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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!
Bamboo Aids Haitian Earthquake Victims
We are picky about the quality of bamboo that we use for our TMB Series Timpani Mallets. VERY PICKY!
We start with the highest quality bamboo available and then hand select only straight bamboo lengths that are consistent in diameter and have very few nodes. In order to get lengths high enough in quality for our mallet handles, we have to go through lots of bamboo poles. LOTS! We actually reject over twice as much bamboo as we accept . “What do you do with all the rejected bamboo?” you might ask. Good question… In the past, we have sold rejected bamboo to be used as everything from bamboo fencing to bicycle frames!
Recently, we have begun a partnership with Architecture For Humanity. We donate the rejected bamboo to AFH, who uses bamboo for the construction of geodesic domes in Haiti. Bamboo is a good material to use in the superstructure of a geodesic dome due to its strength and flexibility. The finished domes will provide critical housing and shelter for victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.
We take so much for granted on a daily basis. All of us at Grover Pro are honored to be able to play a very small part in helping those less fortunate than we are.
Welcome To Our New Website!
I want to officially welcome you to the new Grover Pro Percussion website. I’m sure you’ll agree, our new site has a clean, crisp look and feel. Navigation has improved by the addition of easy to use navigation bars. We have also uploaded new images of many of our products. Click on one of our product images and a new window opens with a zoomed in view of the selected product. Of course, our tambourine alloy selection chart and the tambourine features animation have been incorporated into the new site as well.
Feel free to explore our pages and click away! Be sure to let us know how you like the new site .
A Busy UK Percussionist
Grover Endorser, Dave Danford, has rapidly become established as one of the UK’s leading percussionists, maintaining a busy schedule of solo recitals, orchestral concerto performances, studio recording sessions and master-classes. You can read more about Dave’s activities on his blog: http://www.musolife.com/my-jam-packed-2009.html
Playin In The Rain…
Recently, we ran a new PAS ad with a photo of Neil playing our new “X-Series” tambourine in the rain. Well, we’ve received so many comments about the new ad that we decided to post it here for all to view. We’re glad that so many appreciate the humor in this ad campaign! Yes, that is Boston’s Hatch Shell on the Esplanade in the background.
Swiss Drumming Explained
The January issue of Percussive Notes includes an article on swiss drumming that was written by Grover team member Lee Caron. Lee works in our production department here at Grover Pro. Like many of our team members, Lee is a skilled percussionist and also a music educator. Check it out…
Lee Caron
Factory Visitors
We’ve started out 2010 with some distinguished visitors to the Grover Pro Percussion factory. On January 14th, Professor Scott Herring from the University of South Carolina came to Boston to visit us. While he was here, Scott picked out one of our new Bronze Pro Hammered Triangles. Scott had quite the day, squeezing in a visit to both Grover Pro and Zildjian!
The next day we welcomed a group of percussion students from the Sao Paulo State University in Brazil. This group of students form the percussion group PAIP and are on a multi city tour of the United States. Rumor has it that the group’s director, Professor John Boudler, and Neil Grover were students together at Tanglewood back in the dark ages (mid 70′s).
While at the Grover Pro factory the PIAP members went crazy picking out triangles, tambourines, mallets, woodblocks, snare drums, etc. It really created some havoc here at our headquarters, but everyone, including the Grover staff, enjoyed their visit immensely!
HOLIDAY WISHES
On behalf of all the craftspeople and employees here at Grover Pro Percussion, I want to wish you a very merry holiday season. We extend our best wishes for a healthy & prosperous New Year.
With the winter solstice just days away, I thought that I would share some winter images of New England with you. I took these photos last winter while snowshoeing in New Hampshire, where I spend many weekends (when not performing with the Boston Pops).
Happy Holidays!
PAS Outstanding Supporter Award
Recently, I was honored by being presented with the Percussive Arts Society’s “Outstanding Supporter Award”. The Outstanding Supporter Award was established to recognize an individual each year who has significantly promoted the Society through their professional and educational activities to increase visibility and awareness of the Society.
I am deeply touched by the presentation of this award by my colleagues at the Percussive Arts Society. I’m proud to say that I have been a member of PAS for over 30 years. During this time, I have always appreciated and treasured my involvement in the PAS organization.
Me With PAS President Steve Houghton
PASIC 2009 – A Huge Success !
We’ve just returned from PASIC 2009 in Indianapolis and we had a fantastic show! Our exhibit was consistently mobbed by percussionists anxious to see the new line of G3 Concert Snare Drums, our new Bronze Pro Hammered Triangles and new “X-Series” Synthetic Headed Tambourines.
We sponsored two exciting presentations. The first featured the percussionists of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Their clinic was titled, “How To Advance At An Audition”, where the section talked about, and demonstrated, how to successfully navigate the elusive orchestral audition process. They used the new Grover “X-Series” tambourine in their presentation.
On Saturday, the Boston Symphony’s snare drummer, Lee Vinson, presented a symphonic clinic entitled, “Stop Practicing the Excerpts!”
In the clinic, Lee explained his approach to excerpts in which he creates exercises to tackle the problems associated with the passage, (in lieu of playing it repeatedly). Creative combinations and variations keep the music fresh while addressing the skills required to play it successfully. Lee covered exercises both Porgy and his daily cymbal warmup. His break-downs for Delecluse 11 and Shostakovich 10 sounded great on the new Custom Grover G3 Snare Drum!
Here are some photos and a video from the convention floor:
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