Rich Holly's Percussion Place

Assorted ramblings and occasional updates in the world of percussion.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

END OF AN ERA FOR PAS

Yesterday was the final day for the Percussive Arts Society to occupy our headquarters and conduct business in Lawton, Oklahoma. PAS has opened its headquarters in temporary space in the Symphony Center building in Indianapolis while our permanent home in Indianapolis is being designed and built (we should be able to move into the new, permanent space in about one year).

The city of Lawton has been very good to PAS, and in particular Jim Lambert, the percussion professor at Cameron University there in Lawton, was the driving force in getting PAS to move to Lawton in the late 1980's. I also need to mention the strong support of the McMahon Foundation, especially Dr. Charles Graybill and his lovely wife Betty. Their support enabled the society to grow from about 3500 members to the nearly 9500 we have today.

Moving to Indianapolis will enable PAS to attain the next several levels in terms of programming, national and international impact and awareness. We already have forged several partnerships and potential partnerships with strong arts organizations in Indy and have plans to forge many more.

PAS has had a number of great staff members in Lawton, and I thank each and every one of them for their dedication and expertise.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Steve Reich's Drumming


I just got home from a concert that included Steve Reich's amazing work Drumming. Tonight was the spring concert of the Northern Illinois University Percussion Ensemble. I haven't been a director of the ensemble for more than 6 years, and this semester my colleague and good friend Greg Beyer was solely in charge of the ensemble (my other colleague and good friend Robert Chappell is on sabbatical).

The concert began with Nigel Westlake's Omphalo Centric Lecture, one of my favorite percussion ensemble pieces, and based on how many performances it's getting, clearly a favorite piece of many people. But the spotlight tonight was on the music of Steve Reich, and second on the program was Music for Pieces of Wood. The only thing is, it was performed on 5 berimbaus instead of 5 tuned pieces of wood - and it was awesome that way!

Greg proceeded to explain a great deal about Reich's music including an audio and video presentation, as well as a demonstration of the phasing that's a large part of Drumming.

Just before the beginning of the piece, Greg explained how tonight's performance was in memory of the students who lost their lives in the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech University yesterday, and further explained how Drumming is all about community and how each and every one of us, performers and audience alike, are included in the community and we will all experience Drumming together as one. It was a very touching and special moment.

Then Drumming began, and for just about 80 minutes of non-stop music the audience was totally transfixed. The Percussion Ensemble performed brilliantly, and it was clear that the audience was completely into the experience. I'm on a high right now, having heard the piece in its entirety played so wonderfully by our students. My hat's off to Greg and the students - what an incredible amount of work and dedication to put it together, and a huge Thank You to Greg for giving our students and our audience members the experience. Wow.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Back From DigitalNow in Orlando

I got back from DigitalNow last night, held at the Disney Yacht and Beach Club Convention Center in Orlando. It was a great 2 1/2 days - being able to spend time with Michael Kenyon and Gary Cook regarding Percussive Arts Society business is always terrific, and we heard and learned from several very good to great speakers and presenters.

The theme of this year's conference was Web 2.0 (check out Tim O'Reilly's writings to learn more about Web 2.0). My favorite speakers of the conference were Susan Scott of the business consulting firm Fierce, and Stephen M.R. Covey of FranklinCovey and CoveyLink.

Hearing and seeing so much about Web 2.0 not only confirmed that PAS is doing a great deal more than other music societies, but also demonstrated that there is more that we can be doing, and we plan on doing as much as possible with the web for our members and visitors. It was a great trip overall.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Off to Orlando

I leave tomorrow morning to attend the DigitalNow conference. It's about leadership in the digital age. This will be the third time I've attended this conference, and the other 2 were very, very good. It's at Disney World, and the attendees get treated pretty well. I'll be going because of Percussive Arts Society business, and Michael Kenyon and Gary Cook will be going, too.