Integrating World Percussion into Graduate Jazz Training: A Practitioner Reflection

This reflection explores the pedagogical and artistic impact of a non-traditional instructional choice made during the author’s final semester of graduate study at Queens College (CUNY). Initially enrolled in the Jazz Studies: Performance Track (Drum Set), the author elected to substitute formal principal study lessons with a personalised programme of world percussion study under Professor Michael Lipsey. This decision, initially motivated by artistic restlessness, led to foundational experiences in frame drumming, South Indian rhythmic structures, gamelan ensemble, and classical snare etude work. The outcomes of this shift have since permeated the author’s teaching, performance, and curriculum development practice, including the formalisation of cross-cultural technique integration in percussion pedagogy and ensemble training. This account reflects on the value of institutional flexibility, the long-term influence of cross-disciplinary study, and the implications for curriculum design in contemporary music education.