Benjamin Paulding

Lecturer in Music

Departments/Programs

Music

Degrees

Tufts University, M.A.
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, B.A.

Profile

Ben Paulding is an American percussionist who extensively lived in Kumasi, Ghana, drumming on national television for the Ghanaian President and the country’s top traditional chiefs and queen-mothers. In West Africa, Ben had over 200 performances with internationally acclaimed drum and dance ensembles including the Centre for National Culture, the Ashanti King’s Fontomfrom Ensemble, and the Nsuase Kete Group. Ben currently lives in Boston where he directs the Fafali Ghanaian music ensemble at Brandeis University, and serves as Drum Leader for David Locke and Attah Poku’s Agbekor Drum and Dance Society.

Courses Taught

MUS	6b	Survey of West African Music: Dance-Drumming from Senegal to Nigeria
MUS	87a	Music and Dance from Ghana
MUS	87b	Music and Dance from Ghana

Scholarship

Paulding, Benjamin. "Kete for the International Percussion Community." Discourses in African Musicology: J.H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift. Ed. Kwasi Ampene. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2015. 156-185.

Paulding, Benjamin. "Kete: Ashanti Royal Court Drumming from Ghana." Rhythm! Scene Vol. 2. No. 5 (2015): 38-41 <http://pasdigitaledition.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/onlinemags/rhythmsceneoct15/>.

Paulding, Benjamin. "Kete for Drumset: Left-Foot Bell Approach." Rhythm! Scene Vol. 1. No. 4 (2014): <http://pasdigitaledition.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/onlinemags/rhythmsceneaug14/>.