Biography
Author of the award-winning A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer, JAMES A. STRAIN began his professional performing career as a member of the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra while still a student in high school. After completing bachelor and master degrees in percussion from Arkansas State University and the University of Cincinnati, respectively, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music.
Since 1997, Strain has taught Percussion, Music Theory and Music History at Northern Michigan University and been Timpanist and Principal Percussionist of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra. Prior to this, he was on the faculties of Indiana University-Bloomington, Kansas State University, Fort Lewis College, Northwest Mississippi Junior College, and West Memphis High School. He has previously served as a percussionist for the Amarillo (TX) Symphony, Columbus (IN) Symphony, the Topeka Symphony, the San Juan Symphony, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Opera Orchestra, the Tupelo Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, he has appeared as a drummer or percussionist for the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Charlie Rich, Bernadette Peters, Eric Knight (of the Boston Pops), and the Memphis Pops Orchestra.
As a performer, he has appeared in numerous venues for solo and chamber music throughout the United States including conferences for the Music Teachers National Association, six appearances for Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, the International Trombone Association, the College Music Society, and the American Society of University Composers Annual Festival of American Music. In 1987, Strain was a semi-finalist on Solo Marimba for the Concerts Atlantique Touring Artist Competition.
As a xylophone or marimba soloist, Strain has performed with dozens of community bands and orchestras throughout the United States and presented masterclasses and recitals for major schools of music, such as the Eastman School, Hartt School, Indiana University-Bloomington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. In 2005, he was featured as a performer on WTTW, Channel 10 (Chicago Public Television) for a documentary on the xylophones and marimbas made by the J. C. Deagan Company.
As an author, he has written over 150 articles on the history, pedagogy, performance, and critique of percussion music and instruments for Percussive Notes magazine, the Beck Encyclopedia of Percussion, the Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, the Encyclopedia of New England Culture, and The Grove Dictionary of American Music (AmeriGrove), 2nd edition. Strain’s compositions and arrangements for percussion are published by Honeyrock or available directly from him, and he is an Educational Endorser for the ProMark Corporation. In addition, since 1994 he has served as the Historian for the Percussive Arts Society, the world’s largest organization of percussionists and drummers and as Co-Associate Editor of the Research Column in Percussive Notes magazine..