My Writing

My philosophy of playing drum kit – how playing drum kit alone and with others matters to me. Based on June Boyce-Tillman's model of holistic spirituality and Tim Ingold's notion of correspondences, I describe how playing drum kit leads to transcendence – the magical nexus.

I Drum, Therefore I Am

This book is the world's first sociological study of drummers. It explores drummers' identities, practices and learning, based on interviews with 27 drummers and survey responses from 100 more. Chapters explore value and meaning-making through the drummers' experiences, looking at self-hood, gender, and proposing a model of identity and learning. 

Sound Advice For Drummers

This book is aimed at intermediate to more advanced drummers. Written by a seasoned professional drummer and drum educator, Sound Advice for Drummers provides tips, challenges and provocations about practising, performing, rehearsing, recording and creating music from behind the drums. It is an essential read for aspiring professional drummers.

Life in Limericks

These illustrated limericks embody the modicum of success achieved by a visionary artist and one shackled and humbled middle-aged dude in his attempt to atone for transgressions of complicity and to jab mockingly at over-zealous middle management assholes. His grumbling disappointment, loathing and fear are brought to life through her optical representations of the poems.

Sociology for Music Teachers

This book outlines the basic concepts relevant to understanding music teaching and learning from a sociological perspective. It demonstrates the relationship of music to education, schooling and society. The new edition takes a more global approach than was the case in the first edition and includes the application of sociological theory to contexts beyond the classroom.

Embodied Experience of Rock Drumming

This paper presents an autoethnographic study of rock drumming, weaving together theoretical writing on the importance of understanding bodily knowledge and somatic experience with accounts of drumming in a rock band. The chapter includes  diary entries from rehearsals and performing the debut concert of re-formed NWOBHM band, V1 in 2016.

The Music Learning Profiles Project: LEt's Take this Outside

This book uses ethnographic techniques and modified case studies ("flash study analyses") to profile musicians active in a wide range of musical contexts not typically found in traditional music education settings. The book illuminates diverse music learning practices in order to impact music education in classrooms through the Music Learning Profiles Project.

All My Books