Dani Fortner

Instructor

Dani Fortner has been performing since the age of six, when she began taking voice and piano lessons. She switched to drums at age nine and never turned back.

Originally from Washington state, Dani grew up studying with Seattle session drummer Sean Dugaw and Portland Opera and Oregon Symphony percussionist Tom Sessa. After realizing that she needed something more than technique books and recordings, her teachers threw her into an adult jazz combo at age eleven to benefit from real playing experience.

Dani is now a freelance percussionist and teacher in the Boston area. She received her Bachelor of Music from NYU and her Masters degree in Percussion Performance from The Boston Conservatory. During her time there, she also studied world percussion and improvisation at Berklee College of Music.

Since moving to Boston in 2011, Dani has performed in a variety of groups including rock bands, orchestras, musical theater productions, and chamber groups.

Dani has been teaching since she was fifteen and has been at The Real School of Music since 2014. She is particularly passionate about the ensemble programs that the school provides, and has worked with many student rock bands over the years, as well as the RealJams Academy summer program!

In addition to drums, Dani also started playing marimba at age nine. She was too small to reach the instrument and had to stand on a giant drum case in order to even reach the keys! She used that drum case as a boost for several years in many different performances. It is still brought up and laughed about at family gatherings to this day.