UCA Percussion Festival - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the UCA Percussion Festival. Here's a quick run down of the highlights. Click the photos to enlarge them.

First up was Nathaniel Bartlett with a clinic on the behind the scenes magic of marimba and computer generated sounds
















Then John Parks showed us who was boss when it comes to playing the snare drum
















After that, John Beck presented a great clinic covering timpani and cymbal playing

















Then we did some In the Pocket

















and a timpani concerto

















We also did Stained Glass, Rhythmitis, Vertical River, Bicksa and the Suite for Drumset and Percussion Ensemble by Dave Mancini. That last one featured Dr. John Parks on the drumset. Yes, it was amazing!


Then off to the lobby to sign some autographs
































After a nice dinner at the Oak Street Bistro, the clinicians headed back to my place to just hang out for a while.

















But that wasn't all. There was a top secret Day 4 of the festival for UCA students only. Newly declassified pictures coming soon...

UCA Percussion Festival - Day 2

After a late night on Thursday, we started day 2 of the festival with an early morning rehearsal of Bicksa by Thom Hasenpflug.
click pics to enlarge
Later, we rehearsed the Concerto for Timpani and Percussion Ensemble with John Beck, and then had a quick rehearsal of Rhythmitis (see below).


Nathaniel Bartlett arrived and began the long set up for that evening's recital. Then we headed upstairs or a historical presentation by JB.


Nate Bartlett put on an incredible concert that night. No photos of that. Don't worry, you'll see him in Saturday's pics.

Speaking of Saturday, here's a sneak peek. John, Nate, me and JB rehearsing In the Pocket on Saturday morning before the big event started up.

and...John and I were able to squeeze in a quick 10 minute rehearsal of Vertical River.


COMING SOON....pics from Saturday's Extravaganza!

Drumming at UCA

OK. A lot to cover since the last real post, and many pictues to share from the UCA Percussion Festival, the ECU Day of Percussion and the Idaho Day of Percussion. To avoid overload, I'll limit today's post to the first event of the UCA Percussion Festival....DRUMMING!
click on the pics to make them bigger

















The students at UCA spent 3 days rehearsing with So Percussion to prepare for the performance.


















So decided to open the concert with Music for Pieces of Wood. They asked John Beck, who was already in town for the festival, to be "the rock". This is a shot of the rehearsal.


















Here's a group shot of everyone that performed in Drumming (plus me and John Beck, but minus the vocalists, who mysteriously vanished before the photo was taken).


















I really like this picture I took at dinner after the performance. From left to right...Doug, unidentified order taker, Christy, Adam, Neal, Liana (and Jason's arm).

In Oklahoma

I'm sitting just across the hall from a rehearsal room where Gregg Bissonette is rehearsing with the ECU Jazz Band. He's here for the same reason I am...the East Central University Day of Percussion. Tomorrow is the big day, with clinics and concerts, including Gregg playing with the jazz band tomorrow night.

Speaking of Days of Percussion, the UCA Percussion Festival was great. So Percussion, my students (plus Jennifer, Jennifer and Liana) gave an incredible performance of Drumming. The concert by Nathaniel Bartlett was amazing, and the clinics and performances by John Parks, John Beck and the UCA Percussion Ensemble were really excellent. Special thanks to those of you that stopped by to enjoy the show.

It's hard to believe that it has been more than a week since the festival started. I'll get some pictures posted when I return.

Right now, I'm going to go watch Gregg rehearse with the band.