This is a project that was completed as part of an independent study at the Eastman School of Music by Filipino-American Percussionist William Newton. This project was undertaken with the goal of continuing the diversification of percussion repertoire.

All music students know that life gets super hectic during the school year. You are going to be overloaded with a ton of assignments, classes, rehearsals, lessons, and more!

I remember waking up and having a mixed sense of nervousness and excitement. It was the morning of my first audition day.

Congrats! You were successful in submitting an amazing application with killer prescreening videos and were invited to come and play a live audition. One step closer to getting into your dream schools.

Alright, so now that you have an effective recording schedule, you have some practicing under your belt, and you got some lessons on the piece it is now time to record!

I remember talking to some of my colleagues at the University of South Carolina about Graduate School Auditions.

Congrats, you decided which music schools to audition for! This is an awesome first step to getting into your dream school. The next step is to start picking out your audition repertoire!

There are thousands of amazing music schools around the world. How are prospective undergraduate and graduate students supposed to filter out this seemingly endless list of schools to find the ones that best fit their needs?

For any serious snare drummer, practicing and mastering snare drum rudiments are a must.

Memorizing information can often be a tedious and annoying task. For me, the epitome of this was trying to memorize translations for my freshman year Spanish course. When I tell you that I was awful at Spanish, I am not exaggerating.

Good time and rhythm can be elusive. However, I think everyone can agree that working with a metronome is paramount to developing these skills.

Ah, yes. The snare drum, my first musical love. It was the first instrument to really grab my attention and it totally pushed me over the edge after watching the local high school drumline play.

If you personally know me, then you probably know that I consume a ton of podcasts.

Now, follow me for a second. You walk into your school ready to take on that new assignment your teacher gave.

Every day millions of people across the globe decide to improve their craft. This could be a musical instrument, swimming, throwing a football, dancing, martial arts, and more.

I think one of the most transformative times in my music education was the summer of my junior year…