Former President of the Percussive Arts Society, John R. Beck is a Professor of Percussion at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and an Instructor at Wake Forest University. He is also the Principal Percussionist of the Winston-Salem Symphony, as well as a member of the Greensboro Symphony, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and the Philidor Percussion Group. Mr. Beck was a member of the United States Marine Band for ten years; performing regularly with the National and Baltimore 
Symphonies, the Washington and Baltimore Operas, and the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center. Moreover, he toured the United States as a xylophone soloist with the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, and the New Sousa Band. A Remo Endorsed Drum Circle Facilitator in the Health and Wellness community, Mr. Beck often presents clinics endorsing Yamaha Percussion Instruments, Zildjian Cymbals, and Innovative Mallets.
When did you begin studying music?
At my public school in upstate New York, I began formal lessons in the fourth grade.
Did you always study percussion?
My parents were both musicians and my sister and I had to take two years of piano lessons before we could study another instrument.
What made you choose percussion?
My father was a percussionist and we had lots of drums in the house.
Who were your primary teachers?
I took two drum lessons with my father before I started public school lessons, and both ended with me crying. My private teachers were graduate students at the Eastman School of Music’s Preparatory Department until Ruth Cahn became the full time teacher in my junior year of high school. Before Ruth Cahn, I studied with Dave Mancini, Gordon Stout and Ernest Musquiz. I also studied for a summer with Neil DePonte at Interlochen. As an undergrad I studied with Michael Rosen at the Oberlin Conservatory, and with my father, John H. Beck, at the Eastman School of Music for my graduate work.
When did you decide to pursue a career in music?
I attended Interlochen the summer of my junior year of high school. My parents said that this experience would likely determine if I loved music enough to pursue it after that experience. They were right.
Did you have a specific goal: teach, compose, etc.?
Percussion was always the thing that I was best at, so I pursued it. When I was at Oberlin for my undergraduate study, Leigh Stevens had just published his “Method of Movement” book. Students then had the choice to be orchestral players and practice excerpts; to devote many hours towards solo marimba literature; or to pursue a solo percussion career like Steve Schick. I ended up pursuing the orchestra/large ensemble path. In the second year of my master’s degree I won a position in the Midland-Odessa Symphony in Texas. I was two weeks away from moving, when I won an audition for the US Marine Band, and chose to go to Washington, D.C. I was in the band for four years and began to freelance quite a bit, playing extra percussion with the National Symphony and Kennedy Center Opera. I took a chance and left the security of the band, and for nine more years was a freelance musician in Washington; later becoming a touring xylophone soloist with the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band. Throughout that time I always taught private lessons, and became a full time university teacher in 1998 after 15 years of freelance work.
Do you focus on a specific area of percussion, if so, did you always?
While I enjoy solo performance, playing with other musicians in a chamber group or large ensemble is what I have spent most of my career doing. I always played both drum set and concert percussion, and have been lucky enough to continue to do both. When I was in the Marine Band, I had the opportunity to play keyboard percussion solos, and developed a reputation as a xylophone soloist. That opportunity led to several years of touring the US as a xylophone soloist with the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band and the New Sousa Band.
Who impacted your musical growth the most?
I grew up listening to the Eastman Percussion Ensemble and hearing great percussionists who visited the school, as well as listening to Bill and Ruth Cahn in the Rochester Philharmonic. However, I think my experiences at Oberlin with Mike Rosen directly impacted the kind of music I am drawn to the most.
What teaching positions have you held?
I have taught at ten universities and at many high schools as the drum line instructor and private lesson teacher. I have been at the UNC School of the Arts for the past 21 years, and at Wake Forest since 2005. Prior to that I was a sabbatical replacement teacher at the Universities of Utah, Colorado, and UNLV. I was an interim teacher for a year at UNC-Greensboro and Florida State. And while I was in the Washington, D.C. area, I taught at Shenandoah Conservatory, George Washington University. and the University of the District of Columbia.
What percussionists have inspired you the most and why?
NEXUS – They were breaking new ground while I was in high school and college, and I was able to hear them live many times. Steve Gadd – same answer as NEXUS. George Hamilton Green – amazing composer and performer whose work was recorded without any edits. Too many symphonic performers around the country to mention by name. Mamady Keita – amazing djembe performer and engaging personality in workshops. Huge smile! Gary Burton – incredible technique which he always used to serve his musical ideas, as well as support the musicians he performed with.
Is there a specific genre you enjoy performing the most?
Orchestral, and sitting in a small jazz group is a close second.
What composers do you identify with and why?
I love loud, fast, exciting music, but composers who explore the softer, quieter side of percussion are the most interesting to me. If you don’t know Christopher Ceronne’s music, check it out. George Crumb’s music has always touched me. As well as John Cage for his big influence on the rhythmic side of composing.
Do you get nervous before you play – if so, how do you deal with it?
Every time you perform there is a concern if it will go well. If you haven’t prepared enough, that concern becomes nervousness, which can lead to performances that are not your best. “By failing to prepare you are preparing for failure.” – Benjamin Franklin
Do you ever make a mistake while performing? If so, how do you go about resolving it?
The definition of live music performance is navigating mistakes so that the audience isn’t aware of them. Your job as a performer is to help your audience enjoy the music you are presenting. Don’t show your mistakes by the expression on your face. There may be a time when you have to stop and start over. Julia Child was famous for saying that your job as the host of the party is to help your guests enjoy themselves even if you drop the main course on the floor before dinner. Mistakes happen. Nobody is a perfect player, but you can still present an enjoyable performance for your audience.
Has your practice regimen changed from when you were a student? And how do you keep your technique fresh on all primary percussion instruments?
You will never have more time to practice than when you are in high school or college. Take advantage of this, because the older you get, the more difficult it is to memorize music and practice all the instruments. The good news is if you establish a solid technique on all the instruments as a young player, these skills are relatively easy to bring back to be performance ready, even with time off. Bad habits will follow you for your career, so correct them early.
How do you define a good musician and a good teacher? And has your definition of both changed from when you were a student to the present?
Good musicians and good teachers have one thing in common: they listen carefully and ask questions about how the sounds they are hearing could fit together better. Therefore, good teachers challenge their students to truly listen to themselves, and figure out how to make better sounds that fit the music they are playing.
Do you think that performing and teaching are intrinsically intertwined? If so, how and why?
Learning to clearly articulate how and why you do things as a musician for students makes you a better performer. Helping students identify and fix problems always helps the teacher to become a better player themselves.
What was the impetus behind the Comfort Sound Drumming study and were the results what you expected?
When I was President of PAS I took hand drums from the Rhythm! Discovery Center to the Riley Children’s Hospital for community engagement (For anyone who hasn’t been to R!DC, visitors have the opportunity to play in a drum circle as part of their museum experience.) The music therapists I met in Indianapolis encouraged me to pursue this kind of community work at home. After I returned, I discovered that there were harpists, pianists, and guitarists who played in public spaces of the hospital, but no music therapists on the staff, and no drumming. So, beginning in 2015 the medical center agreed to add interactive group drumming to the live music listening experiences offered at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston-Salem, NC. We offered weekly drum circles presented through the Cancer Patient Support Program that took place in the outpatient waiting area and inpatient activity room. After hearing patients’ and caregivers’ remarks, we were motivated to pursue an IRB-approved research study to investigate and document the ways and the extent to which hospitalized people “feel better” after drumming.
A secondary goal of the study was to gather data that might serve to increase hospital administrators’ awareness about how patient experience improves when interactive music is integrated into their health care. Prior to beginning the research, I became a HealthRHYTHMS drum circle facilitator. HealthRHYTHMS is an evidence-based protocol that was developed by a music therapist and a neurologist. During the 22-month research study we used HealthRHYTHMS techniques with stem cell transplant recipients and recorded their energy, mood, relaxation, distress, pain, and anxiety levels of pre- and post- intervention. Over 80% of the patients reported increased energy, improved mood and relaxation; over 60% reported decreased anxiety and distress; and a majority reported less pain after 30 minutes of drumming.
Because the hospital room drumming was done in small groups on Remo Versa Tubanos, with low volume heads, we called it Comfort Sound® Drumming, since we were all looking at a drum with a Comfort Sound® logo on it.
Based upon this study, do you envision developing adaptations of this approach to be an integral element in K – 12 music education classes, as well as in percussion pedagogy programs at the collegiate level?
After adapting the traditional high energy drum circle for use in the hospital I began to explore other ways group drumming could be used. I wanted to explore interactive group drumming not just for healing, community building, or engaging seniors with mobility or cognitive difficulty, but as a teaching tool for all musicians. As a regular part of my teaching, I have found that with percussion students, removing the sticks, mallets, and notated music, helps them focus on playing together and listening to the entire group for balance and feel. By removing the music, they listen outward, instead of focusing inward on getting their own part right. I have taken drums to band and orchestra rooms and worked with non-percussionists on the same listening skills; often focusing the group on the groove of rhythms, tempos and/or meters, of a particular work that they were having difficulty performing. When these students returned to the full rehearsal, the ensemble sounded better because everyone was more aware of what it feels like to play together.
Knowing what you know today, would you change anything about how you prepared for your career? If so, what and why?
The best advice I ever received was to be prepared for any opportunity by learning to play as many instruments in as many styles as possible. I had no idea what direction my career would take when I left school, but I said yes to every opportunity, and have been very happy with the outcome.
What words of wisdom would you share with a student who aspires to make a career as a performer and as an educator?
Students today have so many opportunities to create careers that don’t conform with the traditional orchestra performer/university teacher model. Collaborate with artists of all disciplines while you are in school. Who knows, you may invent the next hybrid art form that makes you an artist-citizen of the future. Be an artist who connects to their community in the concert hall, in the schools, in senior centers, in community centers, and on the street. Music is a universal art form to be shared with everyone.
If you would like to learn more about, and/or contact Mr. Beck, please visit his website at:
