Photos

Drum Set – Craig Woodson

A man in glasses and casual clothes adjusts a drum set with "CW" on the bass drum in front of a wooden panel backdrop.

Craig Woodson in 1960

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Craig Woodson in 2020

A page of sheet music titled "Walkin' No. 1" by Miles Davis, showing musical notation for bass with chord symbols and rhythmic patterns.

Tony Williams Drum Solos Transcribed (one page from MA Thesis by Dr. Craig Woodson)

Homemade Instruments by Dr. Craig Woodson

A group of children stand in rows holding cardboard guitars while an instructor leads them in a music classroom with wooden floors and black curtains.

Box Violin

A group of women sit in chairs, each holding a xylophone-like percussion instrument made of wooden slats, in a classroom setting with posters on the walls.

Xylophone

Two people standing indoors, each holding and playing a hand drum with drumsticks, smiling at the camera. Drums and percussion instruments are visible in the background.

Dondo - African Talking Drum

Two people standing outdoors, each holding handmade musical instruments constructed from various everyday materials like wood, plastic, and string.

Miscellaneous Instruments

SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES – ADOWA AFRICAN DRUMMING

Three men demonstrate traditional African drums labeled "ADOWA," "ATUMPAN," and "DONDO" in a classroom setting, with colorful banners and musical instruments visible in the background.

Adowa – African Drumming and Dance from Ghana

Olugbala Manns, son of Baba David Coleman, teaching Silver B the Atumpan talking drums. Craig is showing his hand, representing the family of Adowa drums.

A group of children watch and dance with a smiling musician in traditional attire playing a drum on a stage decorated with banners.

Baba David Coleman, a dance motion in an Adowa program that means, “Make way!”

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Nana Kwasi Badu, 1986, performing Adowa on the Atumpan talking drums

SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES – A WORLD ORCHESTRA

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A World Orchestra You Can Build

Craig’s presentation years before A World Orchestra he called Music for Free, 1983

An older man and a young girl stand together in front of colorful banners. The man holds a musical instrument while the girl smiles and looks down at it.

Homemade Violin

Dr. Craig Woodson leads a group of children and adults playing percussion instruments in a classroom with colorful banners and the Ethnomusic, Inc. logo above.
A school stage displays colorful banners about world instruments, with a drum set on the left and a sign reading "Craig Woodson's World Orchestra" on the right.

A World Orchestra You Can Build began in 1985 when he auditioned for the Los Angeles Music Center On Tour. This was the beginning of a 40-year relationship.

WORK IN GHANA, AFRICA

Two men sit indoors facing each other, surrounded by various hand drums. One plays a drum while the other listens attentively.

With Prof. J. H. Kwabena
Prof. Nketia with some of Craig’s new drum designs, 2011

Black and white image of several conga drums arranged on a tiled floor in an indoor room with barrels in the background.

Musical Instrument Technology Workshop at the Center for Cultural Studies, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, 1983

Five men, four in patterned traditional clothing playing drums and percussion, and one in a white shirt and tie, standing among lush green foliage.

Invited to play with the Ghanaian National Dance Ensemble at U.S. Ambassador’s home during an official social event in Accra, Ghana, 1980

A crowd gathers outside a building with a tin roof as people dance and play drums; palm fronds decorate the background.

Craig invited to play at an Akom ceremony outside of Kumasi, Ghana. Craig’s colleagues, Frank Mensah is in the blue shirt, the priests are around him. 1980

World Music Therapy – Drum Circles

A group of people sitting and playing drums and percussion instruments in a brightly painted room, with others seated and watching.

Music therapy and drum circle with the Lost Boys of Sudan in Phoenix, Arizona, 2009-2010

A group of people, mostly seated and holding frame drums, watch a standing man in a red shirt leading the activity outdoors.

Music therapy and drum circles for Kurdistan Save the Children in Iraq, 2009

A group of sixteen people pose outdoors, holding colorful handmade drums; some are standing, and others are kneeling or sitting in front of a backdrop of hanging tree roots.

Music therapy – Jogjakarta, Indonesia for UCLA, 2015

A group of boys and young men play various percussion instruments under a tent, with banners from UNICEF and other organizations in the background.

World music therapy and drum circles for UNICEF/Playing For Change, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 2015

Drummer Colleagues

Two men standing indoors, smiling and holding percussion instruments; one is wearing sunglasses and drumming, the other is holding a frame drum.

With Jim Keltner, 1957 to present (photo 2015)

Four men standing on stage play traditional drums, wearing striped shirts. A curtain hangs in the background. The scene appears to be part of a live performance or rehearsal.

With the late Phil Harland, Jim Koetting and Dave Garcia. Craig is in the back right, all performing Bambara drumming at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA 1965

Five adults, four men and one woman, sit together at a table, smiling at the camera. Drinks and a can are on the table in front of them.

With unknown woman, Nii Ayi, the late Kwasi Badu and Juma Santos, with Craig, 1977

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With Keith Murphy, Healthy Village Learning Institute

Two men stand indoors, smiling at the camera; one has his arm around the other's shoulder. The room has wooden walls and visible ceiling beams.

Late Baba David Coleman (1948-2021) with Craig

Two men sit outdoors playing hand drums, with one wearing a white shirt and cap, and the other in a beige shirt; picnic tables and people are visible in the background.
An older man in a white hat and shirt, wearing gold necklaces, smiles at the camera. Musical instruments are visible in the background.

With Baba David Coleman

Other drummer colleagues include Olugbala Manns-Coleman, Joe Blocker, Leon Mobley, Bill Summers, Mike Taylor, Keith Murphy (Healthy Village Learning Institute), Sonja Branch, Mick Fleetwood, John Densmore (Doors), Dan Rice (Motherland Music), Arthur Hull, Christine Stevens, Rohan Krishnamurthy (South Indian drummer), Dahveed Nelson (Original Last Poets) and the late Babas David Coleman, Nana Babatunde Olatunji, Tony Williams, Juma Santos, Remo Belli, Doc Gibbs, Myron Jackson, David Garcia, and Kevin Locke (Lakota historian, flutist, drummer, hoop dancer).