Check Out Hayden Floro’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayden Floro.

Hayden, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in East Tennessee until I was six, when my family moved to Dayton, OH for my dad’s job. Growing up, I often felt like an outsider. I was born with a heart defect and that condition kept me from sports and many of the things I thought I was supposed to do as a young boy. I also had learning differences which placed me in separate classrooms, away from the rest of my peers. Then in elementary school, my parents got divorced and my mother struggled with addiction. I spent most of my summers and weekends in Tennessee, which brought a lot of instability and heartbreak, but they also gave me one of the most important moments of my life.

In the summer of 2010, when I was ten years old, I saw a little red three-piece drum set at a yard sale across the street from my mother’s apartment. I had never shown any interest in music, but something told me I needed those drums. My mother was struggling financially, yet somehow she found the $25 to buy them for me. I brought them home, figured out how to set them up using pictures from Rolling Stone, and when I realized I didn’t have drumsticks, I broke a tree branch in half and started playing.
I was hooked.

That summer, I played every day and even performed at my family’s Southern Baptist church. When I returned to Ohio, my dad saw how much the drums meant to me and got me lessons. I quickly discovered that I could hear something once and reproduce it almost perfectly, even though reading music was extremely difficult for me. That ability carried me surprisingly far.

In seventh grade, I found the school band room and instantly knew I belonged there. My teachers pushed me into percussion, and I eventually began studying with Michael LaMattina, principal percussionist of the Dayton Philharmonic. Later, jazz educators Sammy K and Jim Leslie became major influences on both my playing and my professional mindset.

But my strengths and weaknesses created a strange contradiction. I could play far beyond many of my peers by ear, yet I struggled with the fundamentals of reading music. I was repeatedly moved between ensembles until I eventually reached the top jazz band in high school. At the same time, I was placed in the lowest concert band because of my technical deficiencies. That contrast fueled some serious imposter syndrome.

Around my junior year of high school during a drum lesson, my teacher, Jim Leslie, told me something that completely broke me: maybe music school wasn’t for me. He suggested I could simply play locally and have a “good day job” like a lot of people in the music industry. I cried the entire way home from that lesson. It wasn’t because he didn’t believe in me, it was simply because he didn’t want me to get hurt or blindsided. But, that moment became a turning point. I realized talent wasn’t going to be enough. If I wanted this badly enough, I was going to have to work for it.

The summer before my senior year, I underwent open-heart surgery to replace my defective aortic valve. I came out of that experience with what felt like a new lease on life. That year, I finally made the top concert ensembles, played in the pit orchestra, and auditioned for the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. To my disbelief, I was accepted into the jazz program. During my audition, legendary drummer John Von Ohlen stopped me and said, “this boy can play.” For someone who had spent years wondering whether I belonged, hearing that, from someone like him, was life-changing.

College was another humbling chapter. I was surrounded by incredible musicians who could read music effortlessly while I was still struggling with the basics. I eventually made it into CCM’s top jazz ensemble, but the gap between my ears and my reading caught up with me. During a performance trip to Brazil, alongside Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, the director Scott Belck pulled me aside and told me bluntly that I wasn’t meeting the standard of the ensemble. It devastated me. I seriously questioned whether I belonged in music at all.

But while in Brazil, I also asked Wynton Marsalis for advice. He told me I could play, he said that I “had the thing,” but that I needed to refine it. I tightly held onto those words.

COVID gave me the time and space to finally confront the weakness I had avoided for most of my life. I taught myself to properly read rhythms, charts, and musical figures. At 21, I was finally doing what my teachers had been telling me to do since I was 10. It was humbling, but it changed everything. My ability to combine what I had learned through listening with the discipline of reading opened an entirely new world of opportunities.

After graduating from CCM in 2021, I began performing wherever I could; musicals, jazz gigs, orchestras, community ensembles, and anything else that would make me a better musician. I treated every job, regardless of the paycheck, like it was my first night on Broadway. That mindset led to more opportunities, including orchestral work and eventually a position with the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra after my first orchestral audition.

In 2024, I began pursuing a Master’s degree at Miami University under Michael LaMattina, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra principal timpanist, Patrick Schlecker. I continued teaching and performing throughout graduate school, including musical theater, jazz, orchestral work, and contracted performances at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. I even had the opportunity to perform with the Dayton Philharmonic; an orchestra I had grown up dreaming about joining.

In May 2026 I graduated from Miami University with my Master’s degree in Percussion Performance. Along the way, I bought and renovated a house, got married, worked full-time teaching, and performed as much as I possibly could.

When I look back at little Hayden, the kid who couldn’t play sports, struggled to fit in, couldn’t read music, and constantly wondered whether he was good enough, I realize none of those weaknesses made him less capable. They simply showed him where he needed to grow.

Today, I can walk into a room and read music at a level I once never thought possible. People have even come up to me and said I’m a “sight-reading wizard,” which still makes me laugh because I remember being 10 years old and barely able to read a note.

If I could tell that kid anything now, it would be this: your weaknesses don’t make you less than anyone else. They make you human. Find them, face them, and turn them into strengths. Take the shot, even if you’re terrified of missing, because, as cliche as it sounds, you truly miss every shot you don’t take.

The best part is, my story isn’t over yet.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road!

A few that stand out:

Born with a heart defect that eventually required surgery later in my life.

Diagnosed with ADHD/Autism in elementary school.

Parents divorced when I was in elementary school.

My mother greatly struggled with addiction.

Severe imposter syndrome/not feeling like I belonged anywhere.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a professional drummer/percussionist that specializes in jazz drumming and musical theater percussion/drumming. I think I’m best known for being a show (musical theater) drummer, however, I do much more than that, and being a solid orchestral musician and jazz musician isn’t an easy thing to achieve. I am most proud of the fact that even though I have had a ton of struggles in my life, I have overcome them all just by grinding through and never letting fear keep me down! I think the thing that sets me apart from others is my ability to understand the assignment and doing it the best way that I can, always giving it my all no matter what the circumstances are, and doing it with a smile!

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My mentors and support system are a HUGE part of why I am so successful!
To name a few in no particular order:
Principal Percussionist of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael LaMattina
Principal Timpanist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Patrick Schlecker
Jazz Drumset legend, John Von Ohlen
Local jazz legend, Jim Leslie
LA Drummer extraordinaire, Sammy K
Trumpet virtuoso and master pedagog, Scott Belck
My Father, Mark Floro
My Grandmother, Phyllis Williams
My wife, Hannah Floro

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.floropercussion.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haydenfloro
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14pm6kjQchJ/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@haydenfloro5561