College of Fine Arts and Communications Associate Dean Jeremy Grimshaw Uses a Cabinet of Donated Instruments to Encourage Creative Learning in Music Students
Tucked away in a third-floor corner of the BYU Music Building are three glass-front cabinets of mystery filled with instruments from around the world. To passersby, the cabinets may look unassuming, but to the students in associate dean Jeremy Grimshaw’s
Grimshaw has a doctorate in musicology with a certification in world music. In his own words, his education “straddled musicology and ethnomusicology
Many of the instruments in the mystery cabinets were donated to BYU from a variety of sources, many coming from former music adjunct professor Lloyd Miller
Grimshaw was inspired by global musicians who began teaching music classes online, during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing people anywhere in the world to learn new instruments. He came up with the idea for a 20-hour creative project for his Music 307 World Music
Students are not always ready to jump head first into an open-ended assignment like this, but Grimshaw believes it is important for students to “exercise different muscles” within their academics and have a designated opportunity to “indulge in rabbit holes.”
“I think that in the arts, our disciples are so demanding that we don’t give students enough free time to mess around with stuff,” he said. “Do not get me wrong, I want students to know how to do traditional research but I also want them to be able to lean into passion, curiosity and the act of going down a rabbit hole to discover something.”

Grimshaw shared an example of one student who chose to explore a Thai oboe
For Grimshaw, the students’ ingenuity is what this project is all about. “If you have enough curiosity and enough complexity, and you dig around long enough something interesting is going to happen.”