Drums, Voice, Piano, Percussion
Nate Harlan
I love to teach. I taught for the first time at the age of 13, giving a workshop on Arabic percussion to a group of middle schoolers, and from that day I was hooked. That was 20 years ago, and I am grateful to still be teaching private lessons and group workshops. Today I teach drum set, many kinds of percussion, piano, and voice, to students of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels. I believe that every student is unique and requires a unique approach. I do have certain methods, games, techniques, exercises, and books that I like to use, but no matter what we are working on I always allow our lessons and study plan to evolve with the needs and strengths of each individual student.
Growing up in the culturally rich music scene of Philadelphia was incredible for me. As a teenager, I played many kinds of music all over the city, from jazz clubs, to churches, to theatres, basements, studios, and concert halls, and was lucky to learn from many incredible Philly musicians along the way.
Over the 20 years of my musical career so far, I have played and sung across the United States and internationally, performing music from many traditions, including Afro Cuban, rock, jazz, Arabic, Afro-Brazilian, hip-hop, Classical, orchestral, choral, avant garde weirdness, and many more. Two performance highlights of mine are: 1) appearing as a featured percussionist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the opening concert of the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival and 2) making music on the street (aka busking) in over half of the 50 states during 2019.
I have an undergraduate degree in composition and music production from Berklee College of Music and I am currently pursuing a Masters in Music Education at Temple University. I have been fortunate to study percussion and drums with Manley “Piri” López, Mikael Ringquist, Marcus Santos, Doc Gibbs, Pablo Batista, Samuel Ruttenberg, Joe Tayoun, and many others, as well as piano with Kelvyn Koning and Samuel Yulsman, and voice with Holly Phares.
When did you begin playing Percussion, and why?
I started playing Arabic percussion when I was 11, because I fell in love with the sound and the feel of a doumbek (a drum common in Arabic music) I found at my friend’s house.
What other instruments do you play, and what is your experience with them?
I started playing piano when I was seven years old. I took private lessons for four years and then dropped it for a while, having discovered the world of percussion. But I came
back to it in my late teens and for many years was self taught, exploring the instrument in a new way and using it to work out my compositions as I began writing my own music, eventually recording myself and sometimes playing keyboards in the bands I was in at the time. In my twenties I returned to taking private lessons, and now I enjoy playing for myself and in my work with choirs. As a teacher, I love helping my piano students work towards their creative goals on the keyboard.
I started singing when I was little with my dad, who sang and played guitar. When I was nine I started singing in a church choir (also my first paid job) and continued to sing in church choirs off and on throughout my life. I took voice lessons through high school, studying opera and art songs. I have also sung some very un-Classical music in different bands over the years. These days, I enjoy singing in choirs (like Philharmonia) and leading Singing Circles: one-off get-togethers where people with all experience levels come to sing as a group and be creative with their voices.
What are your personal goals as a musician?
I view music as a liberator of people and a strengthener of communities. If I as a musician am allowing music to fill these roles, I am achieving my goals. Through music and sound I seek to cause a deepening of feeling, reflection, and empathy in both myself and everyone I meet. I am dedicated to making music that both pushes the boundaries of expression and that welcomes people in.
Do you have a memory of a time when a musical concept or technique really clicked? Something you’ll remember forever?
I remember really clearly sitting in my room when I was 17, practicing double-strokes (a stick-drumming technique), and suddenly realizing what I had been doing wrong for years and how to improve it. The feeling of that physical and mental breakthrough will stay with me forever.
What is your favorite piece of advice from one of your past (or current) teachers?
“Music is about sharing. Life is about sharing.” That is some strong, simple advice from my teacher Manley “Piri” Lopez. He was right.
What was your most challenging moment learning an instrument?
Learning to play the flute I constantly struggled with the embouchure, making endless weird faces and even weirder sounds.
What is your biggest musical achievement?
Once after a performance, a woman came up to me crying and told me that listening to me and feeling the music in her body had been like therapy, like a blessing. I think that,
as musicians, this is the most we can hope for: to allow both ourselves and others to feel connected and to have our hearts opened.
Favorite thing about teaching?
I love to see students grow into themselves as musicians. Seeing them look back at the goals they had earlier that month or that year and realize how far they’ve been able to go – surprising themselves and proving that they are always capable of more than they believe – being there for those moments of realization is incredible.
What is a piece of advice you would like to share with anyone learning music?
Play what you love! Too many times I have seen people playing music they’re “supposed” to play. Finding and following the music you want to be making will keep you motivated and true to yourself as a musician (and as a person).
Personal music projects:
Recent appearances with Philharmonia, the West Philly Orchestra, and in the folkloric Afro-Cuban scene around Philadelphia. I am not playing regularly in any groups right now – mostly freelance projects.