The group was originally formed in 1954 as the Dance-Percussion Trio, to accompany performances by the modern dancer Daniel Nagrin; Nagrin was a member of the trio along with the pianist David Shapiro and the percussionist Ronald Gould.
The trio commissioned a number of new works from contemporary composers, including Harold Farberman (Variations for Percussion With Piano, 1954), Halim El-Dabh (Hindi-Yaat no.
The group's primary focus was presenting percussion music to young people (ranging in age from kindergarten to the college level), with most of their performances arranged by the Young Audiences, Inc. organization of New York.
Through their performances across the United States (3,000 in all), the group did much to promote percussion music to the general public.
Shapiro was also active as a pianist, orchestra conductor, and opera producer in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States.