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The career of Todd Hammes
continues to unfold, through frequent performances,
powerful interactive workshops, profound educational
contributions, prolific compositional output,
and untiring efforts to bring the gift of music
to an ever-widening and enormously receptive
audience.
This gifted artist is one of
a rare breed of percussionists, balancing sensitivity
and control with creativity and raw energy – an
uncommon artist whose life and training have
prepared him for the exciting career he enjoys
today.
Through the breadth of his musical
endeavors, Todd creates meaningful connections
between himself, his students, colleagues and audiences
everywhere.

Born in 1969 and raised in Onalaska,
Wisconsin, Todd has spent his life pursuing his
own plan. An avid performer since age five, he
never missed an opportunity to study or perform.
It’s an inclination that has served him well –
while a student at the University of Wisconsin
at Eau Claire, and at the University of Arizona,
where he studied with renowned pedagogue Gary Cook.
Since 1989 he has performed with Tucson Symphony
Orchestra, as well as with countless others of
Tucson’s finest musicians. In addition to
his virtuosity, Todd’s special gift is creating
musical connection with others so that, in live
performance, the line between stage and audience
becomes at times nearly imperceptible.
It was at the U of A that Todd
decided to devote himself to hand drumming. Upon
graduating with a B. M. in 1992, he turned down
several offers from graduate schools, instead charting
his own course of independent study.
In 1993, Bob Becker of the acclaimed
percussion ensemble Nexus introduced Todd to the
Indian master tabla artist Pandit Sharda Sahai,
with whom he has studied faithfully ever since.
While tabla is his favorite instrument, the application
of Indian drumming concepts to Western music is
what most intrigues him.
Along his way Todd has sought
out many other master drummers for study, most
notably Glen Velez for frame drumming, as well
as notable Latin, African and Middle Eastern musicians.
Even with the range of his world music influences,
Todd remains a Western musician who relates extraordinarily
well to American audiences and students young and
old. He has performed at over 2000 events, on many
recordings, and has extensively studied classical,
chamber and western contemporary music.


Todd and Several Core Dancers Artistic Director
Sue Shroder
Todd has received many commissions
for the composition of original music. These include
works for dance, theater, and the concert hall.
An evening-long work, Remembering, was commissioned
by Several Dancers Core of Atlanta and Houston.
Speedway Boulevard: Tucson was commissioned by
Linda Siegel, percussionist with the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra.
In 2005, Todd was awarded the
prestigious McKnight Fellowship from the American
Composer’s Forum. As a McKnight Fellow, he
will be making music with the clients and staff
of the South Eastern Minnesota Center for Independent
Living.
Todd’s compositions are regularly performed
by his three chamber music ensembles: the Tool
and Drum Ensemble, the Sonoran Consort and The
Kokopelli Sound. He considers himself a performer
first and composer second, so he regularly creates
music for himself to perform as percussionist with
these groups. Improvisation is an integral part
of his music and he often writes music that is
a vehicle for virtuosic improvisational displays.

As an educator, Todd has led
teacher training programs, and acted as artist-in-residence
in over 50 schools and hundreds of classrooms in
Arizona and elsewhere. He demonstrates a remarkable
gift for working with non-musicians: gifted and
at risk youth and adults, the deaf and blind, physically
and /or cognitively impaired, and preschoolers.
His artist-in-residence work has included The Arizona
Schools for the Deaf and Blind, Wolftrap Institute,
Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Children’s
Museum, Young Audiences of Southern Arizona, Young
Audiences of Santa Cruz County, Meet the Composer,
Arizona Commission on the Arts, Tucson/Pima Arts
Council, Tucson Unified School District, Mesa Public
Schools, Catalina Foothills School District and
University of Arizona.
Todd regularly leads workshops, clinics and master
classes in hand drumming, focusing on community
and the universal similarities between people.
He also teaches privately and leads a regularly
scheduled hand drumming class entitled Hand Drum
Exploratorium.
At the internationally renowned Canyon Ranch Spa
in Tucson, Todd works with the Dream Street Program
for terminally ill youth, leading drumming groups
to enliven and create a sense of community within
the program.

In 1997, Todd co-founded the
Tucson Institute of Percussion (TIP) along with
fellow Tucson percussionists Homero Ceron and
Brian Harris. TIP’s mission is to raise
the level of awareness and performance of the
percussive arts in Southern Arizona, presenting
the “World of Percussion Summer Camp,”
an annual summer camp for young percussionists
ages 8-18.
Todd is a contributing author
to the 3rd Editions of Gary Cook's renowned text
book, "Teaching Percussion." He also
performed a variety of hand drumming demonstrations
for the book's corresponding DVD. Released December
2005. ISBN: 0028701917 Wadsworth Publishing. www.thomsonedu.com
Todd has been listed on the
Arizona and Idaho Commission on the Arts Artist
Rosters with his program “Making Music”,
and was also a two-term president for the Arizona
chapter of the Percussive Arts Society.
Todd is a World Music Artist
for REMO percussion and uses Pro-Mark sticks and
mallets. |