Berklee Percussion Festival

June 17–21, 2013

What's the program like?

The Berklee Percussion Festival welcomes everyone. If you are new to the world of percussion, a performer looking for new ideas, a drum set specialist, hand percussionist, marimbist, vibraphonist, steelpan player, or a music educator, the Berklee Percussion Festival will provide you with new methods and techniques on rhythm, improvisation, percussion craft, effects, sound, and performance skills.

The Berklee Percussion Festival also emphasizes practical playing experience through a variety of performance activities, in-class performances, ensembles (bands), and master classes for everyone interested in percussion and performing in a variety of musical styles.

Students can opt to study the following styles: jazz drum set, rock drum set, fusion drum set, funk drum set, marimba, vibraphone, total percussion, West African percussion, steelpan, Afro-Cuban drum set, Brazilian, or hand percussion.

For students who are also interested in enrolling at Berklee full time, there are several benefits to attending the Percussion Festival:

Find out what it takes to succeed in music and at Berklee;
Study with Berklee faculty;
Learn about admission, audition, and scholarship requirements;
Get a head start on your full-time studies; and
Get to know Boston, New England's hub of culture and academia.

Who are the instructors?

All classes and ensembles will be taught by members of Berklee's internationally renowned percussion faculty, as well as by visiting artists.

Visiting Artists

Past guest artists have included Will Calhoun, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Trichy Sankaran, Steve Smith, Dafnis Prieto, Pete Locket, Francisco Mela, and Pedro Martinez.

This year's visiting artists include:

ROD MORGENSTEIN

Rod Morgenstein is a founding member of the groundbreaking progressive rock fusion group, the Dixie Dregs, whose six most recent recordings received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. He is an original member of the heavy metal band Winger, whose recordings have reached gold and platinum status around the world. The band received an American Music Award nomination for Best New Heavy Metal Band in 1989. Winger will hit the studio to work on a brand new recording, with touring to follow, to mark the band’s 25th anniversary in 2013. Morgenstein is also a member of the Rudess Morgenstein Project, a power-duo featuring Morgenstin and Dream Theater keyboard virtuoso Jordan Rudess; the Jelly Jam, which features Dream Theater bassist, John Myung, and guitarist, Ty Tabor of King’s X; and the jazz-fusion jam band Jazz Is Dead, which has featured bassist Alphonso Johnson, guitarists Jeff Pevar and Jimmy Herring, and keyboardist T Lavitz. In addition to his recording and touring credits, Morgenstein is very active in drum education. He is a professor of percussion at Berklee, currently in his 16th year of teaching, and he also created “Rock Drums,” an innovative, online college-level course. With over 50 recordings to his credit, and having performed hundreds of clinics and thousands of concerts around the world in some 30 countries, Morgenstein continues to stay active as a performer and educator.

MARK WALKER

Grammy award-winning drummer, percussionist, composer, and educator Mark Walker is one of the most respected drummers on the scene. Walker has been a member of the American jazz group Oregon (featuring Ralph Towner) for more than 15 years and a 23-year member of the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet. He also leads the Latin jazz group Rhythm of the Americas. Walker has performed on five Grammy award-winning albums and has earned nine Grammy nominations for his work with various pop and jazz artists. He was recently nominated for a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition (“Deep Six,” from Oregon’s 1000 Kilometers) and won Best Latin Jazz Album as a drummer/composer for Funk Tango by the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet. Walker has also earned the Indie award and the Jazz award (German record manufacturers) for his work with Oregon. Walker has taught at Berklee since 2001.

KWAKU KWAAKYE (MARTIN) OBENG

Kwaku Kwaakye (Martin) Obeng is a composer, master drummer, dancer, and educator who has worked internationally for the past 25 years. Born in Ghana, West Africa, Kwaku began drumming at the age of five, and by seventeen he was appointed Royal Court Drummer to the high chief of the Aburi-Akuapim region of Eastern Ghana. He toured as a drummer and dancer with Ghana's National Arts Council Folkloric Company, and in 1981 relocated to the U.S., where he joined the New England-based Talking Drum Ensemble. He has taught drumming at Brown since 1988.

SANDEEP DAS

Two-time Grammy nominee Sandeep Das is considered one of the leading tabla players in the world. One of the favorite disciples of the legendary Pt. Kishan Maharaj ji of the Benaras Gharana, Das has now carved out a niche for himself throughout the musical world. He debuted at age 15 with the famous sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. Das has composed for and performed internationally with the Silk Road Ensemble, which features celebrated cellist Yo Yo Ma. Das also founded the HUM ensemble, “an organization that strives for harmony and universality through the idiom of music.” His concert tours have taken him to major centers of music on all continents including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royce Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Concertgebouw, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Petronas Tower Hall in Malaysia. Das has recorded music on more than 30 labels including Virgin, Sony and Makar Records, Music Today, Magnasound, and T-Series.

Berklee Faculty

Percussion Department chair: John Ramsay
Assistant chair: Yoron Israel

Featured Artists:

Yoron Israel

Yoron Israel’s varied credentials and illustrious career includes five recordings as a leader and hundreds of recordings as an accompanist. His recordings as a solo artist include the newly released Visions – The Music of Stevie Wonder, which is among Jazz Week’s top 100 recordings of 2012. Previous releases on his label Ronja Music are A Gift for You and Basic Traneing. The latter reached number three on the National Jazz Charts in 2004. When not leading his own ensembles (Organic, Connection, and High Standards), Yoron performs regularly with bassist Avery Sharpe and vibraphonist Jay Hoggard as well as with numerous leading Boston-based artists such as Laszlo Gardony, Gabrielle Goodman, and the Makanda Project.

Dave Samuels

Dave Samuels has established himself as the top mallet player of his generation. He is recognized for his fresh sound and creative approach to both the vibraphone and marimba. Samuels has demonstrated his versatility and gained world wide recognition by performing and recording with a broad scope of artists ranging from Gerry Mulligan, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Carla Bley, and Pat Metheny to Yellowjackets, Bruce Hornsby, Frank Zappa, the Fantasy Band, and Spyro Gyra.

For more than a decade, Samuels has been performing and recording with his group the Caribbean Jazz Project, whose most recent album, Afro Bop Alliance, received a Grammy nomination and a Latin Grammy award. Its recording, The Gathering, won the Grammy in 2003 for Best Latin Jazz Album. Samuels is also a member of Double Image, a vibe-marimba duo consisting of Dave Samuels and David Friedman, who have performed for 30 years. Samuels’ longtime association with Spyro Gyra lasted from 1977 to 1994 and includes 20 recordings. During that time, the Grammy-nominated group was named No. 1 Contemporary Jazz Artist and Contemporary Jazz Group of the 1980s by Billboard magazine.

What's the schedule?

The festival begins Monday, June 17, with registration and auditions in the morning, master classes and faculty concerts throughout the day, and a special evening faculty concert. Tuesday through Thursday will feature the following:

Two hours of class on your principal instrument
A one-hour styles class on instruments related to your principal instrument (including a rhythm section in each class)
Nightly jam sessions and repertoire classes in all styles
Student concerts

Other highlights include rhythm classes on drum set through the 1960s and since the 1960s, a steelpan concert, a hip-hop ensemble workshop, an Afro-Cuban music clinic, a concert percussion clinic, faculty concerts, and visiting artist clinics and performances. There will be ongoing percussion industry exhibits each day where you can see the latest instruments, equipment, and educational materials.

The final day of the festival will include student concerts, a faculty clinic performance, closing ceremony, a featured R&B clinic performance and the Faculty Blowout Concert. Family and friends are welcome to attend the last day's activities by requesting free tickets from the Percussion Department.

Do I need to bring an instrument?

All percussion instruments will be available for class use, but you may bring your own if you wish. Do not bring drum sets, though you may want to bring a cymbal bag, including a hi-hat clutch. There will be 18 drum sets available for practice from 10:00 a.m. to midnight each day as well as a limited amount of percussion instruments. All percussion instruments are provided by Alternate Mode, Drum Workshop, Evans, Gretsch, Grover Pro Percussion, JAG Drums, Kaman (Toca), Latin Percussion Music Group, Ludwig/Musser, Mapex, Marimba One, Mike Balter, Paiste, Pearl Corporation, Premier, Regal Tip, Remo, Sabian, Shure, Sonor, Taos Drums, Vic Firth, Yamaha, Zildjian, and Vater Inc.

Where will I eat and sleep?

Applicants will be sent information and an application for residence hall housing once accepted to the program. Most program participants elect to stay in the Berklee residence halls; however, space is limited. To optimize your chances for on-campus housing, you must return the housing application immediately upon receiving it.

To be eligible to live in the residence hall, you must be 15 years of age by the start of the program. If you apply to the program after mid-May, please call the Housing Office at 617 747-2292 to find out if residence hall space is still available.

Berklee Percussion Festival

June 17–21, 2013

What's the program like?