I regularly hear Baltimore School for Drumming students at solo & ensemble festivals and college auditions at Towson University, and have taught several at the college level. I am consistently impressed by the technical training they demonstrate and by their sense of musicality. 

 Whether a student is playing percussion and drums simply because it’s fun, or because they want to pursue a career in music, I think Baltimore School for Drumming is a great place to develop their craft in a supportive community of percussionists and drummers. 

Professor of Percussion, Towson University

I have been privileged to teach many outstanding percussionists at Dulaney High School.  Almost all of these percussionists have been students at the Baltimore School for Drumming.  Not only have these students consistently exhibited a very high level of musical and technical knowledge, but have also been outstanding leaders, either serving as Principal Percussion of of the Dulaney Wind Ensemble and/or Section Leader of the Dulaney High School Lion’s Roar Marching Band.  I give my highest recommendation for percussionists to study at the Baltimore School for Drumming.

Music Director, Dulaney High School

Instrumental Music Teacher, Timonium Elementary School, Baltimore County Public Schools

Baltimore School for Drumming is a very educational and fun learning environment. I first began taking lessons at the drumming school when I was in middle school and continued those lessons once a week throughout my high school graduation. This school helped motivate and sculpt me into the percussionist I am today. Not only did I graduate from the school to go and study percussion/music to the highest degree (doctoral level), I also became a high school band director in the area at Calvert Hall College High School. At that high school, this drumming school was a big part of the music departments success. Many of my students attended the drumming school and showed great improvement. All of the instructors are very talented and educated percussionists and I wouldn’t have kept coming back if it wasn’t a great place. I highly recommend signing up for lessons no matter your age or level of experience.

The Baltimore School for Drumming offers the highest level of comprehensive percussion education. Students are guided to become well rounded musicians who hold value in learning to read and think critically about their playing. Whenever my students begin their journey in private instruction, BSFD is always the first place I suggest they study- the teachers there are simply unmatched and I wouldn’t ever send my kids anywhere else!

Music Department Chair, Loch Raven High School / Music Director, Howard High School

I’ve had the pleasure to not only work for but, as a middle school band director and professional percussionist, send my school students and friends to Mark Jones at the Baltimore School for Drumming for the last 20 years. His equipment is topflight, he runs a well-organized business that’s inviting and makes students and parents comfortable, his teachers are well vetted and he’s one of the nicest, most professional gentlemen you’ll ever meet. As far as the quality of the students his school produces, under his and his employee’s tutelage, my students have become more confident, experienced and motivated musicians. It’s a group effort as the School for Drumming communicates and works with me to focus on the particular needs of each student; as an educator, I couldn’t ask for a better relationship. The Baltimore School for Drumming is the first and only place I use when recommending anybody interested in learning percussion. I feel very fortunate they are so close to my school.

Music Director, Loch Raven Academy

As a veteran BCPS Instrumental Music Teacher with over 20 years’ experience, I have no hesitation recommending Baltimore School For Drumming as the area’s best place for beginners and advanced players. I have sent many of my students to various instructors there. My students are motivated, supported and challenged. I have seen growth that only can come with one-on-one private instruction from qualified specialists.

Director, Mark Jones, is an alumni of BCPS schools and understands the communities and is well-versed in preparing students for County and State ensemble auditions. I personally study with him and know first-hand how accomplished he is as a performer and educator, and how much he cares about the entire student in our discussions of pedagogy philosophies and approaches.  Five stars!

Music Director, Pine Grove Middle / Ridgely Middle School

As a music educator and as a parent of a middle school percussionist, I could not be more impressed with the Baltimore School for drumming! I am excited to see so many students actively engaged in several musical styles in the studio. And my own daughter loves her teacher and is inspired to practice several days a week.  Its a pleasure to visit the BSD on our lesson day and hear all the great teaching and music making happening!

Department Chair, Music, Hereford High School, Baltimore County Public Schools

The Baltimore School of Drumming is the premiere Percussion Arts Instruction academy in the entire Baltimore region and beyond.  Under the leadership of Mark Jones, BSD routinely produces high caliber student who routinely acquire top placement in All-County Bands and Orchestras, All-State Bands and Orchestras, and (as at my own institution), top placement in Colleges and Universities.

Mark and I have been close friends and musical colleagues since our halcyon student days at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. He is a superb Drummer; but he is also a superb Percussionist, Timpanist, and Marimba/Xylophone player.

I have been privileged to perform with him in Orchestras, Wind Ensembles, Jazz groups, a Tower of Power cover group, a Brecker Brothers cover group…even our own project, a Progressive Rock band!  His precision and fiery passion as a player is only outmatched by his taste and sensitivity as an aesthete and musician.

This passion carries over into the accrued pedagogy promulgated and disseminated at BSD under his direction and tutelage.

One can go anywhere and find a drum teacher who comes from the school of “Me Drummer, Me go Bang-Bang!” However, if you want to truly understand and learn percussive arts for yourself or your child from a Master, I urge you to seek out the Baltimore School of Drumming.

ASCAP Director for Music Theory and Composition, Shepherd University