biography

Dr. Craig Woodson has been a percussionist, music educator, and consultant in the percussion industry for over 40 years. His graduate degrees in music from U.C.L.A. include a master's thesis on jazz drummer Tony Williams (1973) and a Ph.D. dissertation on African drumming and drum making (1983). His extensive work in music includes:

• Company owner of Ethnomusic, Inc., a world music education consultancy
• President of Drums of Humanity, an NGO to help in areas recovering from war & natural disaster
• Humanitarian work in Iraq, Indonesia, & with the Lost Boys of Sudan
• Owner of 12 U.S. patents on musical instrument technology
• Percussion design for Remo, Inc. drum company & Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Inventor of musical instruments including simple world instruments and products for Remo, Inc.
• Play-along concerts with Kronos Quartet & National Symphony Orchestra
• Family concerts at Carnegie Hall & Royal Festival Hall
• School programs for Los Angeles County Music Center & Segerstrom Performing Arts Center
• World music consultant for Walt Disney & Mick Fleetwood
• Educational programs & videos for National Symphony Orchestra & NASA
• Author of Roots of Rhythm curriculum & World Music Instrument Making curriculum
• Director for Roots of Rhythm for the Percussion Marketing Council
• Senior Director of Education at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
• Senior Research Fellow at the Musical Instrument Technology Workshop, Kumasi, Ghana
• Studio recordings for Columbia & Fantasy
• Movies at Fox with Debbie Reynolds & at MGM with Elvis Presley
• Rock drummer with The United States of America band & with Linda Ronstadt band

Dr. Woodson combines education, ethnomusicology, and simple instrument design in order to increase the number of music makers and their appreciation of world music.

More Information:

Making Music Magazine article on Woodson's work 2010

Concert with Kronos
Woodson's May concert with Kronos
kronosquartet.org/news/article/kronos-in-glasgow

Woodson with the United States of America band on YouTube
'Hard Coming Love'
'Where is Yesterday'
'I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar'