Mark Beecher

Mark Beecher has performed on stage with Grammy® and CMA award-winning Country artist Shania Twain, Multi-Grammy Award-winning artists, The Chieftains, Grammy nominee and multi award-winner, Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge, multi Grammy award-winning drummer Peter Erskine, Grammy nominee Elio Villafranca, as well as renowned Jesus Music Movement artist, Paul Clark and Bakithi Kumalo - renowned bass player for Paul Simon on his Grammy award-winning Graceland album.

Mark had the honor and privilege of performing for Rock & Roll legends and Hall of Fame Inductees, The Rolling Stones - with Synthesis Latin Band - and has also entertained such dignitaries as President Bill Clinton, Queen Elizabeth, President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing of France, King Carl XVl Gustav of Sweden, the Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, and most recently, the surviving daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

He has shared the stage with a number of national and international recording artists, which has included David Lee Roth, The Doobie Brothers, Dave Mason, The Temptations, Bo Diddley, Mike Stern, Leni Stern, Lucinda Williams, Fastball, Modern English, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Patty Griffin, Francis Dunnery, Moxy Fruvous, Arlo Guthrie, Patty Larkin, Trout Fishing in America, James McMurty, The Klezmatics and more. 

Mark both produced and recorded the soundtrack for the renowned video game series MOUNT AND BLADE: NAPOLEONIC WARS, which has sold in excess of 400,000 copies since its release on April 12, 2012 and he's presently recording a new soundtrack for the Flying Squirrel Entertainment for their upcoming Civil War game, BATTLE CRY FREEDOM. Mark Beecher's new Folk album, BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM: FIFE AND DRUM MUSIC OF THE UNION ARMY AND ANTI-SLAVERY, which features Mark on rope-tension snare drum and fife virtuoso, Brittany Primavera of the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps and Pershing's Own U.S. Army Band - is now available on iTunes and Amazon. His New Age albums, ECLIPSE and AFTER THE STORM, are available on iTunes and Amazon. His EDM album NU CREATION released (under his alter ego name, "Marky Bee") is also available on iTunes and Amazon! His most recent release as Marky Bee,  ENDEAVOR,  is available on iTunes & Amazon. All 5 albums are on the Orthodoxy Records label. Mark had the privilege of playing Drums on the album ACTION MOVES PEOPLE UNITED, on the track "Mandela Meets Gandhi," which was on the BILLBOARD TOP 10 for Compilation Albums in October of 2016. The song was co-written by Sharon Katz and Rupam Sarmah, and produced by multi Grammy award-winning Kevin Mackie. 

This album also features Dan Aykroyd (SNL, Blues Brothers), Julian Lennon, Janis Ian, members of the band, YES - Alan White, Patrick Moraz, Geoff Downes, the late John Wetton (King Crimson, Roxy Music), Kathy Sledge (Sister Sledge), Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Annie Haslam (Renaissance), and more. The drum tracks were recorded and engineered by Gregory Hugh Brady from Studio 1311 in Woodlyn, PA. 

On November 11, 2017, Mark Beecher helped to produce a special 100th Anniversary Celebration of the birth of the late Buddy Rich, "The World's Greatest Drummer" - with the approval and supervision of Buddy's only daughter, Cathy Rich. 

Mark's graphic design talents are featured, along with his graphic artist wife, Connie Beecher, and their son, Illustrator, Nicholas Beecher, on two Grammy Nominated albums for 2016 - both from Multi Grammy Award-Winning drummer, composer, author, instructor, Peter Erskine on his Fuzzy Music label - "Dr. Um" (Best Jazz Album - w/Peter as band leader/drummer) & Bob Mintzer's "All L.A. Band" album (Best Large Jazz Ensemble - featuring Peter on drums). Mark is currently the President of the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (N.A.R.D.) - first founded in 1933; is author/producer/performer of his own instructional DVD, The Art of Ancient Rudimental Drumming, which has been endorsed by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and continues to be sold worldwide; Mark is a Medal Winner of Individual Snare Drum Competition with the Connecticut State Fifers & Drummers Association, and was a Snare Drummer for such Championship Drum & Bugle Corps as the Pennsylvania State Champion Brookhaven Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps & the Keystone Regiment (formerly the Tri-Community Cadets - which later became The Crossmen). In addition, Mark was a Snare Drummer & Instructor for the renowned Independence Fife & Drum Corps of Broomall, PA as well as for other fife & drum corps, such as Olde Citie Fife & Drum, Philadelphia Fife & Drum, Echoes of Liberty Fife & Drum Corps, and the Valley Forge Fife & Drum; Mark has also marched as a Snare Drummer for such Rudimental drumming groups as "DRUMS, Broomall, Penna" and "Company of Drummers" - both founded by William H. Reamer; he has written articles for numerous drumming & percussion magazines as The Rudimental Percussionist, and his solo snare drum piece, Scotch & Swiss Cheese, was published in the book, I.A.R.P. Drum Solos; Mark has recorded over 30 albums with a variety of artists and currently is the drummer for musical groups such as Savior Soul, Synthesis Latin Band, Sharon Katz & the Peace Train, Arty & the Hot Katz, The Troublemakers Rudimental Drum Ensemble, Philadelphia Fife & Drum, Ellas y Amigos, Twirlin' Martha, Carla Bean, Chester Children's Chorus, Barbara Prugh, Philly Drum Project, Redeemed & Funky, and more. Mark has studied with 4-time V.F.W. National Drum Champion, the late William H. Reamer (also world-renowned drum & drumstick maker, who was Mark's father figure & mentor), Latin percussion masters as the late Frankie Malabe, “Changuito,” aka José Luis Quintana (drummer/percussionist for the Cuban band Los Van Van), Pablo Batista (percussionist for Grover Washington Jr, Alicia Keys), African drumming master, Oscar Sulley, Eastern Indian drumming master, T.N. Bala, as well as former Frank Zappa drummers, Chad Wackerman (Allan Holdsworth, Barbara Streisand) & Chester Thompson (Genesis, Phil Collins). Mark Beecher is presently the Professor of Percussion & Director of the Percussion Ensemble @ Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, where he is also the Director of the Drexel University Percussion Ensemble; he has instructed the drumlines of several award-winning high school bands, such as the Marple Newtown High School Symphonic Band (12 year tenure), Haverford High School and Cardinal O’Hara High School bands, in addition to the Independence Fife & Drum Corps, the Valley Forge Military Academy Field Music, and is a Drum Instructor  for the Washington Memorial Pipe Band, based at the Valley Forge Military Academy & College in Wayne, PA. Mark also had the honor & privilege of teaching workshops at the prestigious Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in La Paz, Bolivia, while on tour with the Latin Jazz band, Ellas y Amigos. Mark currently has over 200,000 views on his personal YouTube videos.

Mark Beecher is a voting member of the Recording Academy, a member of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), the Company of Fifers & Drummers and is an endorser for Ludwig Drums, D'Addario, Evans Drumheads, Vic Firth Drumsticks, Puresound Percussion, and all products by Drummers Service. 

Here's what people are saying about Mark: 

"We loved your video. It was both scholarly and expertly performed. I especially liked your composition 'Drummers Service.'"

~ Mickey Bookspan, late Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra) 

"You Sound Great"

~ Dave Weckl, Drummer for Mike Stern, Chick Corea Elektric and Akoustic Bands, Michel Camilo Group, Robert Plant, Paul Simon, etc) 

"Man, you're smokin' dude! It's great that you can play different styles, you know, heavy metal, contemp jazz, swing, reggae etc... That comes in handy."

~ Tony Morales, former drummer for the Rippingtons, David Benoit and Ricki Lee Jones) 

"You've obviously reached quite a level of mastery with you playing. You obviously are deep into your art, it shows."

~ Kit Walker, keyboardist/composer, Windham Hill recording artist; performer with Steve Smith's Vital Information, Journey guitarist Neal Schon and Andy Narell)