Hal Howland

Hal Howland is the author of After Jerusalem: Short Fiction; The Human Drummer: Thoughts on the Life Percussive; Landini Cadence: A Rich Castillo Threesome, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award and a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards; The Sculpture Gardener: Short Fiction, winner in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition; True West: A Cultural Reckoning; Wyatt Walcott: A Novel; and You Go Too: Poems. Howland has released the acclaimed recordings Every Time It’s You, The Howland Ensemble, Reiko, and 10 Years in 5 Days, and has received a jazz fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Howland’s master’s thesis, “The Vibraphone,” the definitive history of the instrument, is published in Percussionist (summer and fall 1977). Since 1978 he has contributed to ArtSpirit, Culture, the Key West Citizen, Key Wester, L’Attitudes, Modern Drummer, Music Retailing, Percussion, Percussive Notes, Scene, The Secret of Salt, Solares Hill, Sticks & Mallets, Talking Drums, and Unicorn Times.

Howland was born on August 30, 1951, in Washington, D.C. He showed a love of music about the age of four, studied the piano from age eight, and began to play drums, guitar, and bass at twelve. He has performed and composed classical, avant-garde, jazz, rock, and folk music in America, Europe, and the Middle East. Howland received his B.A. in music from James Madison University in 1973 and his M.A. in music history from Catholic University in 1976. Among his teachers were Fred Begun (National Symphony Orchestra), Kenneth Krohn (Israel Philharmonic), and Bill Reichenbach (Charlie Byrd Trio).

Beginning in 1981 Howland presented his award-winning BMI jazz compositions with the Howland Ensemble. Howland was the timpanist of the National Chamber Orchestra (recording for the Koch International label) from its inception in 1984 through its fifteenth anniversary season. For more than forty years he taught music at his private studio and in local schools. Today Howland is a busy freelance writer and musician.

Hal Howland plays Gretsch drums, Paiste cymbals, and Vic Firth sticks, brushes, and mallets.