Hit Me…
As a percussionist, often you have to perform on an unusual instrument. Interesting "instruments" I've had to play over the years include: brake drums, trash cans, breaking bottles, thunder sheet, coffee cans, railroad spikes, pool tubing, anvil, air raid siren, water cooler bottles, taxi horns, klaxon horn, all types of whistles, the inside of a grand piano, prayer stones, temple bells, tubaphone, church bells, etc., etc.
Last week, I was at Tanglewood playing with the Boston Symphony. Amongst other instruments, I got the chance to play a very large hammer (hitting a wooden box) in Berg's "Three Pieces For Orchestra". Everyone was careful not to upset me...I wonder why?
THE ORIGINAL MARK TREE® NOW AVAILABLE!
It was the early 70's and LA studio percussionist, Mark Stevens, needed a new sound for a recording project. He went into his workshop and what emerged was an instrument that changed the percussionist's arsenal forever. The Mark Tree® bar chime was born, and wow, did it take off! Mark could not keep up with orders for his new invention so he handed over the manufacturing responsibilities to SPECTRASOUND™, a percussion manufacturer in the LA area.
After years of waiting, the original Mark Tree bar chime is once again available! Sure, there's dozens of bar chime imitations, but only SPECTRASOUND bar chimes can truly be called a Mark Tree® bar chime.
Check out our products page for more information and sound samples!
Triangle Girls Gone Wild !
Aya Kaminaguchi is a wonderful young percussionist and was colleague of mine while I was on the Star Wars tour. I'm back in Boston, but Aya is still out on the road. She sent me a link to a wonderful blog about her triangle playing. Go to the link and be sure to sit through about 30 seconds of video footage. Then you'll see Aya on the big screen and hear the crowd go wild !
FWIW- Aya uses a Grover TR-9 Super-Overtone triangle.
Pops Goes The Fourth !
This will be the 33rd consecutive year that Neil Grover will be playing the giant Boston Pops Fourth of July concert on the Esplanade. This year, the guest artist is country star Toby Keith.
There will be quite a few Grover products heard, including a Grover concert bass drum, 2 Grover snare drums, tambourines, triangles and woodblocks. You can catch the show live on CBS, starting at 10pm (EST). If you live in the Boston area, you can catch the entire show on WBZ starting at 8:35pm.
Have a great holiday!
Heavenly Sounds…
A high energy performer, multi-percussionist Mark Shelton utilizes a vast array of percussion sounds. Mark is very active in the "Percussion For Worship" movement. We had the pleasure of experiencing Mark's work last year at PASIC, where he "facilitated" one of the late night hand drum jam sessions. Mark had the room of 100+ percussionists rockin' late into the night! We're surprised the hotel management didn't shut us down..
In his arsenal, Mark uses a number of Grover products (check out the Grover Super-Overtone triangles in the photo). For more information about Mark and his varied activities go to: www.marksheltonmusic.com.
Grover South Of The Border!
While performing recently in Monterrey, Mexico, I had a chance to visit with Mike Tovar, owner of Mike's Drum Shop. Mexico's top percussionists shop at Mike's and for good reason. Mike's Drum Shop has an impressive selection of the finest mallets, ethnic percussion and concert percussion accessories. Mike's is also one of our very best dealers and stocks a wide variety of Grover products, including tambourines and snare drums. So, if you're in Mexico and need a Grover product contact Mike's Drum Shop in Monterrey!
Mike Tovar, owner of Mike's Drum Shop
“Open-Tone” Temple Blocks Now Available !
Grover Pro has just released the new "Open-Tone" temple blocks. These high quality blocks are manufactured in eight graduated sizes. Two different sets are available, our "standard" set of five and our unique "bass" set of three. Each set is sold separately, so that if you already own a set of five blocks, you can add our "bass" set to expand the tonal range of your temple block setup. Click here for more detailed information.
On The Road Again…
I leave today for a 10 week concert tour of North America with "Star Wars In Concert". Some of you may remember that I did a short stint in the fall. This time around, I've signed up for all 10 weeks! Click on the link and then go to "tour dates". You'll see a listing of where we're performing.
SWIC is a great multi-media production and needless to say, the music is superb ! Some of the equipment we use are the new Grover G3 snare drums, a Grover Projection-Plus Field Drum, plus Grover triangles and tambourines.
If you decide to attend, please let me know by dropping me a line at: ngrover@groverpro.com. I'd love to meet up at intermission and say a quick "hello".
Berklee Students Visit Factory
Today, Berklee Professor Dean Anderson brought a few of his top students to visit the Grover Pro factory. The students took the factory tour, which includes both Grover Pro and SilverFox production. They were amazed at the level of "hands-on" craftsmanship that goes into every Grover Pro product. After a quick lunch, the students left with a new sense of respect for percussion manufacture!
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