Excellent Concert

Okay, so I'm biased, but last night's concert by the Northern Illinois University Percussion Ensemble was terrific. A great variety of music from several cultures, including one North American premiere and one World Premiere performance. Special guests for the concert were Valerie Naranjo and Barry Olsen. Most of you are likely familiar with Valerie's work as the percussionist in the Saturday Night Live band on NBC, and/or for her work with Broadway's The Lion King. But she is extremely talented in many areas, not the least of which is on the West African gyil. Her husband, Barry, is a really fine trombonist, pianist and percussionist, who is a fixture on the NYC Latin Jazz scene. The students had an awesome time working with both of them and getting to perform with them. Congratulations to my colleagues Robert Chappell and Greg Beyer for putting together such a fantastic concert.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Great Fun

My family and I were able to have Peter Erskine and Rodrigo Villanueva over to our house for dinner tonight. I teach at NIU with Rodrigo and as much as I see him at school it's always terrific to be able to spend time with him in a social setting.

I've known Peter for probably 15 years, but when we see each other it's always been at a Percussive Arts Society Board of Directors meeting or passing in the halls of music festivals at which we're both playing. In all those years tonight was the first time I've had the chance to just hang with him, and it was great fun. I've always enjoyed speaking with him, but it was great to get to know him better and see how smart, funny and insightful he really is. He's here to go on tour with the top NIU Jazz Ensemble this week. He gave an excellent 2-hour clinic this morning, and in between touring gigs he'll be back on campus Thursday for another clinic and an evening concert with the Jazz Ensemble. If you're reading this and can make it to DeKalb, I highly recommend coming to our Duke Ellington Ballroom in the Student Center this Thursday night, November 15, at 8:00.

Back From PASIC!

PASIC ended last Saturday night, and it was awesome as always. I was fortunate this year to have only about 1/2 as many meetings as the past few years, so I actually got to see several sessions and spend time in the exhibit hall.

Even with the (about) 3 hours total that I spent in the exhibit hall, that wasn't nearly enough time to see every booth and find out what's new. But I did see some great stuff and am excited to put my credit cards to good use.

As for sessions, I really enjoyed Michael Spiro and Michael Williams' group BataMbira. Andy Narell's group played very well, and for me it's always great to watch Luis Conte, who was on percussion for Andy. The Chung Ang group from Korea was a lot of fun, and Geraldo De Oliviera's pandeiro clinic was extremely well presented. Trio Manari from Brazil was originally scheduled to perform with guest Nana Vasconcelos, who had to cancel at the last minute. Lucky for us, Giovanni Hidalgo was there and he gladly took over the reins of the guest spot and made Friday night's concert a huge success. I was honored to make the introductory remarks for the concert, and hanging backstage with Giovanni was a blast. I was very happy to see and hear Ear Massage, a quartet from Mexico whom I had met at the Taipei International Percussion Convention a couple of years ago. In addition to what's listed in my post below, I was extremely proud of my former students, the Base4 Percussion Quartet, who performed as part of Focus Day. They played beautifully and the audience's reaction was fantastic.

I was a member of a panel discussion hosted by the Education Committee, and the topic was "How to Build a Powerhouse Percussion Program." I was joined by Mark Ford of the University of North Texas, Jim Royle who owns his own (very successful) studio in Connecticut, John Parks from Florida State University, and John Brennan, a high school director from Plano, Texas. We had a great audience who were very interested in hearing what we had to say, and they had really pertinent questions for us.

And, for me, the best part is getting to see so many friends and meeting new people. I can't possibly list all the friends and former students I saw, but it was great to see all of you and I'm already looking forward to next year.

PASIC 2008 will be in Austin, Texas, November 5-8. Make plans now to attend so you can hang with over 7000 of your closest friends!

Here at PASIC 2007!

I had intended on writing at least a little something before leaving to come to PASIC, but clearly I've had a crazy few weeks. I'm in Columbus at PASIC and it's fantastic! We have tremendous attendance, the largest amount of exhibit space ever, and one great clinic and concert after another.

Today I was able to see and thrill to my NIU colleagues, Robert Chappell and Liam Teague, and their group Panoramic. They played beautifully and I am blessed to be able to work alongside such awesome musicians and people. Tonight's concert featured the truly fine player Emmanuel Sejourne in the first half, followed by the astonishing Korean group Chang Ang. You have to see this group to believe it. There are several clips of the group on YouTube, here is one of them.

I'll write again next week when I've returned home, but if you're not here at PASIC you are truly missing out - plan on attending in 2008!