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biography

Dr. Craig Woodson has a Ph.D. from UCLA in music with a specialization in ethnomusicology, music education and musical instrument technology. He has presented student programs for over 30 years, and professional development workshops for over 25 years.

In 1976, he founded Ethnomusic, Inc., a world music education consultancy that presents multicultural instrument making, educational concerts, school programs and professional development.

He has presented for the Los Angeles Music Center, Kronos Quartet, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Kent State and Xavier Universities, as well as in Ghana, Iraq and Indonesia.

Dr. Woodson has received funding from the NAMM Foundation, International House of Blues Foundation (IHOBF), the Percussion Marketing Council (PMC), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

He is author and Director of the industry-sponsored, free, online world drumming professional development curriculum, "Roots of Rhythm."

Dr. 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).

• 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.

His recent work includes the formation of a 501(c)(3) non-profit called Drums of Humanity. It seeks to help people in areas recovering from war and natural disaster through music therapies that use drumming and drum making. In his current project, he is working with American Veterans and refugees in the U.S. suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

More Information:

Marilyn Davidson uses my frame drum for the Paul Winter book, Earth: Voices of a Planet, 1994

Making Music magazine article on Woodson's work

Music Center on Tour – MCOT (Los Angeles, CA)

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'