Percussion lessons are open
to students of all majors at UVM. Emphasis is placed on reading,
technique, and musicality. Students will work in one or more of the
following areas: snare drum, mallet percussion, timpani, and multiple
percussion. Some ethnic percussion instruction is available.
The repertoire is chosen from the standard literature in consultation with
the student.
NOTE: The Music Department has other faculty who teach
drumset and congas. Contact information for them is here.
Each student receives 14
weekly lessons per semester. Students may register for 1 credit of
lessons (1/2 hour per week) or 2 credits (1 hour per week).
An informal audition is required. Please contact Prof. Toner for more information.
Lists of video, PDFs, and other resources.
D. Thomas Toner
is a Professor in the Department of Music at the University of Vermont,
where he conducts the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion
Ensemble, teaches percussion, and was Chair of the Department for over ten
years. Previously on the faculties of SUNY Fredonia, SUNY
Plattsburgh, and the Summer Session of the Eastman School of Music, Dr.
Toner was awarded both the Doctor of Musical Arts degree and the
Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of
Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a
Bachelor of Music degree from the University of
Massachusetts/Amherst. As a percussionist, Dr. Toner's eclectic
career has included performances with the Clifford Ball Orchestra (for the
rock band Phish), before Princess Grace and Princess Caroline of Monaco,
at a world music festival in Bali, Indonesia, and with a native troupe in
a performance in a torrential lightning storm in Ghana, West
Africa. A frequent substitute percussionist with the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra while studying at Eastman, he has also appeared
with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Massachusetts Chamber Players, the
Bermuda Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the New Hampshire
Music Festival, and many other ensembles in the northeast. Dr. Toner
joined the Vermont Symphony Orchestra at the age of 18 and became
Principal Percussionist a few years later. He has performed a
wide variety of music with the VSO, including most of the standard
orchestral repertoire, unusual 20th Century pieces (such as the solo snare
drum part in Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto with soloist Richard
Stoltzman), and "Pops" music with the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and
Tish Hinojosa (where he played drum set, congas, and hand
drums). Dr. Toner is an endorser of Grover
Pro Percussion, Sabian Cymbals,
and Vic Firth Percussion.
An active guest conductor, Dr. Toner is one of the few people to have
conducted the Vermont All-State Band, the Vermont All-State Orchestra, and
all six of the District Wind Ensembles in Vermont (most of them multiple
times). In addition to his work in Vermont, he has conducted
and adjudicated in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, has been a judge since
the inception of the ENKOR International Music Competition, and has
conducted the New Hampshire All-State Percussion Ensemble four times. Dr.
Toner has also appeared as guest conductor of the Yale Concert Band, the
SUNY-Fredonia Percussion Ensemble, the Green Mountain Mahler Festival
Orchestra, and was a co-presenter at the Eastern Conference of the College
Band Directors National Association.