David Hardman is originally from Richmond, Indiana. Currently he is Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he teaches applied lessons, directs the UCO Percussion Consort and Latin Jazz Ensemble, and teaches classes in Percussion Techniques, Percussion Literature, and Percussion Pedagogy. He has taught at the University of Miami, the University of South Florida and St. Petersburg College.

David has played and/or recorded with numerous world-class musicians, including jazz artists Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Nat Adderley, and the Woody Herman Band, and pop acts Yes, Ray Charles and Barry Gibb. He has performed with the Florida Orchestra, Florida Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic, as well as the acclaimed Brass Band of Battle Creek.

He has degrees from Ball State University, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the University of Miami. His teachers include Jeff Hamilton, Erwin Mueller, James Culley, and Fred Wickstrom. During summers he is on the percussion and jazz faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.