This paper proposes an efficient approach for dynamic analysis of a rotating beam using the discrete singular convolution (DSC). By spatially discretizing the nonlinear equations of motion of the rotating beam using the DSC method, natural frequencies of the rotating beam are obtained. Numerical results show that the DSC method accurately captures not only the low-order but also the high-order frequencies of the beam rotating at a high angular velocity in very short time, compared with the classical finite element method. Moreover, by combining the DSC method and the differential quadrature method, the dynamic equations are reduced to a set of algebraic equations. Thus the dynamic response of the rotating beam is resolved accurately and efficiently with much less computational effort, and is able to be numerically stable for long-time integration.