Our high school MarimbaLab group made history this November by traveling to Indianapolis to perform at PASIC 2024, the largest percussion festival in the world! The kids performance/competition went so well that the judges invited us to play in the High School winners showcase! They loved us! In addition to performing, the kids attended clinics/performances from some of the best drumset and marimba players from around the world. Not only did they get to see these players up close, but they were able to meet them in person, ask questions and even take pictures! We experienced so many things it would take hours to explain to anyone that wasn’t there, so I decided to make a web page dedicated to the pictures, videos and stories from the trip. What did we learn? What was our favorite performance? What did the judges like about our playing and what do we need to work on? Please take time to educate yourselves on this conference because we are going to be working this trip into our MarimbaLab High School program each year. Enjoy!
Day 1: After getting settled into our Airbnb, we went to the opening concert to see Four Time Grammy winner Antonio Sanchez and his band Bad Hombre, his touring band. Antonio has had an amazing career touring with the Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra, Pat Metheny Group, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his unique drumset score for the movie “Birdman” with Michael Keaton. This concert was the performance of his new album entitled “Shift” which is a collaboration with artists Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Dave Matthews, Pat Metheny, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Kimbra and many more. Check out his website here: https://www.antoniosanchez.net/
Day 2: The First Full Day Of Clinics
We had our faces melted by Chris Turner, a metal drummer and producer. Many of my students asked me what band he plays in, but the right question at PASIC is "who does this drummer let play in his band?". At PASIC you see drummers and percussionists that ARE the main attraction. People go the shows to watch them play and Chris Turner is a perfect example of that. He writes all of the music for his band "Oceans Ate Alaska". Check out one of the tracks he performed from his solo album. https://youtu.be/IDfMYT6mKhQ?si=nARchyZzPf7RD-qd
Day 2: So right off the bat, every person attending the conference had to choose from 3-5 different clinics happening at the same time…..every hour…..for the rest of the day. Some of us focused on drum set clinics, and some focused on marimba clinics. Finn Houston and I were really excited to see Fabian Ziegler, a super famous touring percussionist. His group Trio Colores, from Switzerland and Austria, inspired Finn to play their arrangement of Debussy’s “Petite Suite” on our MarimbaLab concert last year. He was performing the music of John Psathas, one of the most prolific composers of percussion music. Finn and Bjorn got to meet him!!