Kathy received her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Percussion and Music Education from the University of Toronto, and recently completed a second MA in Music and Culture at Carleton University, where she received a Senate Medal for her thesis about the links between drumming, health and wellbeing for adolescents. Her research interests include participatory music-making, music and wellbeing, social justice in music education and applied ethnomusicology.
At Carleton University, Kathy has taught for many years in the School for Studies in Art and Culture: Music as well as the Institute for African Studies. She has developed innovative courses in Applied Rhythm using western and non-western techniques. Kathy also teaches courses in African Music, Popular Musics of the World, Music of the World’s Peoples, and Global Music and Wellbeing. She is the founding director of Carleton University’s West African Rhythm Ensemble (WARE). Through the Institute For Advanced Study (IAS), Kathy took students to Ghana to study Urban and Rural Music. In 1995, Kathy founded Baobab Tree Drum Dance Community, bringing Ghanaian music and artists to students of all ages. She regularly travels and hosts programs in Ghana where she has a nearly thirty-year association with the village of Dagbamete. For her contributions, Kathy received a Community Appreciation Award from the Ghanaian Association of Ottawa.
Kathy is sponsored by Carleton University Music.
