Faculty

Dr. Jonathan Hinkle

Professor of Music & Director of Bands

Director of Rowdy Brass Band, Wind Symphony, & Wind Ensemble

Jonathan Hinkle is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Colorado Mesa University, where he oversees a comprehensive band program that includes the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Concert Band, Rowdy Brass Band, Mesa Brass Band, the Maverick Stampede Marching Band, and the annual Best of the West Festival. A member of the CMU music faculty since 2012, when he was appointed the university’s first Associate Director of Bands, he founded the marching band program and led its growth to more than 150 members within its first four seasons. In 2016, the ensemble began rehearsing in its dedicated facility, the Stampede Center.  From this leadership, the CMU band program has experienced tremendous growth, leading to an increase in both music majors and faculty positions in the music department. 

That same year, Dr. Hinkle founded the Rowdy Brass Band, a progressive commercial ensemble now in high demand for professional engagements, performing 30–40 shows annually. The group was most recently featured as a headline act at the 2026 Denver City Jazz Festival.

Dr. Hinkle teaches conducting and applied trumpet and maintains an active national profile as a clinician, adjudicator, and honor band conductor, including most recently serving as conductor of the 2026 Wyoming All-State Band. Prior to joining CMU, he was a public school band and orchestra director in Florida, where he led award-winning programs to performances at the Midwest Clinic and the Bands of America National Concert Band Invitational.

He holds a PhD in Music Education from Florida State University and served as principal trumpet in the university’s premier ensembles. His extensive performance background spans orchestral, jazz, and commercial settings, including appointments as a lead trumpeter at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando and with Orchestra Mia in Fort Lauderdale.

Andrew Bajorek

Associate Director of Bands, Assistant Professor of Music

Director of the Maverick Stampede and Maverick Sound

Andrew Bajorek is the associate director of bands at Colorado Mesa University, where he serves as a director of the Maverick Stampede and Maverick Sound. Additionally, Bajorek instructs courses and mentors students in music teacher education related subjects and activities. Prior to his appointment at Colorado Mesa University, Bajorek earned his doctoral candidacy at the University of Florida and also taught elementary and secondary music in schools in Florida and Pennsylvania.

Bajorek's areas of inquiry include the perceptions of stakeholders of music education as they relate to music education standards, commonalities of strategies employed by master educators, curricular alignment and the best practices of media in the administration of music programs.

Aside from his degrees, Bajorek has earned certifications as a practitioner from the Organization for American Kodály Educators, Feierabend Association for Music Education, and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. He has previously served as a member of the Florida Music Supervisors Association, a team leader of the Florida Music Education Association Emerging Leaders program, as well as a member of the Florida Department of Education K-12 Teacher Certification Exam (FTCE) Validation Committee.