Will Kemperman is an active percussionist in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. He regularly performs on drum set, congas, marimba, timpani, orchestral percussion, and dumbek. He has performed with the Rochester (MN) Symphony Orchestra, Vocal Essence, Singers in Accord, History Theatre, Jungle Theater, Theatre L'Homme Dieu, Zach Harris, Melody Mendis, and Nelly's Echo. He can be heard on albums by Sitara and Kalyani, Melody Mendis, and Nora Paoli. Will has had the pleasure of performing with international Kirtan artists Russill Paul, Brenda McMorrow, and Michael Cohen. In June of 2014, Will performed at the Heartland Marimba Festival and Workshop at Iowa State University, and in the spring of 2013 played marimba in a joint concert with organist Kirsten Falc Uhlenberg at the Elizabeth Chapel Organ recital series in St. Paul. His areas of expertise include jazz, rock, marimba, orchestral percussion, Latin percussion, and musical theater.
Will holds a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and earned his undergraduate degree at Macalester College, in St. Paul, Minnesota
His current area of musical research is using the marimba as accompaniment for the performer's own singing voice.
As a teacher, Will works with advanced students, perfecting the art of expressing music through the various percussion instruments, and with intermediate and beginning students, working to play musically at all stages of development. He encourages students to develop high levels of technique so their ideas can fully take shape in all musical situations. Will's students learn both percussion techniques and how to think musically, honing such skills as time, stylistic nuances, dynamics, music theory, body/mind awareness, and creativity.
"When you study music, you study your personal interaction with the universe. The study of music includes sounds, physical movements, many different bodies of knowledge, and various traditions; and it goes beyond that, to how we hear, how we think, how we enjoy, and how we learn. Playing music is a deep celebration of life."
- Will Kemperman
