Emma Ford - Playing the same thing over and over again

Emma’s passion for drumming began in her high school years and was later accepted as one of only two drummers into the prestigious Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia’s leading music University, where she gained her qualifications as a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance).

She has a breadth of experience across a number of musical genres, including Jazz, Classical, Latin, Pop, Rock and RnB. She has been a member of the all female drumming group ‘Drummer Queens’ and has performed at the Australian Ultimate Drummers Weekend, the Cricket World Cup, the Australian National Rugby League Grand Final, National Australia Day Awards at Parliament House and numerous private events.  

After graduating University, Emma pursued her passion for musical theatre performing in professional productions in Sydney and Asia. Notably, she performed on drums for productions of ‘In The Heights’ at the Hayes Theatre in Sydney, followed by a sell-out season at the Sydney Opera House, as well as touring both nationally and internationally with ‘The Illusionists 1903’.

Her talents as a drummer and percussionist have been recognized through various awards in Australia, including the Jann Rutherford Memorial Mentorship Award from the Sydney Improvised Music Association’s Women in Jazz program in 2010 and the 2016 winner of the Rob Guest Endowment Theatre Musicians Award. 

Since moving to New York in July 2018 at the age of 25, she quickly established herself in the Broadway scene and began working on Broadway, subbing on shows including Come From Away, Head Over Heels, Tootsie and Jagged Little Pill. She has also performed numerous gigs, cabarets and gala’s alongside talents such as Stephen Schwartz, Ben Vereen, Paul Shaffer, Ariana DeBose, John Cameron Mitchell and has undertaken accompaniment work for Broadway productions including Mean Girls and Magic Mike. 

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Broadway Shutdown, Emma returned to Australia in 2020. In this time, she played drums for Pippin, Hamilton and Jagged Little Pill, before coming back to NYC in 2022 to become the drummer for Paradise Square on Broadway.

Clayton Craddock hosts the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast and Newsletter. He has held the drum chair in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill and Ain’t Too Proud.

The Broadway Drumming 101 Instagram page: Instagram

The Broadway Drumming 101 YouTube page: YouTube

For more about Clayton, click HERE