Dan Piccolo is a drummer, percussionist and composer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has performed, taught, and studied internationally during his professional career, which has spanned nearly twenty years.
Dan holds both a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance and a Master of Music in Improvisation from the University of Michigan School of Music. He has studied concert percussion with Michael Udow and Salvatore Rabbio, among others, and his drum set teachers have included Michael Gould, Steve Curry, and Geri Allen. Dan is also skilled in several types of hand percussion, having studied frame drumming with Jamey Haddad and tabla with Pandit Kuber Nath Mishra in multiple visits to Varansi, India. A grant from the University of Michigan’s International Institute funded the first of these visits.
Dan’s performance credits include a wide range of musical settings. For six years Dan was the drummer with Nomo, with whom he toured internationally and recorded three albums for Ubiquity Records. Dan has also recorded and toured as a member of Cloud Nine Music, His Name is Alive, Saturday Looks Good to Me, and others. He has appeared as a soloist with Toledo Symphony Orchestra, The University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, and many others. Locally, Dan performs regularly with symphony orchestras, rock bands, Indian classical music ensembles, jazz combos and big bands. He is the founder and director of the group Starbrand, who are quickly gaining notoriety on the Michigan live music scene.
Dan is also active as a composer, writing and arranging music for and featuring percussion instruments. In April 2010 the University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble premiered Dan’s first major work for Percussion Ensemble, “PTA,” which features tabla, drum set, and optional electronics soloists. Dan has more music for percussion soloists and ensembles currently in production.
In addition to this busy professional schedule, Dan teaches more than thirty private percussion students each week and coordinates the percussion program at Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School, a 2006 and 2011 Grammy Signature School. He spends his summers as a member of the faculty at New England Music Camp in Sindey, Maine.
Dan is proud to endorse Cooperman Frame Drums, Encore Mallets and Los Cabos Drum Sticks.
