Sean Goldman, currently based out of Greeley, Colorado, is an active percussionist and music educator.  From a very young age, he always had a knack for hitting things.  Once he started drum set lessons the game changed.  His first teacher, Bret Zwier, opened his eyes to drum set.  As the years progressed, he found himself doing anything and everything band related.  When in high school, through his two teachers Brendan Harder and Brian “Choppy” Massimo, he realized his love for classical percussion.  The obvious next step, after a few years of practice, was to audition for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.  It was landing this audition and working with this organization that he felt that he could turn this hobby into a career.  After high school he began is studies at Lawrence University under the watchful eye of Dane Richeson.  He spent his time there studying Alexander Technique, John Cage’s use of chance operation and the I-Ching and expanding his musical knowledge outside of western classical music.

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During his undergraduate years, Sean had the opportunity of being a part of the various world music ensembles at Lawrence University.  These included Ghanaian drumming and dancing, Brazilian samba, Afro-Cuban folkloric music, and Gamelan music.  With this interest in world music, he decided to study Mandarin in order to spend a summer in Taiwan studying traditional Chinese percussion and string instruments.  His interest in Chinese culture lead him to the I-Ching, an ancient Chinese oracle, that was used as a chance computer in many of John Cage’s works.  His new-found interest in John Cage is really what opened his eyes to what music really was, silence vs. noise.  This spoke volumes to him and shaped his future musical style.  

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Sean always loved working with his hands, hence the whole obsession with percussion.  So, it made sense that during the start of his undergrad, at Lawrence University he took a position as a studio assistant.  There is where he learned how to maintain, construct, and repair percussion instruments.  He realized that he was rather good at it and began to learn about percussion repair in his spare time.

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After receiving his B.M. in Percussion Performance in 2018, he was granted a graduate teaching assistantship at the University of Northern Colorado under Dr. Mike Truesdell (2018/19) and now Dr. Julie Strom (2019/2020).  This is where he currently works as a teaching assistant, educator, private instructor, and freelance musician while he studies to obtain his M.M. in percussion performance.