Contact Information
Name: Mike Crain
Title: Lecturer in Music
Email: sac29609@csus.edu
Education : MM, Sacramento State
Courses Taught : MIDI, World Music
Profile
Mike Crain is an educator, composer and percussionist based in Northern California. His compositions have been performed in New York, at the Festival of New American Music, and the “Day of Percussion” at Sacramentos and Southern Oregon University (Ashland). Mike has performed in New York, Oregon, Southern California, and in the greater Bay Area at the Otherminds Festival (VI and VII), the Festival of New American Music, the Viola Festival, the John Cage MusiCircus at Fort Mason San Francisco, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and Carnegie Hall.Mike has played with many ensembles, such as the Empyrean Ensemble, Music Now, sfSound, Reddrum Percussion Group, the Sacramento Experimental Music Group, Camelia Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Youth Symphony, Sacramento Ballet, University of California Davis Symphony Orchestra, RSVP, Julia Dollison, Kerry Marsh, and the California Brass which was broadcast live on NPR. In addition to performing the premieres of several compositions by composers such as Howard Hersh, Hyo-shin Na, Eric Ewazen, Annie Gosfield, and Jerome Begin, Mike’s other credits include working with notable composers such as Gavin Bryars, Linda Bouchard, Stephen Blumberg, and Michael Lipsey of Talujon. Mike won first place for Ensemble Performance at the Festival of New American Music and also received the Best New Composer Award at the Festival of New American Music 2003 and 2004.
Mike has studied, performed and composed a wide variety of music styles such as jazz, classical and rock—and focuses on a broad range of ethnic percussion from around the world. His ethnic specializations include tabla (North Indian drums), mbira (Zimbabwe), and Balinese Gamelan. During the summer of 2001, Mike studied in Bali under the direction of the gamelan master Dewa Putu Berata. Having completed a Bachelor of Music in both Theory/Composition and Percussion Performance and Masters degrees with the same concentrations, Mike is part of the faculty at California State University, Sacramento as an instructor of World Music and Music Technology, and also Los Rios Community College District for World Drumming, Theory, and Electronic Music.