David Shaffer, Drums & Percusion

David earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in percussion performance at California Institute of the Arts. While there, he studied classical percussion and many non-Western music systems that CalArts is renowned for, including African, Indian, and Indonesian music.

David has been teaching for over 25 years in areas including drum set, classical percussion, marching band, and various non-western instruments. He tailors his teaching to each student, as not everyone will learn the same way. Some students like to start with reading notation, and some would rather learn by ear; A combination of these methods has proven to be successful in his teaching studio.

David has performed and recorded drum set across the US and Europe with various jazz and rock ensembles, including Wadada Leo Smith, Larry Karush, Nels and Alex Cline, the renowned Big Apple Circus, and Curb Records artist FEEL. Percussion credits include a rare performance by the CalArts Percussion Ensemble in 1989 of George Antheil’s music score for Fernand Leger’s film Ballet Mechanique, as well as performances and recordings with Tricky Sankaran and Brad Dutz.