Michael Gould is a Professor of Music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the Percussion Department in the School of Music, Theater & Dance and the Residential College (College of Literature, Science and the Arts). He is currently the Director of the Center for World Performance Studies. Michael received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the University of Kentucky. He received his Master of Music from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Photo Credit: Peter Smith
Michael has received international recognition as a performer and scholar in the field of drumset, contemporary percussion performance, and pedagogy. He has performed and given clinics all over the world. Michael has released over 100 educational percussion videos through playalongmusic.com. He has also composed and performed music for a wide range of ensembles and venues from the Münich Opera and Ballet to National Public Radio. He has had unique collaborations with engineers, material scientists, painters, poets, dancers, athletes, and business professionals. His book for the iPad, The Drum Diaries, is available worldwide. He is also the music director for Tangente Dance Company in Berlin, Germany.
Michael is currently the Director for the Center for World Performance Studies at the University of Michigan. His piece Remember Me was performed recently at the Kunsthaus Dahlem in Berlin, Germany and include dance, theater, percussion, electronics, and original artwork. The work has been published by Alternative Press, Ann Arbor, MI.
He has also recently worked with Henry Pollack (the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) on an art installation piece entitled A World Without Ice. The piece focuses on both poles and addresses issues of climate change. Gould is also the winner of the UM Provost Teaching Innovation Prize and the Harold Haugh Award for excellence in teaching. Gould is the 2025 artist in residence for the University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture department with his collaborator Masimba Hwati.