Ed Mikenas has a Master’s Degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, NYC and is certified as a Substance Abuse Counselor. He is currently the Director of DAY SERVICES, an agency of the City of Lynchburg, VA that works with adolescents who are at-risk of becoming involved with the court.

Mr. Mikenas developed the "DRUMMING ON THE EDGE OF LEADERSHIP" program, directed THE PEARLS DJEMBE ENSEMBLE (Lynchburg City Schools), directed the "DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH" theatre workshop for youth, and teaches bass at Radford University.

He has published an article titled "DRUMS: NOT DRUGS": in PERCUSSIVE NOTES Volume 37 #2, 1999, the journal of the Percussive Arts Society.

Read his book review of Mande Music by Dr. Eric Charry at this link.

He published a second article titled "DRUMMING ON THE EDGE OF LEADERSHIP" in PERCUSSIVE NOTES Volume 41 #1.

He is referenced in an article titled "Complementary Therapy for Addiction:  Drumming Out Drugs", published by Dr. Michael Winkelman in the American Journal of Public Health, April 2003, Vol. 93, No. 4.

Mr. Mikenas has facilitated international, national, state and local conferences and workshops in substance abuse education and prevention, team building, leadership development, wellness, and drumming as a therapeutic milieu. Some of his presentations include the National Association for African-American Studies, Legacy International, the 10^th International Juvenile Justice Trainers’ Conference, the Creative Impulse in Therapy Conferences, the National Child Welfare Institute Conference, The 22^nd Annual Conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, The International Conference for the Arts and Humanities, and the Percussive Arts Society State Day of Percussion.

He studied bass with Andre Garoza, Samuel Hollingsworth, Ron Carter, Robert Zimmermann and Orin O’Brien. He studied the Djembe with Ladji Camara, Abdoul Doumbia, Mohamed DaCosta, Madou Dembele, and Djimo Kouyate.

Mr. Mikenas has performed with Skitch Henderson, Esther Phillips, Mundell Lowe, Sonny Fortune, Herb Ellis, Frank Foster, Mercedez Ellington, Chip McNeill, and Martha and the Vandellas (to name a few).

Click Here for Ed Mikenas' full Résumé!