Jaik Hakkarinen
“Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.”
About Jaik
Jaik Hakkarinen is a drummer and educator based out of Denver, Colorado. As a performer, he has performed both nationally and abroad with the likes of Randy Brecker, Greg Gisbert, Rocky Winslow, Nani Vazana, Shingo Maeyama, and the North State Symphony, and is a regular call for local and touring acts. Hakkarinen was also a 2025 Artist-in-Residence with Greg Gisbert”s ‘Electric Giz’ at Dazzle Denver.
As an educator, Hakkarinen has worked as a clinician at California State University, Chico, is a Near-Peer Mentor with the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts, and has taught privately since 2020. Hakkarinen holds a BA in Music from California State University, Chico, and an MM in Jazz Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Jaik’s Instructional Approach
Every learner is a unique learner – therefore, every lesson is tailored to each student’s individual needs. Fundamentals of the instrument are presented in a way that supports students’ interests, while technique is developed to meet the students where they are and facilitate where they want to go.
Practice Tips
With New Material: Begin practicing new material as slowly as it needs to be in order to be executed correctly. Once this has been done, the tempo can be gradually increased to your ‘target tempo’ – in other words, you’re always playing the material correctly!
With New Styles/Sounds: The bulk of what we do as musicians is not dependent on what we play, rather how we play it. Thus, music can be a lot like acting, in that we must get into the character of the music we are performing. When learning a new style or pursuing a sound I hear in my head, I practice getting into
the character of that style/sound, and play the role of a musician in that style or with that sound.
Favorite Tunes
- Jazz – Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis
- Rock – Rush, Radiohead, Pink Floyd
- Funk – Tower of Power, Casiopea, Screaming Headless Torsos
- Pop – Poppy, Hayley Williams
- Classical – Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Antonin Dvorak
