John Owens, Ph.D. 

John Owens is a drummer, author, and educator with a single mission, which is to build skillful, confident, and strong drummers. John worked as a drummer in the US Army Band, street drummer in Washington DC, drummer for Disneyland, percussionist at Knott’s Berry Farm, and played with a vast number of jazz, rock, pop, country, and punk bands in the United States and Europe. He has written books about unique forms of drumming, such as Street Drumming: The People History & Grooves and serves as a drum consultant for a number of schools, non-profit organizations, and ensembles. He has written a number of articles, presented at multiple music conferences, served as a music education consultant, and subject matter expert for the Department of Defense Education Activity. John is also the author of Tactical Drumming: Groove Survival Guide, which is a focused approach to learning drum grooves. Currently, he teaches percussion and musicology at Big Bend Community College (BBCC), runs the Extreme Drum Set Camp, and is director of Viking Independent Percussion.

 

John earned his Ph.D. and Masters of Music from Kent State University. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Cal State San Bernardino. He also studied percussion and jazz drumming at Fullerton College.

 

John uses Innovative Percussion Hybrid (IP-HB) drumsticks and is an IP Artist.