Erik Schee has been teaching drum set and percussion lessons in the Twin Cities area since 2010 and joined the MacPhail percussion faculty in January 2014. Erik’s teaching style is one that stresses the importance of versatility and professionalism. He strives to prepare his students for the wide array of challenges that a percussionist in today’s musical landscape may face. In addition to teaching at each of MacPhail’s Twin Cities locations (Minneapolis, Chanhassen and Apple Valley), he also teaches Live-Online lessons through MacPhail and is an active educator through the School Partnerships programs, allowing for greater arts education access to rural areas of Minnesota.
As a professional musician, Erik plays drum set with a wide range of Minneapolis-based bands including multiple genres; jazz, folk, pop, funk, R&B and soul. His own jazz group, Mill City Jazz, plays regularly in the Twin Cities, and you can see him playing as far away as Thunder Bay, Ontario with local brass band McNasty Brass Band. He has the privilege of working with Minnesota music legend, Mick Sterling as the percussionist in his Andy Williams and Bing Crosby holiday show, an ‘Andy/Bing Christmas’. He also has the honor of playing drums for the former Super Bowl winning NFL player Ben Utecht in his Andy Williams tribute show, ‘Moon River’.
Further showcasing his diversity as a performer, Erik is the drummer and percussionist in the popular Minnesota kid’s band the Jolly Pops, which caters to very young audiences. In addition, he also frequently performs with Copper Street Brass, an education-focused brass quintet that tours the Midwest extensively, bringing musical opportunities to low arts access communities.
In the folk-rock genre, Erik performed for 5 years with the Twin Cities-based band, The Paper Days. Their debut full-length record, Falling is Easy (2015), saw airplay on local Minneapolis radio stations The Current and Go 96.3. Falling is Easy effectively illustrates Erik’s versatility as a musician. On the record he can be heard playing everything from drum set, vibraphone, cabasa, udu, and congas as well as singing vocal harmonies. In 2011, Erik shared the stage with pop star Willow Smith at the Target Center as a featured drummer in a performance of her hit single, “Whip My Hair.”
In the classical realm, Erik has been involved in collaborations with groups such as the Joffrey Ballet for their performance of The Rite of Spring at the Orpheum Theater as well as several performances with the Minneapolis-based choral group VocalEssence, most recently a concert of PDQ Bach’s music under the direction of Peter Schickele. He also works with many professional theater companies in the area including The History Theatre, The Old Log Theatre, Theatre Elision and Impossible Salt.
Erik received his bachelor’s degree in Music Performance at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and studied with Fernando Meza, Phil Hey and Peter Kogan.
