About
Daniel Piccolo
Percussionist Dan Piccolo regularly performs and teaches in a wide range of musical settings. He is currently active primarily as a chamber musician, soloist, and jazz drummer, and is Associate Professor of Percussion in Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts.
Dan holds both a DMA and BM in Percussion Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and during his master’s studies in U of M’s Jazz Department he focused on improvisation. He has studied concert percussion with Michael Udow, Salvatore Rabbio, Joseph Gramley and Jonathan Ovalle, among others, and his drum set and improvisation teachers have included Michael Gould, Steve Curry, and Ed Sarath. Dan is also skilled in several global music traditions, having studied frame drumming with Jamey Haddad and tabla with Pandit Kuber Nath Mishra in multiple visits to Varanasi, India. A grant from the University of Michigan’s International Institute funded the first of these visits, and he returned to Varanasi in the winter of 2015 thanks to an award from the Presser Foundation. An additional award from U of M’s International Institute made it possible for Dan to begin formal studies of West African music in Ghana in the summer of 2014.
Dan edited a newly-discovered collection of swing variations on “The Downfall of Paris” that were written by Charley Wilcoxon. The volume was published by Ludwig Masters in 2024. Dan’s debut solo recording, Monobot, was released on the Equilibrium Recordings label in December 2020. In October 2019 Dan gave the world premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s concerto for drum set and wind ensemble, Impulse Control, which was written for Dan and for which he led the commissioning consortium. Dan has also premiered works by composers including Aaron Kernis, Christopher Dietz, Emma O’Halloran, and Adam Silverman, as well as his own compositions, and he continues to work actively with composers to commission new solo and ensemble works for percussion.
Dan has appeared as a soloist with groups including the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, and as a guest artist at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. As a chamber musician he has enjoyed collaborations with notable artists including Third Coast Percussion, composer/pianist Harold Budd, percussionists Ji Hye Jung and Joseph Gramley, the arx duo, pianist Sonya Belaya, and the Detroit Chamber Winds. Dan also remains active as a jazz drummer, working with musicians such as John Scofield, Regina Carter, Mike Stern, and Stanley Cowell. For six years Dan was the drummer with Nomo, with whom he toured internationally and recorded three albums for Ubiquity Records. Dan has also toured and recorded as a member of Cloud Nine Music, The Ragbirds, His Name is Alive, and others. Dan continues to perform regularly with symphony orchestras, rock bands, Indian classical music ensembles, jazz groups, and in various chamber music configurations. This busy performance schedule has earned him invitations to perform at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention and the annual conference of the International Society for Improvised Music.
In addition to his busy professional schedule, Dan is a dynamic educator, teaching a broad range of percussion instruments in private and classroom settings. He has presented workshops and masterclasses at universities throughout the United States, and has twice been selected as a clinician at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Dan spent six years as the coordinator of the percussion program at Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School, during which time the school was twice named a Grammy Signature School. In 2016 Dan joined the faculty of the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Prior to this appointment Dan was Assistant Director of Percussion at the University of Tennessee at Martin, and he previously served as Head of the Percussion Area at New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine.
An active member of the Percussive Arts Society, Dan served as a member of the World Percussion Committee from 2014 to 2019, and he currently serves as Associate Editor for Professional Development for the Society’s journal, Percussive Notes. In 2021 he began his first term as President of PAS’s Ohio Chapter.
Dan proudly endorses Cooperman Frame Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, Pearl/Adams percussion instruments, and Remo drumheads. For more information please visit www.danpiccolo.com.
Nick Fox
Dr. Nick Fox is an active percussionist and teacher, serving as adjunct professor of percussion at Bowling Green State University.
Fox received a Master’s degree in percussion performance from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He has studied with Dr. Daniel Piccolo, Dr. Gregory Beyer, Tobie Wilkinson, Dr. Patti Cudd, and Michael Mixtacki.
In addition to teaching and solo performance commitments, Fox is a founding member of the Altered Sound Duo (saxophone and percussion) as well as the percussion quartet Landlocked Percussion. Both of these groups focus on prominent contemporary chamber works in the repertoire and Altered Sound Duo actively commissions new works. In 2014, Trevor Saint and Fox formed the percussion duo Undue. This project has lead to the creation of three new works and a Midwest tour including performances/master-classes at seven universities. The following year, Fox organized his solo tour debut including six universities and several arts clubs.
Fox has had the opportunity to perform with many influential artists, such as Jan Williams, Greg Beyer, Stuart Gerber, Tim Munroe, Shara Nova, Dal Niente, Erik Griswold, and members of the JACK Quartet. Fox has been awarded grant funding to assist with the commissioning of new works, transportation to music conferences, and summer music festivals such as New Music On the Point in Vermont. As a committed new music activist, Fox has expanded the percussion repertoire through commissions/collaborations with composers Matthew Burtner, James Romig, Jeff Herriott, and Christopher Burns, just to name a few.
Brad Billmaier
Brad Billmaier is a Toledo-based performer, composer, and educator, and an in-demand drummer throughout the region.
Brad holds degrees in jazz studies and percussion performance from The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University. As both a bandleader and sideman, Brad’s career has taken him throughout the country (NYC, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Columbus, Buffalo, Cleveland, Madison, etc.) and to some of the midwest’s foremost locales (Cliff Bell’s, The Blue Llama Jazz Club, Merriman’s Playhouse, SPACE, Elkhart Jazz Festival, Ginger Rabbit, etc.). Brad has collaborated and shared the stage with the region’s foremost performers including: Ellen Rowe; Edward Gooch; David Bixler; Bryan Olsheski; Ramona Collins; Cliff Monear; Mark Tonelli; Gene Parker; Ray Parker; Zakk Jones, etc. He has also worked with international luminaries such as 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition Winner Jon Irabagon, Estonian guitarist Jack Sooaar, and Israeli guitarist/oudist/Avishai Cohen bandmate Ahmos Hoffman.
DMA Students
Masters Students
Undergraduate Students
Robert Breithaupt (BM, MM) - Retired Professor of Percussion, Capital University
Olman Piedra (DMA '13) - Associate Professor of Percussion, University of Toledo
Zeca Lacerda (DMA '15) - Professor of Percussion, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
Eric Sooy (BM ’90, MM ‘93) - Founder and President, Black Swamp Percussion
James Armstrong (MM '94) - Instructor of Percussion, Millersville University & Elizabethtown College
Dane Newlove (BM '83) - Asst. Principal Percussionist, Lima Symphony Orchestra, Principal Percussion, Old Crown Brass Band [Ft. Wayne, In.] Director of Materials and Awards, Ohio Music Education Association; and percussion specialist for the Coldwater and St. Marys Schools in West Central Ohio.
Matt Timman (MM '14) - Percussion Faculty, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp; Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra; Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra
Michael Varner (MUED) - Retired Director of Percussion, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Jerry Emmons (MM '19)- Adjunct Lecturer of Music, University of Tennessee at Martin; Adjunct Instructor of Percussion, Lane College, Jackson, TN
Felix Reyes (MM ’17) - Digital Archivist/Webmaster for So Percussion; Front Ensemble Instructor, Floral Park Memorial High School; Founding member of Pathos Trio
Michelle Watson (BM ’90) - Assistant Marching Band Director and Percussion Advisor at Chardon Local Schools
Ryan Williams (BM '15) - Assistant Band Director, Perrysburg High School
Joe Woodie (BM) - Percussion Specialist, William Mason High School
Daniel Klohn (BM '10) - Director of Bands, Sandusky City Schools
Paul Sansing (BM) - Assistant Band & Orchestra Director, Waite High School
Scott Charvet (MM ’17) - Percussion Instructor, Crockett High School, Austin, TX
Katelen Brown (MM '16) - Instructor for Shockwave Indoor Percussion; pursuing MA in Popular Culture
Mark Cook (DMA '15) - Director of BGSU Falcon Drumline
Nick Dian (BM '14) - Former Stage Manager, Toledo Symphony Orchestra
Sam Fronk (BM '16) - MM student, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
Isabelle Huang (DMA '12)
Billy Sheak (BM Jazz Studies '16) - Drummer/Percussionist, Cedar Point
Tucker Marshall (BM Jazz Studies ‘17) - Free-lance jazz musician, Philadelphia
Emanuel Bowman (MM ’19) - Music Teacher, Winterfield Venture Academy, Toledo, OH
Febe Harmon (MUED '18) - Director of Bands, Brookville Local Schools, Brookville, OH
Eric Cooper (MUED ’18) - Director of Bands, Millcreek-West Unity School District
RJ Siebert (MUED '18) - Elementary Music Teacher, Blissfield Community Schools; Instructor of Music-Interlochen Arts Camp
Jerin Fuller (MUSP '19) - Assistant Percussion Instructor, Dulles High School, Sugar Land, TX
Erin Redick (MUED '20) - Assistant Band Director, Defiance High School
Frances Zengel (MUSP ’21) - Percussion Graduate Assistant, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Zachary Green (MUED ’18) - K-8 Music Teacher, Pathway School of Discovery, Dayton, OH
Gage Hoehne (MUED ’20) – Band & Choir Teacher, Continental Schools, Continental, OH
Ben Hellert (MM ’22) - Freelance Percussionist; Band/General Music Teacher at West Side Montessori, Toledo, OH
Jacob Hargrove (MM ’22) - Freelance Percussionist; Percussion Instructor at Houston High School, Memphis, TN; Private Lesson Instructor at Rhythm & Grooves Academy, Memphis, TN
Cole Jackson (MM ’22) - Marching Band Percussion Tech, Heritage High School, Littleton, CO
Cadence Miller (BM ’24) - Graduate Assistantship at Michigan State University College of Music
Updated: 01/17/2025 11:56AM