Michael Carney, Head of Percussion Studies at California State University, Long Beach, died on June 14, 2012.



Dr. Carney was Director of Percussion Studies at the Bob Cole Conservatory at CSULB for 31 years. He directed the World Percussion Group, Steel Drum Orchestra, and the Drums and Drummers Project. He taught classes in World Music required for all music majors and also open to the entire university.



Michael Carney traveled the world performing, teaching, and studying. His performance expertise ranged from classical to jazz, and included musical instruments and styles from West Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil. In the summer of 2005, Michael completed his first jazz concert tour of Brazil, performing on vibraphone and steel pan.



Michael Carney was founder and director of the World Percussion Project, a program that took American professionals, students, and teachers abroad for intensive study of music and culture. The project has taken participants to Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and Ghana, West Africa. His musical journeys also took him to Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Trinidad, the Philippines, and Thailand.



As a classical percussionist Michael Carney performed with the North Carolina Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. Carney was featured as a steel pan soloist with several symphony orchestras including the Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Tulsa Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony, New Mexico Symphony, Wichita Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra performing his own compositions.



Michael Carney was born in 1952 in Newark, New York. He earned degrees in Percussion Performance from East Carolina University, the Eastman School of Music, and North Texas State University. Michael Carney also studied at the International Center for African Music and Dance Ghana, and the Oficina de Investigaçaõ Musical and Rio Gruppo Percussaõ in Brazil.