Dan Barman is a professionally-trained, experienced drummer, excelling in drum set performance and innovative instruction techniques. Barman performs in the hottest live venues in the US – both large and small. He is experienced in front of stadium crowds of over 50,000 people and has been featured in Modern Drummer Magazine as a world champion soloist. Barman continues to study in his professional life with the top drum and percussion instructors in the world, learning and developing the most ground breaking performance and instruction techniques available today.
Raised in Cupertino, CA about 50 miles south of San Fransisco, in what could be described as a very musical household, Barman found his love and connection with drums at age 15. He instantly began regular private lessons with the very popular San Jose based drum instructor Dick Carlo and continued with him weekly for about 3 years. During that same time he was highly involved in various musical endeavors both in and out of high school, including time spent in the Cupertino High School drumline, jazz-fusion, and symphonic bands.
At age 18, Dan moved to Israel for a year to study, travel, and to do intensive volunteer work, while also taking time to soak in the flavors of the music and culture of the middle east, experiencing life in a way that most other 18 year olds have only imagined.
Upon returning to the US, he entered the University of Oregon as a percussion performance major and was under the instruction of famed percussionists Dr. Charles Dowd and Dr. Shawn Wagoner. While there Dan joined the U of O drumline where he met and began to study with percussion instructor Micah Brusse, who would become a mentor and close personal friend, and would send him on a path of learning that would lead to successful auditions for division 1 Drum Corps International groups The Blue Knights from Denver, CO and the world famous Blue Devils from Concord, CA.
With these two groups, Barman had the good fortune to be a member of two of the best bass-drum lines that have ever existed, winning a world championship gold medal for solo performance with the Blue Knights in 2001 (as seen in Modern Drummer Magazine Feb ’02), and placing 2nd in the world for solo and on-field performances with the Blue Devils in 2002, as well as performing in front of stadium crowds of over 50,000 with both groups.
After graduating from the U of O, he traveled to New York City to audition for the prestigious Drummer’s Collective School. He was placed in the Advanced Performance Program, their highest level program for drum set studies, and in the summer of 2005 graduated with a certificate in Advanced Performance for Drum Set.
Upon graduating from The Collective, Barman decided to make New York City his musical playground and settled in the area. Since then he’ss freelanced as a drummer and private instructor and has had the great fortune to experience the various pockets of the New York music scene, while playing with some of this city’s most talented up and coming musical artists.
Currently Dan is living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If you’d like to contact him with questions or with playing or teaching opportunities, you can message him here at myspace, or send email to [email protected].
