For over 25 years, Amir Ziv has taught musicians not just how to play — but how to think independently, listen deeply, lead with confidence, and take ownership of their artistic identity.
Since 1998, Amir Ziv has been a faculty member at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School. He served as Head of the Drum Department and developed courses in the drum program’s core curriculum, including Drum Sight-Reading, Percussion Ensemble, and Drum Lab, as well as the elective ensembles Live Electronica Orchestra and Live Drum ’n’ Bass Ensemble, most of which remain part of the program today.
Ziv has presented master classes at universities, conservatories, and festivals throughout the United States and in Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, and Portugal. He is also a Visiting Artist at the Drummers Collective in New York City. His master classes are not conventional drum clinics. They draw on his experience as a performer, composer, and bandleader to explore the full arc of a musician’s development—from the creative process and individual voice to the realities of building a life in music.
Earlier in his career, Ziv spent eight years as a member of the Resident Artist Faculty at the DreamYard Project in Harlem and the Bronx, creating year-long music residency programs integrated into public school curricula—a reflection of his belief that rhythm is a language accessible to everyone.
Inspired by the transformative power of mentorship, Amir Ziv founded the Living Arts Apprenticeship Program (LAAP) to offer artists the depth of sustained, immersive study. LAAP is built around one of the oldest models of artistic transmission: the live-in apprenticeship. Students don’t just attend classes—they live alongside their mentors, immersed in nature, where the environment itself becomes part of the learning. Sessions draw on drum-set study, Harmonic Rhythm, composition, visual arts, culinary arts, and aikido.
His students have gone on to work with artists including Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Kendrick Lamar, Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, Vernon Reid, Robert Glasper, Jason Moran, Bobby McFerrin, Christian McBride, Jason Lindner, Cassandra Wilson, Jojo Mayer, Q-Tip, Anthony Braxton, and John Mayer, as well as on the Broadway production of Hamilton.
The goal is not simply technical growth. It is a shift in how an artist perceives the world—an expansion of awareness, a deepening of creative identity, and a renewed commitment to a life in art.
Work With Amir
Curriculum Development & Consultation — Percussion, composition, improvisation, and interdisciplinary music curricula for public schools, universities, conservatories, and arts organizations.
Master Classes — Interactive workshops for universities, conservatories, and festivals worldwide, tailored to musicians at every stage of development.
Private Mentorship — One-on-one guidance for serious musicians seeking artistic, creative, and professional growth.
Immersive Workshops & Intensives — Individual and group residencies through the Living Arts Apprenticeship Program (LAAP).