William Paterson University Percussion

It’s a busy semester … We just finished our wonderful Fall 2025 Glocktober festival with NJ PAS. We also had a great band concert and our percussionists were featured on the WP Collage! concert, which was the “best of the best.” We’re always in that category!

Upcoming shows are posted on our events page and include a performance of John Luther Adams’s seminal Strange and Sacred Noise. Check it out!

Here’s a nice photo of Justin Sonnett, who just graduated a few months ago. Justin did an amazing job as a marimba soloist last year and is off building his career as a sound engineering artist.

It will be epic! Incredible artists! Glorious performances! Be there! Be part of it!

On January 29 WP Percussion Director Payton MacDonald shared the stage with WP Percussion faculty Colleen Bernstein, John Ferrari, and Mika Godbole. It’s always inspiring to see the faculty performing together!

Monday, November 27, 2023, 7:30 p.m. This is going to be an awesome concert! We have Recap Quartet in residence (check them out HERE.) and they will present a few pieces. And our very own Shanna Echeverry (IG account: @shanna.hits.things) will conduct a piece, and we’ve got lots of other cool stuff, too. Come join us! Free and open to the public!

It’s quiet in the middle of the summer, but the WP Percussion faculty are busy hatching plans for a busy and fascinating year. We’ve got some cool concerts planned, a possible recording, and much more. Stay tuned!

It’s going to be busy! We have lots of festival appearances, a recording to make, and some great concerts right here on campus. And, a new group photo:

It’s been a busy fall. Between four senior recitals, and ensemble concerts for percussion, new music, global group, band, orchestra, and the music, our WP Percussion students have been crazy busy. We also premiered a new piece (40 minutes!) by Kyong Mee Choi, a wonderful Korean-American composer based in Chicago.

Special thanks to Joseph Butz Sr for taking these wonderful photos!

Here is the schedule for Friday, May 13, 2022. The festival is in Shea Auditorium. Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Directions below the schedule.

Directions: GPS is 300 Pompton Road, Wayne, NJ, 07470, take Entry 2, park in the Visitor’s Lot to the right. The festival is in Shea Auditorium, as part of the Shea Center for Performing Arts, across the street, towards the guard station.

Spring 2022 can be summed up in one word: BUSY! WP Percussion has a lot going on. We have some local gigs, an appearance at NJMEA (New Jersey Music Educator’s Conference) in Atlantic City, an appearance at the Verona Day of Percussion, we’re hosting our own WP Day of Percussion, and of course our usual concerts. We might also be doing a recording session at the end of the semester if the stars align.

And we’ve got a bunch of new videos out. Here’s one, Nathan Daughtrey’s “Shock Factor.”