Gareth Dylan Smith
Gareth Dylan Smith is Assistant Professor of Music (Music Education) at Boston University, USA. He is a board member of the International Society for Music Education. Gareth's research interests include popular music education, sociology of music education, eudaimonia and music learning, music making and leisure, and spirituality at the drum kit. Gareth plays drums with artists including Stephen Wheel, Oh Standfast, Eruptörs and Mud Drums. He lives online at garethdylansmith.com.
Biography
I am an Assistant Professor of Music (Music Education) at Boston University in Boston, MA, USA. A native of England, I am active internationally as a teacher, speaker, researcher and drummer. Overarching themes in my research are eudaimonia, popular music education, sociology of music education, and aesthetic experience and spirituality in performance. I have a keen interest in social justice in and through music learning, and enjoy exploring intersections of musicking within and without schooling contexts. My work has been published in journals including Research Studies in Music Education; Psychology of Music; Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education; Music and Practice; Punk & Post-Punk; Journal of Music, Technology and Education; British Journal of Music Education; and Artivate. I have written dozens of articles for encyclopedias including several pieces about drummers in the Grove dictionary of American music. My books include I drum, therefore I am: Being and becoming a drummer; Sociology for music teachers: Practical applications (with Hildegard Froehlich); Punk pedagogies: Music, culture and learning (with Mike Dines and Tom Parkinson); The Routledge research companion to popular music education (with Zack Moir, Matt Brennan, Shara Rambarran and Phil Kirkman); Sound advice for drummers; and Eudaimonia: Perspectives for music learning (with Marissa Silverman). I am working on two monographs about phenomenology and philosophy of drumming.Education
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PhD, University of London
MMus Popular Music Performance, University of East London
MA Music Education, University of London
BA Music, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Popular music education, Sociology of music education, drum kit studies, eudaimonia, music making and leisure, spirituality.
Personal Interests
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Drumming, travel, driving, being a dad, writing limericks, exercise, wine.
Websites
Books
News
Eudaimonia: Perspectives for Music Learning
By: Gareth Dylan Smith
Subjects: Education, Philosophy
Eudaimonia: Perspectives for Music Learning asserts the fertile applications of eudaimonia—an Aristotelian concept of human flourishing intended to explain the nature of a life well lived—for work in music learning and teach- ing in the twenty-first century. Drawing insights from within and beyond the field of music education, contributors reflect on what the “good life” means in music, highlighting issues at the core of the human experience and the heart of schooling and other educational settings. This pursuit of personal fulfill- ment through active engagement is considered in relation to music education as well as broader social, political, spiritual, psychological, and environ- mental contexts. Especially pertinent in today’s complicated and contra- dictory world, Eudaimonia: Perspectives for Music Learning is a concise compendium on this oft-overlooked concept, providing musicians with an understanding of an ethically guided and socially meaningful music-learning paradigm.
Gareth Dylan Smith is Assistant Professor of Music (Music Education) at Boston University, a founding editor of the Journal of Popular Music Education, and a drummer.
Marissa Silverman is Associate Professor of Music at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.
Videos
Published: Aug 31, 2020
Readings from Eco-literate Music Pedagogy, by Daniel Shevock (2018), with Gareth Dylan Smith on drums
Published: Feb 18, 2017
With poet/comedian/shouter of words, Oh Standfast.
Published: Feb 18, 2017
Auditioning for the drum chair in Finnish power metal band, Thunderstone (I didn't get the gig).
Published: Nov 13, 2016
From November 2016, tracking at ICMP with the Eruptörs and Alex Gillett.