on tongue motion during clarinet performance throughout the US, often accompanied by live tongue imaging. He is currently exploring the use of ultrasound for quantified research and performance diagnostics. As part of the PPR Lab, Gardner often mentors student research initiatives ranging from examining embouchure force dynamics using thin-film force transducers to exploring non-articulatory tongue motion during saxophone performance using ultrasound imaging. He is also a member of the interdisciplinary ASU research group, SAMBA – Science of Art, Music, and Brain Activity. The group plans to integrate ecologically-based perceptual scene-analysis theory, music performance and education principles, and neural brain modeling tests to further our understanding of music perception and education.