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.
He has been a presenter and guest artist at the Illinois Music Educators Conference and the international Jazz Education Network conference.
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.
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.