M.Mus (U of T)
B.Mus (Oberlin)
Percussionist Thomas Li is active as a chamber musician and performer of new music. A recent Master’s graduate from University of Toronto, he studied under the tutelage of Aiyun Huang, Beverley Johnston, Ryan Scott and Charles Settle. He has attended multiple summer festivals including Banff Centre’s Evolution: Classical and the Nief-Norf Summer Festival where he worked with members of Kronos Quartet and Mark Applebaum respectively. As an avid contemporary performer, Thomas was a member of University of Toronto’s Contemporary Music Ensemble as well as Toronto-based percussion quartet Kairos Quartet. He also took part in the recording of Elizabeth Ogonek’s chamber concerto, where are we now, released in an album on the Oberlin Music Label.
Thomas is also interested in integrating visual media with his playing, and aspires to dedicate his artistic voice to expressing personal emotions and preserving the collective narratives of his home city, Hong Kong. In his multiple Multimedia project, he is dedicated to understanding how cinematic language can help communicate contemporary musical gestures when the two art forms are paired together.
Get to know Thomas…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: bouldering, photography, pour-over coffee, art films
Musical influences: Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Leslie Cheung, Nicole Lizée, John Cage, Matthew Lau
Favourite food: Cantonese BBQ Pork on Rice
Least favourite food: Chicken Breast
Favourite music: contemporary percussion, math rock, R&B, orchestral, folk rock
Favourite album: Dance, No One’s Watching by Ezra Collective
Favourite movie: Cinema Paradiso, Ashes of Time, A Brighter Summer Day, Star Wars
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Wicked
Best quote from your teacher: “Let the drum sing!”
Favourite quote: “Do or Do Not, There is No Try” – Yoda, Star Wars
Favourite book: The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
Latest Homework from Thomas
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Homework Assignments for Week of January 6th, 2026
Josh
Recommended minutes to practice: Figure out what song you’d like to learn next with Thomas!
How parents can support practice: help Josh pick his next song!
Shayne
How parents can support practice: Help Shayne pick some new songs for his next lesson with Thomas!
Noah
Great job this week, great reading!
Recommended minutes to practice: try to review “Bulls on Parade” at least once before your lesson with Thomas.
Finn
Recommended minutes to practice: review Gorillaz’ “DARE” at least once this week.
What to practice: practice the different groove variations I wrote on the sheet music.
How parents can support practice: help Finn pick his next song!
Mateo
Recommended minutes to practice: Review “La Playa” before your next lesson!
Jared
Recommended minutes to practice: Try to work on “Fly As Me” once or twice before your lesson. Focus on tightening the groove we learned (Intro, Verse) and figuring out some of the fills.
Koel
Great job this week!
Recommended minutes to practice: Think of new songs you’d want to learn with Thomas, try to practice “Bulls on Parade” at least once this week.
Homework Assignments for the Week of November 16th, 2025
Josh
Recommended minutes to practice: Enjoy your trip!! Before I see you next, try to figure out the next song you want to learn.
What to practice: “Spaceman” by the Killers, “Sunflower” by Post Malone
How to practice it most effectively: try to review these songs once before our next lesson to jog your memory.
How parents can support practice: help Josh pick his next song!
Shayne
Recommended minutes to practice: I know Shayne doesn’t have a drum set to practice on yet, so I’d recommend just listening to some songs he might want to try out.
How parents can support practice: Help Shayne pick some new songs for next week.
Noah
Amazing job this week. I feel like we’re done with “Bring Me To Life,” you’re playing it really well.
What to practice: Come up with something you feel curious about to learn next week – doesn’t need to be song, can just be a technique or groove.
Here are the Latin drum set grooves we were working on sight-reading last week:
Finn
Recommended minutes to practice: review Gorillaz’ “On Melancholy Hill” at least once this week and try to think of a new song to play!
What to practice: play along to the songs we’ve been working on – “On Melancholy Hill”
How parents can support practice: help Finn come up with a new song to start learning next week / for the new year.
Mateo
Recommended minutes to practice: Try to review “Your Love” at least once this week if you can! We will review “La Playa” next week.
What to practice: try to play at full speed, and see what you can do to keep up speed when your right foot or right hand get tired, taking some notes out but keeping the essence of the groove together.
Jared
Recommended minutes to practice: great job with the fills this week! Lots of back to back fills to remember, you did great.
What to practice: listen along to the song and try to be able to play the fills as they come along, especially the new ones on the last page that we just learned.
How to practice it most effectively: break down the feel of each fill, and figure out how to recreate them in a way that’s your own!
Koel
Amazing job this week! We will review “Bring Me to Life” maybe once next week, but try to find something new to look at – can be a song, groove, technique, or concept. I’ll try to come up with something new to bring in next week as well.
Preferred Books for Keshav’s Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
STICK CONTROL
George Lawrence Stone’s Stick Control is the bible of drumming. In 1993, Modern Drummer magazine named the book one of the top 25 books of all-time. In the words of the author, it is the ideal book for improving: control, speed, flexibility, touch, rhythm, lightness, delicacy, power, endurance, preciseness of execution and muscular coordination, with extra attention given to the development of the weak hand.
RCM Technical Requirements for Piano
The Visual Drumset Method
