Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity

Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity Whether he's performing, composing, teaching, or developing instruments, the do-it-all percussionist sees it as one unified body of work.

April 1, 2026

By

Laura Gurfein

Taku Hirano BM '95 MA '24

Image courtesy of the artist

Performer, percussionist, professor, product collaborator: Taku Hirano BM '95 MA '24 has built a career that knows no bounds. The 2026 Berklee Alumni Achievement Award recipient has toured with Fleetwood Mac, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, and LeAnn Rimes, and performed at the White House as well as the Grammy Awards. These days, he teaches music business and creative industry studies at Tulane University, and he recently celebrated the gold-edition release of the Hand-Bale, his award-winning signature percussion instrument.

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In March 2026, he played Japanese taiko drums at the World Baseball Classic championship game-on just 12 hours' notice. I flew to Miami, built an asynchronous video lecture on sync licensing from my hotel room so students wouldnt miss a beat, then went and performed for 10 million viewers, Hirano said. The classroom travels with me.

Even with that range, he continues to expand his work in new directions. March also marked the debut of Hirano's first solo album under his own name, Crystal Forest, in collaboration with Feed Originals, where he serves as a lead composer. The ambient music album, designed for relaxation and focused attention, is the culmination of years of research and compositional work.

Project Highlight: Crystal ForestThe 10-song album builds directly on his Berklee master's thesis, Music as Medicine, which explored the science and market viability of functional music across wellness, medicine, and technology. Every compositional decision on this record is grounded in that research.

Earlier compositions include two sample libraries for Splice, which put my sounds in the hands of bedroom producers worldwide, and more than 300 pieces under the pseudonym Akai Masa for Feed.fm clients such as Tonal and Alo Moves.

Another influence for Crystal Forest was Hirano's participation in the Mandala Lab for the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art. Alongside Peter Gabriel, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Laurie Anderson, Billy Cobham, and Sheila E., I was asked to choose a gong, sourced to my own specifications, as part of the traveling experiential installation inspired by Buddhist principles. He called the experience a meaningful validation that further spurred the album's creation.

Listen to Crystal Forest by Taku Hirano:

Hirano grew up in Fresno, California, and started studying percussion at age nine. His family moved to Hong Kong when he was a pre-teen, which led to private lessons with the principal percussionist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Back in Fresno to finish high school at Roosevelt School of the Arts, he discovered hand drums- I didnt know it at the time, but those two years set the direction for everything that followed, he said.

At Berklee, Hirano studied percussion with conga master Giovanni Hidalgo and jazz and world percussion specialist Jamey Haddad, who imparted extraordinarily intricate and complex systems that gave me an entirely different way of thinking about rhythm. During his studies, hand percussion was formally recognized as a principal instrument, and Hirano became the first to graduate with it as his focus.

Listen to an interview with Taku Hirano:

He furthered his education at the California Institute of the Arts and the Escuela Nacional de Artes in Havana, Cuba, where he conducted research on Afro-Cuban secular styles through a US Treasury Department program. Later, he returned to Berklee, earning an online masters degree in music business (and his functional music thesis). Staying closely informed on sync, copyright, intellectual property, and AI developments in the music industry has opened doors-media appearances, academic opportunities, and conversations I never saw coming, Hirano shared.

Five Truths About Making It in MusicInsights from Taku Hirano

Being good at your instrument is just the entry fee. It's the intangibles that keep you working: Dependability. Keeping your word. Being prepared. Showing up-and showing up on time. Getting along with everyone in the room. Skill gets you in the door; everything else determines whether you stay.

Your instrument is not your career-your identity is. The most in-demand musicians I've worked with aren't just technically strong. They have a distinct identity that makes them irreplaceable. My performances, my research, my ambient composition work-those arent separate careers. Theyre one coherent identity built over decades.

The music business rewards breadth as much as depth. The most durable careers belong to musicians who make themselves genuinely versatile across genres, traditions, and contexts. None of my career has come from a narrow lane.

Copyright is not a legal issue-its a business strategy. Understanding how your work is owned, licensed, and monetized is foundational. The rise of AI has made this more urgent than ever. If you dont understand who owns what you create, someone else will decide for you.

Teaching is performing. The best educators approach the classroom the way a great musician approaches the stage: with preparation, presence, and the ability to respond in real time. If youre ever in a position to pass on what you know, take it just as seriously as the music.

Though his r sum encompasses a wide range of projects and pursuits, Hirano sees it as a single, evolving practice.

My Berklee master's thesis gave shape and context to the functional music work I had been dev

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