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!