Melissa Wang is a composer, educator, and percussionist. She is based in the Chicago metropolitan area, teaching steel band, percussion lessons, and humanities at Waubonsee Community College and piano, percussion, & drum set at Edge Music Academy.

 

Melissa studied at the University of Washington (UW), studying Percussion Performance with the interest in theatrical percussion under Dr. Bonnie Whiting, as well as Composition with the interest in incorporating unconventional choreographies in existing genres such as choreography in the Wind Band repertoire under Dr. Huck Hodge. She received the Bachelor of Music with emphases in Percussion Performance and Instrumental Education at Northern Illinois University (NIU), under the direction of Dr. Gregory Beyer and Mr. Ben Wahlund. She received the Associate in Fine Arts in Music at College of DuPage (COD) under the direction of Mr. Ben Wahlund, Dr. Tom Tallman, Mr. Lee Kesselman, and Dr. Kenneth Paoli.

 

Her accomplishments include receiving the Research, Engagement and Academic Diversity Grant for her performance web series “Percussion Works by Women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+", receiving the 2022 Maude Nicholson Dean's Award for outstanding artistry, contributions, and academic achievement in Northern Illinois University School of Music, performing at Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2024 & 2025's New Music Research sessions, and receiving first place in the 2019 Jack Stone Award for New Music with her winning piece "Downright Up and Left" performed by Line Upon Line Percussion Ensemble. Her works have been performed by Platypus Ensemble, Seattle Modern Orchestra, University of Washington Symphonic Band, and the University of Washington Modern Music Ensemble, as well as at Percussive Arts Society International Convention.​

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​Melissa's interests in music include writing, performing, and instructing modern music works that incorporate choreography, theatrics, comedy, spoken word, found sounds, and improvisation, which has influenced her interest in theatrical and spoken percussion. Her recent work, “The Prize of Nothing,” premiered by Platypus Ensemble in Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, demonstrates the vocabulary in text, theatrics, and the refreshing comedic elements usually not featured in modern music. These works include choreographies aligned with sound effects and additional vocal percussion, such as her favorite “krrr” with a rolled tongue that connects with a Guiro scrape.