Meet Kevin Good

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kevin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in Las Vegas and I kind of stumbled into music. My mom asked me if I wanted to take piano or drum lessons and I chose drum lessons (I’m still not sure why). So, in fourth grade I started taking lessons on drumset. I instantly fell in love with music and ended up going to Las Vegas Academy, a performing arts high school. While in high school, I learned to be a better percussionist rather than just a drummer, somewhat as a necessity at first but later I learned to enjoy the mallet instruments and other orchestral percussion instruments. After that, I ended up going to the local Community College for a year and used that time to prepare an audition for The Hartt School in West Hartford, CT.

Around this time, I discovered composition. Mostly, through improvising at the instrument and writing down some ideas but, I decided to double in Percussion Performance and Composition at Hartt. At Hartt, I studied with so many wonderful people but in particular with Ben Toth in percussion and David Macbride in composition. These two made an incredible impact on me as individuals in their own respective careers and as performers together in their duo, “Conundrum”.

David helped me immensely as I had never had formal training in composition before our classes together. He also had a special interest in percussion so we developed a relationship writing things together, trying out ideas together, playing percussion together and playing chamber music together (David is an incredible pianist). He encouraged me to try anything and continued to support me after I finished at Hartt. We remained in contact until his passing in 2018.

After Hartt, I did my MFA at CalArts here in LA. I started as a composition major and studied with Michael Pisaro, Clay Chaplin, and Laura Steenberge. Unfortunately, I was feeling burnt out from percussion so I took a break from a performance degree but after a couple of months, I began to miss playing and learning percussion. So, I applied to change my major and entered the “performer-composer” program and began studying percussion with Jonathan Hepfer.

At CalArts, I also started a percussion duo with percussionist, Katie Eikam called Deso Duo we’ve performed throughout LA and performed as part of the Dog Star Festival as well as commissioning a new piece from Laura Steenberge which was premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis. I also helped to found a quartet with pianists Richard An and Wells Leng and percussionist Katie Eikam called “Quartet Friends” and we’ve played concerts around LA and are hoping to do more soon in the future.

Now I’m continuing to work with both DesoDuo and Quartet Friends and working at LA Percussion Rentals in Santa Clarita. I also teach percussion lessons at Pierce College and Coach the percussion section of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.

I’m currently getting ready to release my second album on Edition Wandelweiser. There is a kickstarter for it and thankfully it has been fully funded. If anyone is interested in “pre-ordering” the album through kickstarter the link is here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067327198/wandelweiser-album-slow-silent-singing?ref=user_menu

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Overall, it has been a pretty smooth road. My parents and family have always been really supportive and understanding, as have my friends. So, I recognize the privilege and support I’ve had throughout my journey but, I also struggle with depression as well as anxiety and didn’t really know how to manage that during my undergraduate years. I think things would have been a lot easier if I was willing to get help much earlier on. Unfortunately, I was pretty stubborn and really not as educated about mental health as I am now. I am now much better equipped to deal with those issues and I’ve figured out what works for myself.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I’m mostly a percussionist and composer and really those go hand-in-hand for me. I write for many different instruments and ensembles but I tend to write mostly for percussion. I play and write for both of the groups I am a part of (Deso Duo and Quartet Friends).

As a composer, I tend to write music that is really quiet and involves long durations and silence. There is a history of composers interested in similar things such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and the Wandelweiser collective but I am interested in using these concepts as tools to make something handcrafted and to explore a much more personal relationship between people, places, and memory.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There are a few moments that really stand out. Playing at PASIC is probably the biggest moment. It’s an event I’ve known about for years and attended during my first year of college so it still feels a little surreal to have played there. It also stands out because it was such a personal project with Katie Eikam and Laura Steenberge so it felt really special to be able to share that with others on such a large stage.