Welcome to the world of rhythmic artistry with John Larson Drums. A distinguished percussionist and educator, John Larson is dedicated to sharing the art of percussion through teaching, jazz clinics, and captivating performances. With a rich history of contributing to the music education profession through teaching, clinics and adjudication, John Larson continues to push the boundaries of musical expression.
John Larson is a freelance music educator in central Illinois in the areas of marching percussion, jazz and concert percussion. After a successful career in public school music education spanning 40 years, culminating as the director of the Normal Community H.S. Jazz program from 2011-2021he continues his teaching through his own percussion teaching studio in Normal, IL.
John has been an ILMEA District Jazz guest conductor in Districts 2, 3 & 4 and is a clinician and adjudicator at numerous jazz and marching festivals throughout Illinois. He was one of the inaugural commissioned composers for the ILMEA Jazz Etudes.
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He has been a presenter and guest artist at the Illinois Music Educators Conference and the international Jazz Education Network conference.​
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Mr. Larson recently launched Larson Music Publishing and has produced three instructional books on jazz drumming - “Ba Doom Ching”, “The Feel Of Swing” and
“Fill-In The Gap”, a rock & funk instructional book "Find Your Groove" as well as numerous solo and ensemble literature for all areas of percussion.
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Mr. Larson is a graduate of Western Illinois University. He is the Artistic Director for Jazz Futures Illinois, a jazz workshop in Central Illinois.
Get In Touch
Contact us to set up a clinic, guest artist event, adjudication of music festivals or private lessons.