This was my first experience attending a PAS Convention and I must say it was an incredible and rewarding experience. Explaining my experiences on this report is only a touch of the iceberg. I believe that every drummer should attend at least one PAS event in his or her lifetime. The educational benefits you will receive can only be fully understood by attending yourself.
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My day began Thursday morning, and I requested my early wakeup call at the hotel even though I arrived in Ohio at 4am Thursday morning. PAS began Wednesday so unfortunately I missed all events that day.
My first step was to get to know the building’s layouts so I could understand what was taking place. The building was very big so there was a lot of walking taking place (very healthy for me I might add). |
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I ran into one of my friends and he explained how everything was working as he arrived the day before me. That was a big plus for me.
I headed to the lower level as that is where all the vendors were demonstrating and displaying all their products. Believe me, the room was much larger than what’s displayed below; I couldn’t get the whole area into the shot.
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Talk about love, the room was filled with percussion instruments and drummers playing non-stop. Loud you ask? Not for me, I was in drummer’s heaven. I took my first tour around and then while I was there, low and behold I ran into the one and only, Bernard Castiglioni. I introduced myself to him as one of his DW forum members and got a picture of us both. Bernard graciously invited me for coffee and that’s were we started to get to know each other. We both hit up the first drum clinic of the morning that day. After that clinic we parted our ways (but as Bernard said, I will see you at least 10 more times) So I got to hang with Bernard on several occasions.
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I will list all the clinics I personally attended. There were so many things to do that it was literally impossible for you to attend everything available. I’ve listed the clinics with their respective topics. To explain each one of these would take up pages, and as Bernard said, it would take so long to do. You can get some idea of the clinic by the subject listings I included.
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PASIC 2005 Clinics I attended:
Gustavo Meli
- Drum set Clinic/Performance
Larry Lelli
- Drum set Master Class/Broadway Beat-Playing shows and Making a living in NYC
Billy Kilson
- Drum set Clinic/Be ready for the gig
Glenn Kotche
- Drum set Clinic/Performance/Chant for Solo
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Sergio Bellotti
- Drum set Master Class/The space between the notes
Virgil Donati
- Drum set Clinic
John Blackwell
- Drum set Clinic
Concert:
Stefon Harris and Blackout
John Von Ohlen
with Vaughn Wiester's famous Jazz Orchestra
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Bernard Purdie
- Drum set Clinic
Steve Smith and Ganesh Kumar
- Indian Rhythms/Intro to Western Drummers
Clayton Cameron
- Drum set Master Class/Brushworks Brushes
Jamey Haddad
- Drum set Clinic
Ed Soph
- Drum set Master Class/Foundations for improvising on the drum set
Terry Silverlight
- Drum set Clinic Performance
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Akira Jimbo and Shuichi Hidano
- Drum set Clinic
Joe Locke & Christos Ralifides
Duo Concert
Jason Bittner
- Drum set Clinic/Performance
Jimmy DeGrasso
- Drum set Clinic
Tommy Igoe
- Marching/Drum set Master Class
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Stanton Moore
- Drum set Clinic/Take it to the street-A study of New Orleans Drumming
Rick Latham and the Groove Doctors
- Showcase concert
Terreon Gully
- Drum set Clinic/Performance/Versatility, Authenticity and Creativity in Modern Music
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Steve Gadd - Drum set Clinic
His famous quote that I will always remember “We are all in this together”.
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Dr. Steve Gadd was inducted into the PAS Musical Hall of Fame
To be a part of this honor that was received by Dr. Steve Gadd only exceeded my wildest dreams.
Steve Gadd - Concert with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra – Just an incredible display of Steve’s jazz performance. You could easily see the band was following him. But as we all know, Steve plays the music for the music.
Steve Smith - Concert with Buddy's Buddies – Steve was tearing it up during his performance, his famous display of his hi-hat techniques had the crowd in an uproar.
Hoodoo Soul Band and guests
Every evening after PAS there was a guest artist performing at the Hyatt Bar 2. Hoodoo Soul Band was a guest band that played the last night at the Hyatt Bar 2. And as you can see the band called Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie to sit in, and man can that man groove. Not only can he play drums but he was up there dancing with the best of them. It was just awesome to hang with all the greatest drummers of the world.
The cool thing about the clinics mentioned above is that everyone brought a unique style and teaching to the table. You never really realize how many great players are out there having their own individual style and technique until you blast through them one by one. PAS surely chose the individuals above very carefully and I must say it was an excellent choice for 2005.
I have to say that the whole experience for me was truly beyond any words that I can fully explain. I could go on for hours but then this report would end up a book. I plan on attending PAS 2006 for sure. Hope to see more of you there.
Jill Unrein
"Jamndrummer"
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