Strain to author Percussion Dictionary

Dr. James A. Strain, Professor of Percussion, has signed an agreement with Scarecrow Press to author the Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist, a comprehensive dictionary of terms, instruments, performance practice, and significant people related to world-wide percussion traditions.

The scope and content will be designed to compliment Scarecrow’s “Dictionary” series of other musical instruments and topics.

Music Department Head Robert Engelhart stated that “this publishing opportunity further confirms Dr. Strain’s national reputation as a percussion scholar. The dictionary fills an essential position in the Scarecrow series and will have a wide-ranging audience.”

Dr. Strain has been at NMU for 16 years and has authored more than 100 articles, compositions, encyclopedia entries, and other publications. He serves as Historian for the Percussive Arts Society.