PERCUSSIVE ARTS SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION | BY JENNY DOMINE

World Pulse

Crowds filled the 118,000-square-foot exhibit hall in smaller numbers than last year, but growth was still evident at the 2007 Percussive Art Society’s International Convention (PASIC) in its quality of educational events and the international community’s stronger presence.

“I think [PASIC’s] unique in the world by virtue of the variety of clinicians it has and how it’s [turned] a very small, intimate show into a major attraction,” said Vic Firth Inc.’s founder Vic Firth of the convention, which ran from Oct. 31–Nov. 3, 2007, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

World Rhythms
According to Neil Grover, president of Grover Pro Percussion and PAS board member, “there has been a focus this year on bringing international people in.” This was evident in the presentations by noted percussion artists, including French keyboardist Emmanuel Sejourne, Canadian percussionist Ann-Julie Caron and congeuro Giovanni Hidalgo. These clinics covered everything from drum set and orchestral percussion to world music and marching.

Pearl made a strong world music showing with its bright yellow and green Brazilian Percussion instruments, which can be played traditionally or set up like a drum kit. This follows the format of Pearl’s Reference series where each piece of a standard drum kit is designed like an independent instrument unto itself.

“It’s a really good time for drummers, especially for someone starting out,” said Gene Okamoto, Pearl’s drum and percussion product manager. “They are going to get a high-quality instrument to start off, which is much better than when I started.”

In Search of Hip
It was many of those young beginners and students that took full advantage of PASIC, which took place during Halloween. Students wandered from one interactive display to the next like trick-or-treaters loaded with goodie bags full of promotional giveaways. The presence of these end-users is part of what makes PASIC worthwhile for suppliers.

“It’s a consumer show, where we put on our consumer hats,” said Mapex Product Development Manager Joe Hibbs “Here we talk about instruments and what motivates people to play.”

Toca reached out to student consumers with hip, edgier, graphic-novel-type art, mixing rock culture and world percussion instruments. “It gives them a no-limit attitude,” said Victor Filonovich, Toca’s product manager. “We always have to strive to reach new levels of hipness, to have the next cool thing. A lot of drummers are buying on impulse, and a lot of drummers are buying because they are very schooled and they know exactly what they want.”

Generating Buzz
Many percussion manufactures were waiting to debut new products at the upcoming winter NAMM show, but PASIC provided a place to build consumer buzz, as Jupiter did with its soon-to-be-released Quantum series. Others used PASIC as an opportunity for soft launches and to show prototypes for try-out. At the Vater Percussion booth, the main focus was to get feedback on new items like its double-sided Chop Builder practice pad.

Other suppliers were eager to take advantage of the number of educators and artists in the exhibit hall. “We always bring some prototypes to get feedback,” said Debbie Zildjian, vice president of human resources for Zildjian. “It’s such a great time to have an exchange of ideas.”

LP previewed Factory Metal Percussion, a new line it’s distributing. Mike Robinson, D’Addario’s senior product manager for percussion and SB&O, discussed the HQ brand Universal Base Mute. “It’s the first time anybody is seeing it,” he said. “Whereas older base drum mutes used to be based on the size of the drum, we have one that fits every size from 12-inch to 26-inch. So for the retailer, this makes a lot more sense. You only have to carry one SKU rather than multiple SKUs and a higher level of inventory.”

Remo released the user-friendly NuSkyn conga head to combat the problem of fitting conga heads to the slight size variations across manufacturers. And Pro-Mark Mallet Manager Bruce Salyers was on hand to show new lines of mallets from Pro-Mark’s acquisition of Percussion Construction.

“We are the only drumstick company that is actually making its own mallets in-house now,” said Pat Brown, director of sales and marketing.

A Quiet Trend
For a trade show that is by its very nature loud and proud of it, the most heavily trafficked booths were virtually silent.

“Electronic percussion, from what I understand, has been one of the fastest-growing segments,” said David Garza, product specialist for Roland, which showed the compact HD-1 electronic drum kit— first introduced at the 2007 Summer NAMM Show. “Roland is one the largest drum companies out there, and we don’t even make acoustic drums.”

Alesis, new to the electronic percussion arena, had three new releases, including the the DM-5 pro kit.

Another quiet booth was Beatnik Rhythmic Analyzer, which was selling its latest model, the RA1200P. A metronome is built into a drum pad to provide interactive feedback. The educational tool offers a game that keeps score of the drummer’s rhythmic accuracy.

The Knowledge Formula
For Yamaha, education and service were emphasized more than the latest product. “We talk more about the relationship we have with educators and artists,” said Roger Eaton, director of marketing for Yamaha B&O. “We have our formula figured out on how to best represent Yamaha at these shows. It hasn’t changed much other than it’s grown.”

According to Grover, PASIC’s emphasis on education, research and performance is necessary due to the multi-faceted nature of being a drummer. “I say to my violinist friends, ‘You know, learning to play the triangle is not as difficult as it is to play the violin, but learning to play the triangle, snare drum, steel drum, conga drum, timpani, marimba, drum set, that’s what’s hard about what we do. There is such a wide range of techniques and concepts. That’s a lot of knowledge you have to have.”

The 2008 PASIC will continue to provide that knowledge from Nov. 5–8 in Austin, Texas. MI

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