PASIC! Part Two...

Finally! Some time to write Part Two of my PASIC blog! I've actually tried two other times, but was having trouble with blogger not accepting the photos I was trying to upload.



This first picture is from the final concert on Saturday night (I think these photos are in reverse order, but it doesn't really matter...). This is Airto Moreira's band. They were pretty stinking cool! After having taught a percussion ensemble transcription of one of his tunes, I was really looking forward to seeing his band in concert. I mentioned in the other blog post that the hotel I stayed in was pretty nice. Here's more evidence of that. This the driveway at the front of the hotel where the bellhops and valets stand. They have a continuous supply of mist for them to stay cool. Even though it was November in Austin, it was still fairly warm during the day. I would imagine that those guys really appreciate being misted during those hot summer days.

Here are a few pics from the Santa Clara Vanguard drumline clinic. I've been to a lot of these clinics, but I don't always get as much out of them educationally as I do motivationally. This was a case for both. Not only was the playing great, but the clinic portion from their instructors was very insightful.

When I was in Phantom Regiment, our percussion head and arranger was Brian Mason. Now, he's with SCV. For SCV, he's the front ensemble coordinator. Hearing his portion of the clinic reminded me of a lot of the things I learned from him when I had the mallets in my hands. This clinic was a good reinforcement for me. And of course, he's a great teacher with some really solid ideas that I'll definitely be trying to incorporate.

Here's a picture from the best clinic I saw while at PASIC. This was Bill Bachman's tenor clinic. To me, tenors is somewhat still a foreign language -- but in the way that drumset is a foreign language: I can still get the job done, but it's not my number one thing.

This wasn't just the best clinic because I need to brush up on my quad knowledge, but because Bill had a lot of very sound advice as far as developing "chops" goes. His discussion on teaching rudiments was something I really needed to hear. This has influenced my teaching quite a bit and it influenced my teaching immediately.

Picture quality's not always great. Sorry!

Now, here are some pictures from the exhibit hall.

Old school fiberglass drumset by Ludwig.

Some metal "constructions."

Gigantic practice pad for you and ALL of your friends.

A few opera gongs.

Some Taiko drums offered by Remo.

A few custom snare drums from Yamaha.

A closer look at one of them...

And finally, here's a picture of a friend of mine from drum corps, Daniel McCloud. I hadn't done a very good job of keeping up with Daniel, so it was nice to bump into him and have lunch together. He's finishing work on his Doctorate -- a secret ambition of mine, except that I don't really want to teach at the collegiate level, so not necessary otherwise. Soon to be called Dr. McCloud and deservedly so! It was interesting to hear each other's life experiences post-drum corps. And it was interesting to hear how that mutual experience has shaped our lives in very different and in ways that we could never have expected or lived without!