Percussion Overview
Strike all the right notes. Study percussion in a highly creative international studio with talented students, faculty, and visitors from around the world. U of T Percussion offers an exciting curriculum incorporating contemporary, orchestral, and world-music perspectives and traditions.
Explore Your Potential
Learning
Students can expect small class sizes, a collaborative community, and training enriched by Music Faculty offerings in areas such as Composition and Music Technology & Digital Media. The learning experience is personalized, flexible, and artistically inspiring.
Performance
Performance in a creative research environment is central to Percussion programming. Students perform during weekly masterclasses taught by faculty and distinguished international visitors. They receive private instruction, rotating among instructors according to their area of expertise. They perform in classes teaching major orchestral repertoire and music-making in large- and small-ensemble settings. Working with local, national, and international composers, students participate in four to six concerts annually in various Toronto venues.
Technology
The Technology and Performance Integration Research Lab (TaPIR Lab) provides extraordinary opportunities to research the integration of technology into the performance of percussion-focused contemporary music. Working with international researchers and creative professionals, students participate in workshops, conferences, and concerts. The creative and scholarly results can include recordings and publications.
Programs
Join a Hive of Music
U of T Percussion is one of the largest percussion studios in Canada, whose history includes strong associations with internationally renowned percussion groups such as Toronto-based Nexus. Teaching is delivered by expert faculty and augmented by notable visitors such as Bob Becker, Cynthia Yeh, Gordon Stout, Katarzyna Mycka, and Nancy Zeltsman. Playing in the University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble, University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Contemporary Music Ensemble, Opera Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Campus Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hart House Theatre are among the opportunities open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Scholarship, publication, and conference travel support are available for graduate students.
Embrace a City of Opportunity
One of the world's great multicultural cities, Toronto offers Percussion students a remarkable diversity of musical experiences and opportunities. Toronto is home to percussion-focused ensembles such as Nexus and the TorQ Percussion Quartet, major symphony orchestras and opera companies, groups and venues at the cutting edge of contemporary art music, and an astonishing range of world music performers. It is also one of the largest musical theatre cities in North America. Student opportunities include performing in the many community, semi-professional, and professional orchestras and ensembles active throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
Upcoming Events
Featured Media
University of Toronto Percussion Online
Have a question?
Contact our Percussion Area Head for more information about our Percussion area and programs.