David Birrow is a percussionist and teacher. A licensed educator, David has experience teaching K-12 general music in both public and private schools as well as individual and group percussion instruction. He currently teaches in Minneapolis at Breck School.
A native of Massachusetts, David started playing percussion in 5th grade band. It quickly became obvious that hitting things was a lot of fun and percussion became an important part of his life. David then attended the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and earned a Bachelors degree in Music with a major in Music Education. His percussion teachers included Dr. Ney Rosauro and Shannon Wood and he studied Music Education with Dr. Joyce Jordan and Dr. Nicholas DeCarbo.
Apparently he missed freezing weather, as David then moved to Minneapolis and earned a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Performance from the University of Minnesota. His percussion teachers were Fernando Meza, Earl Yowell, and Phil Hey.
A versatile performer, his interests range from orchestral to world music to jazz to new music. He has performed throughout Europe and South America as an orchestral percussionist with YOA - Orchestra of the Americas. In addition to freelancing, David currently performs with Exotik-a-gogo, Struck Percussion Ensemble, and the Marimba Bullies, a Zimbabwean Style marimba band. He also leads his own jazz trio on vibraphone. He performed with the new music group Renegade Ensemble for nine years,
As an award winning educator, David is interested in how music cognition research, technology, and game design can help shape music learning. At Breck School, David currently teaches a variety of subjects to students in grades 5-12, including: Music Theory, Music Psychology, Music and Film, Computer Science, Electronic Music, World Music, and Media Arts. For eleven years, he taught percussion in group and solo settings as well as k-12 general music at MacPhail Center for Music.
In 2018, David won the Innovation in Music Education Award from Slam Academy and in 2015 he was awarded the DeLucia Prize from the Mockingbird Foundation. His book on how to teach bucket drumming in the K-12 setting, The Bucket Book, is published by Alfred. Each summer he runs an all-day professional development workshop guiding teachers how to teach bucket drumming to their students.
David has presented at many national and international music educator professional development conferences including The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the National Association for Music Education’s National In-Service Clinic in Nashville, Minnesota and Iowa's Music Educators Association Annual State Conferences, the Saskatchewan Music Conference in Saskatoon, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, and the Midwest Association of Independent Schools.
David proudly endorses Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets.
Photo: Paul Wegner
A native of Massachusetts, David started playing percussion in 5th grade band. It quickly became obvious that hitting things was a lot of fun and percussion became an important part of his life. David then attended the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and earned a Bachelors degree in Music with a major in Music Education. His percussion teachers included Dr. Ney Rosauro and Shannon Wood and he studied Music Education with Dr. Joyce Jordan and Dr. Nicholas DeCarbo.
Apparently he missed freezing weather, as David then moved to Minneapolis and earned a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Performance from the University of Minnesota. His percussion teachers were Fernando Meza, Earl Yowell, and Phil Hey.
A versatile performer, his interests range from orchestral to world music to jazz to new music. He has performed throughout Europe and South America as an orchestral percussionist with YOA - Orchestra of the Americas. In addition to freelancing, David currently performs with Exotik-a-gogo, Struck Percussion Ensemble, and the Marimba Bullies, a Zimbabwean Style marimba band. He also leads his own jazz trio on vibraphone. He performed with the new music group Renegade Ensemble for nine years,
As an award winning educator, David is interested in how music cognition research, technology, and game design can help shape music learning. At Breck School, David currently teaches a variety of subjects to students in grades 5-12, including: Music Theory, Music Psychology, Music and Film, Computer Science, Electronic Music, World Music, and Media Arts. For eleven years, he taught percussion in group and solo settings as well as k-12 general music at MacPhail Center for Music.
In 2018, David won the Innovation in Music Education Award from Slam Academy and in 2015 he was awarded the DeLucia Prize from the Mockingbird Foundation. His book on how to teach bucket drumming in the K-12 setting, The Bucket Book, is published by Alfred. Each summer he runs an all-day professional development workshop guiding teachers how to teach bucket drumming to their students.
David has presented at many national and international music educator professional development conferences including The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the National Association for Music Education’s National In-Service Clinic in Nashville, Minnesota and Iowa's Music Educators Association Annual State Conferences, the Saskatchewan Music Conference in Saskatoon, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, and the Midwest Association of Independent Schools.
David proudly endorses Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets.
Photo: Paul Wegner