Bio
Nick Costa is a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) educator based out of Philadelphia, the Commercial Music content representative for the PA Music Educators Association (PMEA), the Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, and a member of the Percussive Arts Society’s Drum Set Committee. He is also an independent drummer, clinician, and drum technician with both national and international touring experience. Nick has focused on providing ways to integrate drum set studies into K-12 Music curriculum, and is an active session musician, engineering and recording drum tracks remotely from his studio.
As an educator, Nick has focused on providing ways to integrate drum set studies into K-12 music curriculum to bridge the gap between general and instrumental music studies. He has also played a pivotal role in integrating the “Modern Band” curriculum for the School District of Philadelphia by creating relationships with Conn-Selmer, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, and Remo Heads to outsource all 220 schools with drum sets. The School District of Philadelphia’s music education model is what motivated the Pennsylvania Department of Education to create and implement “Modern Band” into the State’s music curriculum. Nick is assisting with drum set content as the curriculum is implemented throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Additionally, Nick has written and recorded lessons for Modern Drummer Magazine, MusicProfessor.com, Zildjian, and the Percussive Arts Society’s Rhythm!Scene blog, and DRUMSET magazine.
As a performer, Nick is actively performing throughout the Philadelphia region with various groups and is a first-call musician for local theater groups and schools for their annual musicals. Nick was also a candidate for the Mamma Mia and Green Day’s American Idiot National Broadway Tours.
Currently, Nick has been active as a session musician, recording and engineering drum tracks remotely for various artists, including Shane Henderson (Valencia), and MAHANA (Iranian Pop star on NAVAHANG records). He has been praised by producers including Mike Watts (The Dear Hunter, Story of the Year) Steve Haigler (Brand New, Fuel, The Pixies), Jason Elgin (Collective Soul, Terrible Things), Fred Mascherino (Taking Back Sunday, The Color Fred), John Naclerio (Brand New, My Chemical Romance) and Eric Plesha (Cobra Starship, Valencia) for his consistency and energy while recording.
In addition to teaching and performing, Nick has created a social media presence with content focusing on drumset. From the long-form Snare Saturday™ series, restoration videos, drum lessons, gear demos, and a short video series where viewers guess the song based on the drum beat. Nick’s YouTube channel has over 12,000 subscribers with 2,000,000 views and averages 150,000 views, 3,000 watched hours, and 350 subscribers per month. His TikTok has over 50,000 followers and 1,300,000 likes. Nick has created User Generated Content (UGC) for BAND-AID, Automattic (WordPress, WooCommerce), Sweetwater, Gator, Zildjian, Vic Firth, Guitar Center, Audio Technica, Impact.com, D’Addario, and Nomatic.
Nick is an educational artist for Ludwig Drums, Vic Firth Sticks, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo drumheads, Gator Cases, Canopus Drums, Prologix Percussion, and Lauten Audio. Additionally, Nick proudly endorses GoPro.
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Late 60s Ludwig 5X14 Supraphonic LM400
It wouldn’t be a #SnareSaturday series unless the @LudwigDrumsHQ Supraphonic...
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