Bio
Mike Mangini is a versitile musician, educator, and business owner.
He has been performing since the age of 4, has a musically diverse background containing over 60 awards, is multi Grammy nominated with one win, been on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music for 11 years, was the percussion dept. councilor, was rated top 1% of USA College Professors in the O.C.E. database, was the subject of an award winning documentary film, was featured in television shows, magazine and social media articles, gear products and thousands of YouTube videos.
Mike is an avid teacher and student. His three volumes of Rhythm Knowledge, plus accompanying videos on his Vimeo page, reflect his seriousness with sharing and learning information.
See Mike’s vast network of music instruction and other websites and online landing points via his Link Tree here.
Clarification on Birth Place:
We’d like to address some misinformation appearing in interviews with Mike. Firstly, Mike grew up in Waltham, MA. He was born in a Newton hospital, but was born and raised as "Waltham Hawk.” Too many webpages not made by Mike cite him as being from Newton, MA.
Although Mike is known as an advanced, chop using drumming acrobat, his roots and true nature lie in the genres of classical, jazz/latin and classic rock
The Why Message & More
The one thing that is the thread between Mike's music, videos and books is Critical Thinking with the intention of bettering oneself from finding something that is both true and inspiring. It’s about posing the deeper questions of “what," “why”and “how"and providing solutions to each one. Aristotle said this about the very best type of education: “It’s in the method.” Mike is a “solutions” type of person. MMM,LLC centralizes access to his methods, philosophies and the application of them to his students and to himself.
One aspect of Mike’s work that permeates everything, is the use of the Scientific Method. This doesn’t mean “science” as that term constantly gets severely perverted. The Scientific Method forces an experiment to follow an experiment’s parameters exactly. It most importantly welcomes testing a perceived correct answer as thoroughly as possible. (pic below is from the link above.)
The diagram below does not include the fact that anybody needs to be able to conduct the same test using the same conditions with every variable exactly the same as the communicated result. This is how Mike tested his systems before publishing them. The had to be 100% successful for 100% of the people using them as directed for Mike to conclude that he found a foolproof method. The only cases where people did not succeed using any of his systems or methods is when the person revealed, or Mike uncovered that they did not follow the steps exactly.
Critical Thought Inspiration
In Mike's words: “The thing I noticed about people that were amazing problem solvers is that they always seem to have a shape associated with how they structured a lot of information. Based on that, I try to find a way to turn intangible things into real shapes with structure. There’s a lot of geometry involved that ranges from the very simple to the complex.”
Plato referred to all thing having shape and form as their essence. Mathematician Richard Feynman said that one should be able to draw a solution on a napkin. Both Christ and Marcus Aurelias spoke of similar signs associated with finding truth. Christ said, “You will know them by their fruits,” while Aurelias said, “what is the nature of this thing you seek? Ask, ‘what does it do?’” All of these profound views proved and still prove to be very useful to Mike.
Part of his “why message” is really about anyone, including himself, to have belief in attaining the things one seeks via methods that are based on these amazing philosophies. With all of the modules from personal Cameos to Music making in Mike’s world, he is also working with scientists from Cambridge University to verify his methods, as well as using his methods supported by physics models on finding the nature of information. See an interview with Mike done by Cambridge University’s, Andres-Canales Johnson here. Navigate to his “sciences” page here to examine his reader’s poll winning system for improvising on a musical instrument called, “The GRID.” The GRID in the shape of a drop down menu:
Photo by Dave Green
Logo
Mike’s Logo represents both heart and brain waves with drum sticks as the X and Y axis inside a drum.
Recognition
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2021 Best Metal Performance for “The Alien” by Dream Theater. [Win]
2013 Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for “The Enemy Inside” by Dream Theater.
2011 Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for “On The Backs of Angels” by Dream Theater.
1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “For the Love of God” by Steve Vai
1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Windows to the Soul” by Steve Vai
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2010 Won the worldwide Dream Theater drummer audition.
1989 Boston’s Best Rhythm Section All Styles (Drummer & Bassist Pairing) 1st Place
1980-1981 Massachusetts All State Jazz Drummer (1st Chair,) Eastern District (1st Chair,) Waltham, MA Senior High School Louis Armstrong Award for Jazz Band.
1977-1981 ALL East U.S.A. Percussionist (1st Chair,) Massachusetts All State Orchestra Percussionist (1st Chair,) Massachusetts Eastern District Orchestra Percussionist (1st Chair.) Waltham, MA Senior High School John Phillip Sousa Award for Concert Band, Waltham, MA Junior High School Band Director’s Award.
1980-1981 Seven N.A.J.E. Jazz Drummer awards as “Outstanding Musician” at State Level Jazz Band competitions.
1976 - 1981 Mike was either a percussionist, or drummer resulting in 1st place finishes in local and statewide Battle of the Bands (Rock,) Junior High School and High School level Concert Bands, Orchestras, Jazz Bands, Jazz Combos, Percussion Ensemble and Marching Bands.
2002-2006 Official (W.F.D.) World’s Fastest Drummer #1 Ranking at one point or another in the five following categories:
Fastest Hands Matched Grip in 1 Minute, Fastest Hands Traditional Grip in 1 Minute, Fastest Bare Hands in 1 Minute, Fastest Feet in 15 Minutes, Fastest Feet in 5 Minutes.
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Description text goes hereMike’s first solo release is called “Invisible Signs.” He is Producer, Song Writer, Lyricist, Drummer and Virtual Instrument Player/Programmer.
Mike is credited song for Dream Theater on Dream Theater, Self Titled, Distance Over Time and A View From the Top of the World.
He co-composed “Leave Me Alone” from Extreme’s “Waiting from the Punchline” album.
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Item description2010 “A Drummer’s Dream,” featuring Mike and four other world renown drummers, was the Grand Prize winner at the FIPA D’or in France for the Performing Arts, The Hot Docs Audience favorite in Toronto, The Audience Favorite in the Top Ten Canadian Films Vancouver International Film Festival, and an official selection at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival. Link.
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2007-2009 Voted in the top 1 to 3 % of the National O.C.E. College Professor Student Response Ratings System in his eligible three year period.
2000 - 2010 Was part of the Berklee College of Music’s Percussion Faculty and served as a Department Student Advisor from 2005 - 2010.
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Item description2014 Modern Drummer Magazine’s Best Insturctional DVD for “The Grid”
2013 DRUM! Magazine’s Best Insturctional DVD for “The Grid”
1999 Top 3 Best Instructional Books for “Rhythm Knowledge Volume 1” and “Rhythm Knowledge Volume 2”
1997-2022 Reader’s Polls top 1 to 5 finishes in several International Drum Magazines for “Drummer of the Year,” "Best Progressive Drummer,” “Best Clinician,” "Best Recorded Performance” and “Best Up and Coming Drummer.
Note that Mike has also published Rhythm Knowledge, Volume Three (as of 2022.)
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Featured in a Discovery Channel’s “Timewarp” episode. Link to it here.
Was the focus of a Harris Teeter’s, USA, TV commericial. Link to it here.
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2010 to 2023: Band member/Drummer for the progressive rock Band Dream Theater. He also does occaisional guest appearances. 2023 included shows with Zakk Wylde, Cory Wong and also with John Petrucci's Solo Band.
1993 to 2015: Performed with Dream Theater, U.K. with orginal members John Wetton and Eddie Jobson, John Petrucci Solo & G3, Steve Vai Solo & G3, Tribe of Judah, Extreme, Dale Bozzio’s Missing Persons, Annihilator.
1994 to Present: International Touring Drum Clinician & Master Classes.
1976 - 1993: Was a member of many Boston, NY and FLA based cover and orginial bands and a drummer and co-song writer.
1973 - 1981: Performed in School Concert, Orchestra, Jazz, Jazz Combo, Percussion Ensemble and Rock bands with friends.Wikipedia
Although deeper history and timeline of events can be found via the Wikipedia Link, there are many mistakes on the wiki page.
On November 11, 2023, Mike released his solo music on an album called, “Invisible Signs.” He is the sole songwriter. Information on that can be found at: www.manginiband.com.
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In 2010, Mike Mangini won the drum seat for the Progressive Rock icons Dream Theater in an audition that was captured in the internet documentary, “The Spirit Carries On.” He has recorded and/or toured with Annihilator, Extreme, Dale Bozzio’s Missing Persons, Steve Vai and U.K. Mike also simultaneously has been involved with education in some way, shape or form.
During his long and diverse career, he has won approximately 60 combined performance based awards, audtions, and drum contests. These individual awards have spanned musical styles from Classical, Jazz, Rock, to Heavy Metal, Solo drumming, while setting five official W.F.D. World’s Fastest Drummer records.
He is in may reader’s polls for drum magazines as well. Additionally, he was the drummer in bands that won at the state championship level in public school related orchestral, jazz and percussion ensembles that all placed 1st at the state level. Professionally, he has earned five Grammy nominations and one win for Dream Theater’s, “The Alien." Although he is best known for his work with heavier rock music, he has done gigs in the styles of Latin, Funk, Swing, Pop Ballads, Pop and Blues. He was also one of seven drummers in the International film festival, award winning documentary, “A Drummer’s Dream,” as well as being featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Time Warp.”
Mike is a product of a solid network of family, friends and public school sports and music programs with great teachers in Waltham, Massachusetts. Although wikipedia has made the world think that Mike is from Newton, MA, Mike was only born in a Newton hospital, but is from Waltham, MA. This upbringing inspired him to work with people, to compete and to understand the value of quality teaching and influence.
Mike became a private drum teacher and developed a learning system called “Rhythm Knowledge” and it contains three volumes to date. It is a cognitive and computer science based learning system that also relies on his documented observations as both a student and teacher. Eventually, Mike and his philosophies got world wide attention in international drum magazines. Mike headlines international drum festivals embarks on solo drum clinic tours sponsored by his equipment endorsement companies each year demonstrating how his systems work.
As a teacher, he stared his own private instruction business and eventually taught at the Berklee College of Music for eleven years and was eventually appointed as the Percussion Department’s Student Advisor. He surpassed being just a top sought after teacher at Berklee. He finished in the top 1 to 3% of the O.C.E.’s student response ratings for college professors in the entire United States each year the ratings system was used.
In 2013, he released an award winning instructional DVD called “The Grid,” that turns musical improvisation into a science. This system can also be applied to improvising anything. Mike invented it because neither Berklee or the World had yet defined and broken down what ‘improvisation’ actually is and how it works. He showed just how correct the approach is not just by winning the Dream Theater audition, but to use it to help less skilled players improvise decently.