After 25 years as Professor of Percussion at the UNC School of the Arts, John Beck is now the UNCSA Coordinator for Arts & Health Partnerships. He is the principal percussionist of the Winston-Salem Symphony and also performs with the Greensboro Symphony and Brass Band of Battle Creek.
As president of the Percussive Arts Society, he began facilitating drum circles in healthcare settings in Indianapolis and received the League of American Orchestras Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service for his community drumming in Winston-Salem that included a research study using group drumming with stem cell transplant recipients.
Beck earned degrees at Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music and is a former national tour soloist with the US Marine Band. He also performed regularly with the National and Baltimore Symphonies and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra before moving to North Carolina.