Hi folks,

Below are some shots taken by Chris Stankee (Artist Relations Manager) and Stacey Montgomery-Clark (VP Marketing) while they attended PASIC. Enjoy!


Jack DeJohnette and the new Vault 3-Point Ride that he inspired


Chris Pennie rocks out at his clinic




Ed Shaughnessy master class


Jack DeJohnette clinic - a full house!




Jack DeJohnette shows Vic Firth the 3-Point Ride


Jack's set-up and the audience patiently waiting


SABIAN's Paul Celucci and Chris Stankee, along with Chester Thompson, Lennie DeMuzio and Stacey Montgomery-Clark


SABIAN's Stacey Montgomery-Clark, with Jack DeJohnette and Chris Stankee


Virgil Donati clinic




Zoro clinic




Neil Peart's kit on the Guitar Center booth!


Diane Downs and her amazing Louisville Leopard Percussionists

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Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Final day at PASIC 2009!

With the Band of America finals also taking place in Indianapolis this weekend the start of the day was a little slower than the previous two. However, the day was still jam-packed with stuff to do and see and it wasn't long until the exhibition hall was back up to full volume!


The booth, as busy as ever, later in the day

A regular feature of PASIC are the 'FUNdamental' sessions. Covering the basic techniques and ideas for all instruments, they are a great way for students and teachers to pick up tips from professional players and teachers.

Ed Shaughnessy started the day with his drumset fundamental clinic. Ed brilliantly covered his subject in front of a large and attentive audience.


Ed Shaughnessy explains his approach to drumset during his FUNdamentals session

Also presenting a FUNdamentals session was SABIAN's very own Nick Petrella. Covering hand cymbals, suspended cymbals and triangles, Nick expertly covered the technical aspects of each of these instruments. A good number of volunteers were invited on stage by Nick and he soon demonstrated, through them, the basic techniques of all of these instruments.


Nick Petrella on stage during his FUNdamental session

One of the highly anticipated clinics of the convention was Jack DeJohnette's drumset clinic. Needless to say, he didn't disappoint. Immediately afterward, Jack joined us at the booth for an autograph session where his new signature 3-Point Ride garnered a lot of attention.


Jack DeJohnette signing autographs with fans at the SABIAN booth

Almost the last clinic of the convention was given by Virgil Donati. This hugely talented and seemingly multi-limbed drummer completely wowed the audience with his eclectic style of playing.

And then it was all over! Well, there was the small matter of packing down the booth but we got through that quick enough and soon we were leaving the exhibition hall for a well deserved drink!

If you've never been to a PASIC then it's well worth considering and it would be great to see you next year, again in Indianapolis.

We hope you've enjoyed reading our coverage of this year's PASIC. If you weren't able to get there in person, log onto www.sabian.com to hear about all the new products we launched, as well as exploring the forums, artist pages and much, much more.

Written by: Bruce Parry

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Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Day 2 here in Indy and the pace didn't pull up at all: the booth was busy all day and there were lots of clinics to keep those at the convention entertained and informed to the highest levels.

Bringing more international flare to the convention were percussion quartet, Badaboum. All students from the Conservatoire National de Region de Paris, where they study with SABIAN endorser, Frederic Macarez, kicked off the day with an impressive display of quartet repertoire.


Badaboum get Friday off to a great start with there recital performance

While interest on the booth remained at a high pitch, yet more clinics kicked off. For some crazy reason, Chris Deviney's and Nick Ormrod's clinics were programmed at exactly the same time! Go figure?

Both Chris & Nick played to very attentive audiences: the focus of Christopher Deviney's clinic covered playing those rarer instruments that inevitably end up in the hands of percussionists in the orchestra - the hammer, the glass harmonica and the ratchet are just a few examples of the instruments he talked about. Both an amusing and very informative clinic.


Chris Deviney in the middle of his presentation

Nick Ormrod brought his experience from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to his clinic covering orchestral snare drum. With his typical dry sense of humour he lead the audience and the participating students through some less well known yet very revealing excerpts.


Nick Ormrod leads a student through some less well known excerpts

Next up were the Louisville Leopard Percussionists lead by Diane Downs. With performances all over the US and with great performers such as Zoro under their belt, they took performing at PASIC easily in their stride. This infectious bunch of youngsters impressed everybody that heard them. Well done, Guys!

The day wound up with the PAS Hall of Fame reception. With some entertaining Latin big-band music to get the room jumping the evening started well. PAS president, Steve Houghton then quietened the room for more serious matters and Micky Hart and Jacques Delecluse were both inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame. While Jacques Delecluse was not present to receive his accolade, Micky Hart was and he gave a very thoughtful and entertaining speech.

Written by: Bruce Parry

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Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Wow - first day of the exhibition and although there were some performances yesterday (which we missed, unfortunately, as we were setting up) this is the day most people refer to as 'Day 1' - and what a day it has been.

The booth has been busy, constantly, all day. The Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspendeds have been of huge interest and admired by all. The table full of triangles has been swamped by people trying them out (and buying!). The prototypes have garnered everything from a subtle nod through gasps to out-loud 'Wow's.


A table full of triangles just waiting to be tried out

Quite often, the first day is quiet(ish - everything's relevant at these kind of events!) as people take stock and try and work out how far they can make their money stretch as they take in all the goodies on offer! It's the next day that we expect things to hot up a bit: not this time - the dial seemed to be stuck on 10 from the start and with no sign of any let-up at all.

As ever we've had many people pop by to say 'Hi' and check out all the new instruments. This year's winner of the SABIAN PASIC scholarship, Sanja Brankovic, was an early visitor to the booth before taking in the sights and sounds of the rest of the convention.


Nick Petrella, Sanja Brankovic & Stacey Montgomery-Clarke early on this morning at the booth

I managed to catch a little bit of Maraca2's performance - it was good to see these two guys from the UK bring some credibility to the 'International' in 'PASIC'. They packed out their venue with at least 350+ people and standing room only. Letting their playing do the talking they 'brought the house down' and were very well received. Well done, guys. Nice to see you flying the flag for Blighty [I'm a fellow Brit, too].

Zoro and Daniel Glass's joint clinic was fantastic as they brilliantly explained the roots of the shuffle and how it still plays a huge part in today's modern music. Zoro's cymbals sounded great and (with his ever-present hat not slipping an inch) he demonstrated his prowess at this style of music to a very attentive and appreciative audience.


Zoro (complete with hat) during his clinic

Well, that pretty much wraps up Day 1 here. If Day 2 & 3 match up to this one, we're in for a great and memorable time here at PASIC.

If you're here in Indy with us, do come by and say 'Hi' and also add your comments to the blog about all you're seeing, hearing and experiencing.


Written by: Bruce Parry

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Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Edited: 11/17/2009 at 02:44 PM by KATIE86

So, welcome to Indianapolis and PASIC 2009. If you are not actually here we hope to bring you daily news of what's been going on - the clinics, the news, the 'talk' - the next best thing to actually being here.

With the 'crew' arriving last night from various points in North America (and mostly avoiding delays caused by hurricane Ida) we started set-up shortly after 9. It always feels a little daunting when you walk into a huge exhibition hall and see all the booth components strapped to a large number of pallets; often the thought runs through your mind that there's no way all that will get set-up in time. However, the structure soon started to take place and everybody is busy setting up cymbal trees, gong stands, crotales and goose-neck stands (for the new Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspended - more on these great new models later on).


The booth early on in the day - slowly but surely taking shape

It's not unusual for many friends from the industry to pop by during set-up and say 'Hi' and in some cases get some help with their mobile phone - SABIAN's Nick Petrella seen here helping Steve Weiss!


Nick Petrella helps get a number 'into' Steve Weiss's phone

We've got some great graphics for this year's show - here's one of the new displays for the Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspended. I think we're going to have to reduce the Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspended to the acronym 'VATSS' or you'll get bored reading it and my fingers will tire of typing it!


The photography of the Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspendeds looks stunning on this display

More graphics go up, together with the cymbal-trees that will hold over 30+ prototype cymbals created in the Vault in Meductic especially for the show.


The large arches at each end of the booth look great with the large graphics

Inevitably, something gets forgotten and this year it was some rope to suspend the Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspendeds on the gooseneck stands. Thanks to Chris Stankee, who (heroically?) ventured out into deepest Indianapolis to find some, we now have everything ready at the Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspendeds display.




The new Vault Artisan Traditional Symphonic Suspendeds ready for Thursday morning

Finally, everything seems to be in place. We're all off to prepare for tomorrow. Pop back to catch all the news during the rest of the week and if you are planning on coming to the event make sure you come by the booth and check out all the cymbals on display and say 'Hi'.


All ready for the start of the show on Thursday

Written by: Bruce Parry

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Katie Robinson
eMarketing Coordinator
SABIAN Ltd.

Edited: 11/17/2009 at 02:44 PM by KATIE86