Dr. Gordon Nunn

Since the age of 8, Dr. Gordon Nunn, has spent his life learning, performing, and teaching percussion traditions from all over the world.  Beginning with the drum set and later studying concert percussion in college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Western Carolina University as well as a master’s degree in percussion performance from East Carolina University.  He completed the coursework for a doctorate in percussion at West Virginia University and he is writing his dissertation.

 

As a drum set artist, he has more than twenty years of professional experience.  Gordon has played hundred of performances in a variety of musical styles, performing in backing bands for artists such as Lionel Hampton, George Benson, Ramsey Lewis, Roy Ayers, and Ronnie Laws.

Gordon is an expert in the percussion traditions of other cultures.  He has traveled to West Africa and Cuba to study African and Afro-Cuban drumming.  He also enrolled in the world music program at West Virginia University, which is renowned for its African and steel drum ensembles.

 

In 2005, he was appointed interim director of West Virginia University’s World Music Center.  In this role, he led the African Drum and Dance Ensemble, Steel Drum Ensemble, and Taiko Ensemble at schools across the country.  Gordon has also performed with world music ensembles at professional conferences and international music and dance festivals in Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan as a member of the multi-ethnic music and dance ensemble Azaguno.

Gordon relocated to the Pittsburgh area in 2008.  Since then, he has worked as a percussion performer, teacher, and dance accompanist at Point Park University and for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.  Gordon was the percussion director for the Hampton High School Marching band from 2014 to 2019.  He currently performs with Dr. Zoot, a swing and dance music band that performs locally and throughout the region.  Gordon also teaches private lessons with students ranging from ten to sixty-five.