Berklee Online Student Thomas Thunder on Pursuing His Degree at 17

Thomas Ferreira, a 17-year-old drummer from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, is better known by his artist name, Thomas Thunder. After watching a video of him playing, you’ll understand why. His parents coined the name when he was seven and learning how to play the double bass pedal in their home. For context, most drum kits have one bass pedal, and mastering the double pedal is challenging, even for experienced drummers.

“I would play all the time, and my parents would listen to it,” says Ferreira. “I’d be done practicing and they’d say, ‘It sounds like a rumble; Sounds like thunder.’ So Thomas Thunder kind of stuck ever since that early age and it really worked out.” 

Ferreira’s accelerated timeline has really worked out in all areas of his life—from graduating high school early and studying at Berklee Online, to collaborating with rock legends from the supergroup Sons of Apollo—and he’s just getting started. 

Being from the Boston area, Berklee has always been on Ferreira’s radar. At 14, he started taking Berklee Online courses, eventually earning professional certificates in Music Theory and Composition and Drums. He says his favorite course was with Yoron Israel, who authored Drum Set Performance 101. 

“That work basically covered everything in a short span of 12 weeks,” says Ferreira. “We started with rock drumming, then went into more jazz, swing-type music. We went to Afro-Cuban, Latin music. We went basically everywhere in such a short amount of time. I learned so much from that course just because it covered so much and it really challenged my abilities.”

Up until that point, Ferreira was taking Berklee Online courses along with his high school work, which he was doing as a homeschooled student. At age 16, he fulfilled all of his high school requirements and had what he needed to apply to Berklee Online’s degree program, transferring the credits he had earned along the way. 

“All of my algebra, everything that I had to do, I was able to finish it at an early age so there was really nothing more that I had to complete to move on to the next step in my life,” he says. “My parents were completely on board with it. They completely supported my decision in wanting to do Berklee Online full time.”

Ferreira was accepted into the Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games degree program and is currently in his second year. 

“The reason why I picked that specific major is because I felt it represented what I want to do and what I had been doing up until that point,” he says. “I have always been interested in putting music to something visual. It hasn’t been in a professional way yet, but when I was really young, I used to make little animations, and I’d put songs to them. It comes naturally to me and I really enjoy it.”

A drummer at heart, Ferreira says that he still tries to incorporate complex rhythms into his assignments. 

“I find with things I compose, that it is sometimes rhythmically intense,” he says. “I might not realize it, but then someone else has to play it and is like, ‘Oh, you know, this is tough to do,’ because the rhythm is syncopated or something like that. So there is definitely music that I write that is rhythmically challenging.”

Ferreira hasn’t published his scores for the public yet, but he has a lot of original music on his streaming platforms and YouTube channel. In 2021, he released his first album. Titled The Pharaoh’s Temple, it features members of Sons of Apollo: keyboardist Derek Sherinian (who also plays with Dream Theater, Alice Cooper, and KISS), guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (who is also known for playing with Guns N’ Roses), as well as bassist Tony Franklin (who also played with Jimmy Page in The Firm). The collaboration started when Ferreira reached out to Sherinian via email at age 11.

“I wasn’t really expecting much of it, but it turns out he was completely over the moon with what I was doing compositionally, so he instantly hopped on board,” says Ferreira about Sherinian. “He’s kind of become a right-hand guy for things.”

Sherinian brought Thal and Franklin into the mix, and they’ve all been creating music together ever since. 

“I had all of these top-of-the-line musicians able to perform my music,” he says. “So I was able to hear what I was making—because I was doing it through MIDI, GarageBand, DAWs—but played by professional musicians, which is awesome!” 

Most of Ferreira and Sherinian’s collaborations have been virtual, but they met in person in 2023 when Sherinian was playing a local show with guitar legend Joe Satriani. Sherinian gave Ferreira a free ticket and introduced him to the band. 

With a full music career ahead, Ferreira is proving that age is no barrier when it comes to mastering your craft (or several crafts) and staying grounded along the way.

“I always try to stay humble and try not to let it all go to my head,” says Ferreira. “I always try to think of, ‘How can I improve? How can I get better?’ Whether it’s with my drumming, some of the other instruments I play, or my songwriting, I always feel like there’s some type of room for improvement, and for just constantly getting better.”