Kim Sargeant began his musical studies as a chorister at Jesus College, Cambridge, also playing violin, but when thirteen began to teach himself percussion. After a year at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Montreux at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Musicales, returning to begin a course at the Royal Academy of Music.
Since then, he has worked as a freelance player with the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Ballet, Ulster Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber and many other orchestras, in addition to incidental theatre and film music. He taught for a number of years at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, Charterhouse, Hill House, Hindhead and Tiffin School. His students have included a Percussion Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Principal Percussionist at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Principal Timpanist of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. While pursuing a parallel career as a senior arts administrator, he was Principal Percussionist doubling Timpani for the English Symphony and English String Orchestras, with which he gave many concerts and recorded over 12 CDs for the Nimbus label. He performed as soloist in the world premiere of John Tavener's The Last Sleep of the Virgin for handbells and string quartet at the 1992 Cheltenham Festival, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. His most recent radio broadcast was for KlaraRadio in Belgium, as guest performer with the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble in a concert in the Flanders Festival, Brussels.