Meet Daniel Sadownick: Learn Percussion from an NYU Educator and Taylor Swift Touring Musician

From NYU to the World Stage

A Bronx native, Daniel studied music education and composition at New York University before returning to NYU as an adjunct percussion instructor. He taught at the university level for approximately 13 years, giving NYU students structured training in technique, repertoire, ensemble skills, and professional preparation. That long NYU teaching tenure is one of the strongest parts of his profile as an online percussion teacher: he knows how to build musicianship for beginners and advanced players alike.

His NYU classroom experience spans developing musicians, university percussion students, and working professionals. That range allows him to meet Craft Music students where they are while still giving them access to the musical insight of a seasoned performer and veteran educator.

Daniel currently also works as an artist-in-residence with New York City public-school students, extending the same educational focus he brought to New York University into younger learners. Families looking for an NYU-experienced percussion teacher for kids, teens, or adult beginners will find that background especially useful.

Touring and Recording with Taylor Swift and Leading Artists

Daniel has also spent decades touring and recording at the highest level. One of the most searchable and notable chapters of his career is his work as a percussionist with Taylor Swift, including the Speak Now World Tour. He is credited as a percussionist on Speak Now World Tour Live, a landmark stadium-scale production that demanded consistency, stamina, and precise musical communication night after night.

Studying with a Taylor Swift touring musician means students get more than a famous credit on a resume. Arena and stadium touring requires preparation systems, listening skills, adaptability, and the ability to lock into a band under pressure. Daniel brings those Taylor Swift tour lessons into online drum and percussion instruction in a practical way: how to practice efficiently, how to stay reliable in ensemble settings, and how to sound musical when the room (or livestream) is watching.

Beyond Taylor Swift, his professional credits also cross jazz, pop, rock, R&B, Latin music, and contemporary recording with artists including Michael Brecker, Bette Midler, Josh Groban, Steely Dan, Norah Jones, Al Green, Jewel, and Maxwell. Rather than approaching rhythm as a narrow specialty, Daniel brings together NYU pedagogical experience and major-tour performance experience that few private teachers can offer in one lesson.

What Can You Study with Daniel?

Lessons can be shaped around a student’s experience and interests. A beginner might concentrate on pulse, coordination, tone, and foundational patterns. A more experienced student might explore stylistic vocabulary, improvisation, advanced rhythmic concepts, studio preparation, or how to function confidently inside an ensemble.

Daniel’s experience as both an educator and a working musician helps him connect exercises to real musical situations. Students do not simply learn a pattern. They learn how to listen, where that pattern belongs, and how it changes the music around it. If you are new to lessons, our beginner music lessons guide covers what the first weeks typically look like.

More Than a Celebrity Connection

Daniel’s work with Taylor Swift is exciting, and it is searchable for good reason. Parents and adult students often look specifically for a Taylor Swift percussion teacher or a touring musician who can translate stadium-level craft into clear private lessons. The real value is what that Taylor Swift touring experience represents when paired with his NYU teaching career.

Performing at the Taylor Swift Speak Now World Tour level requires consistency, preparation, adaptability, musical sensitivity, and the ability to collaborate under pressure. These are the same qualities students need whether they are preparing for their first school performance, joining a band, auditioning for a college program (including NYU or other university music paths), or developing a professional career.

Daniel can help students understand not only how to play a rhythm, but how professional musicians prepare, communicate, listen, and contribute to a larger musical experience. That combination of NYU educator experience and Taylor Swift tour experience is rare in private online percussion lessons.

A Teacher for Young Musicians and Adults

Daniel’s NYU teaching background and Taylor Swift touring career make him a compelling match for several kinds of students. His ongoing work in New York City schools is especially valuable for younger learners. Daniel understands how to make rhythm approachable while still building strong musical habits, the same skills he refined across years of NYU percussion instruction. For adults and advanced students, his Taylor Swift tour and studio experience offers a direct connection between lesson material and the realities of rehearsing, recording, touring, and collaborating.

Professional Online Percussion Lessons

Daniel teaches online from a professionally equipped home studio in Rockville Centre, New York. His setup includes Pro Tools, a Focusrite eight-channel interface, professional microphones, strong acoustics, and high-speed internet. This allows him to demonstrate instruments clearly and give detailed feedback on timing, tone, technique, and musical interpretation.

Online instruction also makes Daniel’s expertise available well beyond New York. Students can study with him from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, or anywhere else with a reliable internet connection. Craft Music’s online lessons include a dedicated lesson space, so students can see, hear, and work with their teacher live, then return to notes and practice between sessions.

Daniel’s Current Availability

Daniel is part of Craft Music’s online teaching roster. Because his professional and educational commitments may change, lesson times are arranged according to his current openings and each student’s schedule.

Families and adult students interested in working with Daniel can get started with Craft Music or use the concierge on the homepage to tell us what you need. Share:

We will confirm Daniel’s current openings and help determine whether he is the right match. You can also browse other teachers on our teachers page.

Why Study Percussion?

Percussion develops far more than the ability to play drums. It strengthens timing, coordination, listening, concentration, confidence, and the ability to collaborate.

It can also open the door to an extraordinary range of music. A percussion student might encounter jazz, pop, orchestral music, Afro-Cuban traditions, Brazilian rhythms, funk, rock, R&B, and contemporary studio production, sometimes within the same course of study. With Daniel, students can explore those traditions with a teacher who has lived them professionally.

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