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Brock Hosts Day Of Percussion

St. Catharines, ON-based Brock University was host to the annual Day Of Percussion, presented by the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Ontario Chapter.

The Day Of Percussion was held on March 19, at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre in Brock University and Laura Thomas was the host. The day objective was to cover a wide variety of percussion styles to bring together clinicians, students and percussionists. Styles ranged from classical to world music and attendees ranged from beginners to professionals.

The exhibit of percussion instruments opened at 9 a.m. and the music began at 10 a.m. when Jeff Salem led a drum circle, A Little Drumming In Everyone. This drum circle put a beat in attendees with hand drums provided by Mountain Rythym. Salem has recorded and toured internationally with artists such as Lee Aaron, Robin Ford, Randy Bachman, Coop De Ville, Fist, Sword and Saints & Sinners. He has performed in over 60 countries, at many trade shows and cruise ships as player and bandleader. He performed on a millennium cruise to Antarctica where he worked with The Chieftains, Diana Krall, Natalie McMaster, Art Garfunkle and Dan Ackroyd. He also recorded drums for Kalan Porter’s debut CD. Salem has also opened his own percussion school called TIPS (Total Integrated Percussion Studies), where he gives private drum lessons. He is also a freelance writer for Canadian Musician and Modern Drummer.

Moving on from hand drums to a full-fledged drumset, Charlie Cooley took percussionists into the world of the drumkit in a session titled: All In Good Time. SABIAN Cymbals and Pearl Drums sponsored this session. Cooley has worked with many artists including Amanda Marshall, Manteca, Prairie Oyster, Long John Baldry, Jimmy Rankin and Kalan Porter. He’s quoted, “When I’m playing music, in whatever situation, I’m thinking ‘what can I do to best support the song?’ My goal is to help the composition speak directly to the listener.”

The final clinic was a Marimba clinic presented by D’arcy Philip Gray and sponsored by Yamaha Canada, Balance, Footwork and Body Position: Not Just for the Ice-Dance Competition! Gray has given premiers of over 25 works for chamber ensembles and/or solo percussion in 2004-05. He is a soloist and has taught at McGill University, the Banff Centre, the Amsterdam Conservatory and has given master classes all over the world. He is also a member of the Motion Ensemble, KORE, and is a clinician for Yamaha Canada, SABIAN and Twigg Musique.

The afternoon came to a close when Thomas, Greg Samek, Devon Fornelli and Craig Snowden performed in an afternoon concert and door prizes were presented to attendees. PAS is a music service organization that promotes percussion education, research, performance and appreciation throughout the world. There are a variety of different memberships available, all with many benefits.

For more information, visit www.pas.org.

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