Jason Huxtable is one half of Maraca2 a young percussion duo from Birmingham, also featuring Tim Palmer.



Jason Huxtable and Tim Palmer met whilst both studying on the Undergraduate percussion course at the Birmingham Conservatoire for which they both achieved 1st class honours degrees and won many of the college prizes, both individually and as a duo.



Biography:

Jason Huxtable started playing percussion aged sixteen and gained a place at the Birmingham Conservatoire two years later to study on the undergraduate percussion degree course from which he graduated in 2004 with a first class honours degree classification. He then went on to study towards the successful completion of the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma of Performance for which he passed with distinction in 2006.



During his time at the Conservatoire Jason Huxtable won many of the college competitions including the College Percussion Prize, the Rollason Award for outstanding musicianship and the Sylvia Cleaver chamber music prize. He also participated in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition where he reached the national semi finals.



As a freelance percussionist Jason Huxtable has played with many of Midlands’ most established ensembles including the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare theatre. He likes to perform in a variety of different genres outside of the classical environment and performs with a number of groups that vary in genre from heavy rock to bhangra. He has performed with different bands at some of the biggest festivals including Glastonbury Festival, the Glasgow international Jazz festival, Bloodstock heavy-metal fest, Klapedia International Jazz Fetival, Geneva – Carnival du Monde, and the Henley Festival of Arts to name but a few.



In addition to his performing commitments Jason Huxtable regularly works as an educator of drums and percussion. Regular freelance workshop sessions compliment his regular teaching posts which he currently holds at Coventry University, Birmingham Conservatoire, Kingshurst Technology College and Edgbaston High School for Girls.



Jason Huxtable is an examiner for the ‘Rockschool’ instrumental examination board and has written academic resources and examinations for the Birmingham Conservatoire BMus undergraduate degree programs. He continues his studies at the Conservatoire towards the PhD award, his area of research being the ‘The perception, communication and education of pulse and rhythm’.