Alan Dowling

Alan Dowling’s musical journey began at 10 years old, playing spoons on stage with his grandfather, his father, and his sister on a selection of fiddle tunes. However, it was The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 that sent him dreaming of a life in music. He vividly remembers watching Ringo Starr play the drums on that show and he knew he wanted to be a drummer. 

When Alan was 12 years old, he joined the Birchwood Band and the Sea Cadets Marching Band. By grade 8, although still in middle school, Alan was recruited by the Colonel Gray Band and the military band. These recruitments were great for his confidence and he embraced the opportunities. 

In high school, he got his first drum kit (with the Ringo black oyster pearl finish) and started playing in rock ‘n’ roll bands. He started thinking about a career and he slowed down on music while he studied General Arts and Math at UPEI, but after two years at UPEI, Alan took a leap of faith and moved south to study percussion at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Following a year in the US, he moved home and finished his music degree on PEI.

From there, he moved to Newfoundland and began his life as an educator. After three years, he returned home and got BSC in Math at UPEI. Following this, he worked in IT but kept busy in music by playing nights and weekends in cover bands around town. Always a lover of jazz, he formed the Alan Dowling Trio and played in Charlottetown Jazz Ensemble. 

In an interesting twist, a promoter who was bringing Freddy Fender to town recruited Alan to play drums for two sold out shows at The Confederation Centre. Alan has also played drums for Doug Riley and Bobby Curtola. 

In the late 90s, Alan founded the group, The Jive Kings. The group released two albums, which won them a few ECMA awards but in 2002, they folded. 

By this time, Alan was teaching IT at Holland College. Simultaneous to his teaching, he started working on a curriculum for a percussion course. This course was inspired by the Berklee education he had received back in the 70s. In 2004, Alan pitched this course to the head of Holland College, but it fell flat. 

In 2006, Alan had a serendipitous conversation with Mike O’Grady who had ideas about starting an arts program at Holland College. O’Grady was trying to build a partnership with the Confederation Centre for dance and theatre studies, and he wanted Alan to look after the music component. Priorities and a lack of time kept these endeavors on hold until 2009 when Alan was formally asked to start building the music program. In 2010, he stopped teaching IT and was given a year to focus on the Holland College Music Program. In 2011, the School of Performing Arts at Holland College officially launched with 11 students. 

There was always one thing Alan wanted for the program. He wanted to use Berklee’s books and he wanted to integrate their curriculum into that of Holland College’s. He approached Berklee, and they initially declined, but in 2012, he travelled to Berklee with the materials he had crafted for Holland College and from this meeting, Berklee presented him with an interesting proposal. Would Holland College be interested in becoming Berklee’s first Global Partner in North America? 

By March 2013, Berklee had approved Holland College’s use of their curriculum and by September 2013, it was fully integrated. 

In 2015, Dowling brokered an articulation agreement (also known as a 2 + 2) with Berklee College of Music, whereby a student can study two years at Holland College and two years at Berklee and graduate with a four-year degree from Berklee. In 2016, the Berklee Pathways initiative began referring international students to Holland College. This influx of international students has had a significant and positive effect on the fabric of the music scene in Charlottetown. 

In 2017, Alan retired from his post as Head Educator for SoPA at Holland College, but his dedication to developing that program will have a lasting effect on the arts and culture of this province. Never one to completely close a door, Alan remains an instructor at the College. 

Alan stays busy playing drums with KINLEY, Nolan Compton, Cory Gallant, Jolene Patkai, Got Blues, Winterjazz, and Island Jazz.