BIOGRAPHY

McKayla Phillips is a dynamic North Carolina-based percussionist and educator, currently serving as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Percussion at Wake Forest University and Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Winston-Salem State University. An active performer and clinician, McKayla has appeared as a guest artist, adjudicator, and clinician at universities, high schools, and conferences nationwide. They have also performed extensively at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC).

McKayla earned a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where they were recently recognized with the 2024–2025 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. They hold a Master of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, as well as dual Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Music Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

An advocate for new music, McKayla has recently commissioned and/or premiered works by composers including Annika Socolofsky, Nick Werth, Russell Wharton, Von Hansen, Ivan Trevino, Michael Burritt, Robert Honstein, Katherine Bodor, Rob Rankin, and Isaac Pyatt. As a chamber musician, they have performed at Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) with InBloom Percussion (2019), the Indiana University Percussion Ensemble (2018), the PAS All-Star Ensemble (2015), and the UNCG Percussion Ensemble (2015). As an orchestral musician, McKayla has also performed with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Brass Band, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, and the Greensboro Opera. 

McKayla is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, NAfME, NCAE, College Music Society, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, and serves on the PAS Diversity Alliance. Their teachers have included  Eric Willie, Joseph Gramley, Steve Houghton, Kevin Bobo, Michael Spiro, John Tafoya, Brevan Hampden, Atiba Rorie, Thomas Taylor, Joe Galvin, Neeraj Mehta, Kristopher Keeton, Peter Zlotnick, Naomi Marcus, and Christopher Fosnaugh.

McKayla Phillips proudly endorses Black Swamp Percussion and Innovative Percussion.