About MeJohn MacDonald is a drummer/keyboardist, music educator, and video game music composer based in the South Bay area. While completing his undergraduate and masters degrees at Berklee and the New England Conservatory studying under legendary jazz musicians Ralph Peterson and Bob Moses, he shared the stage with many established musicians, such as Taylor Dayne (opening for Earth, Wind, and Fire) David Fiuczynski (Hiromi Uehara, Screaming Headless Torsos), Hankus Netsky (Klezmer Conservatory band), David Gilmore (Lost Tribe), Andy Milne (Dapp Theory). Since graduating, John has performed with Grammy nominated singers Farayi Malek and Debo Ray, Charles River Jazz Festival founder Seba Molnar, the first Nepalese musician to lead a group at a jazz festival Astha Zylah, and many more.
John has recently presented his research on the complex relationship between tap dancing and jazz drumming (pending publication in the Percussive Arts Society online research edition) and the history and recent resurgence of Drum'n'bass/Jungle music in video games at the Pop Culture Association conference 2022, Oxford University, Calgary University, and the International Conference on Music and Sonic Art at Manchester University. During the COVID lockdown, John began to compose music for video games. He has since produced audio for over 30 game jams and is currently working on several full length releases for indie studios in Boston, Bethesda, and Bangkok. |