Keith Carrick Joins Artist Roster!

Utah Symphony Principal Percussionist Keith Carrick joined the Utah Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 2012. From 2007 to 2012, he was Principal Percussionist of the Sarasota Orchestra, and appeared as guest soloist with the orchestra on several occasions. While in Sarasota, Keith was also on faculty at the State College of Florida. Keith has performed and taught extensively across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Originally from Mt. Airy, Maryland, Keith began his musical studies at age 8 in the public schools and at age 15 honed his classical training through the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship Program. He went on to graduate from Boston University as a student of Tim Genis, and the New England Conservatory as a student of Will Hudgins (both Grover Pro endorsers).

Keith can be heard on Andrew Beall’s album ‘Deliverance’ available through BMP records, and as a performer on the premiere performances and premiere recordings of Joan Tower’s Splendid Wood and Gunther Schuller’s Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards available through Naxos records. He has previously attended the Tanglewood Music Center, Verbier Festival, and the Music Academy of the West.

When not performing with the Utah Symphony, Keith enjoys travelling, hiking, kayaking, and rafting with his wife Kyra.

Pace-setting Percussionists

Percussion Trio Line Upon Line’s busy concert season comes to a close with performances at the Menil Collection, the Protos Festival, and an appearance at the Victoria Bach Festival.

This summer the group will begin work on four new commissions, soon to be added to their expanding repertoire. FOr more info about the group CLICK HERE.

Robert McCormick Featured on TampaClassical.com

Back in 1931 the term “Ionization” wasn’t a common household term. It was, however, the title of a pioneering piece of music by Edgar Varese that helped launch the realm of Percussion Ensemble music as a genre in its own right.

“Ionization has been recognized as one of the most important works of the 20th century both historically and as a cohesive work of literature,” said Robert McCormick, Professor of Music at the University of South Florida.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Grover Pro Welcomes Sue Hadjopoulos

Sue established herself in the field of contemporary rock and pop music when she teamed up with Joe Jackson on the classic platinum-selling CD “Night & Day” and accompanying world tour. As a direct result of her work on “Night & Day”, she garnered laudatory press around the globe and Modern Drummer Magazine 1982 Readers Poll voted Sue one of their favorite top 5 percussionists.

Sue was also a featured player on the Grammy award winning CD, “Symphony No. 1″ by Joe Jackson. Sue continues her collaboration with Joe Jackson and legendary engineer/producer Elliot Scheiner on “The Duke”, a Duke Ellington tribute CD and has just returned from a world tour with Joe Jackson and the Bigger Band featuring Regina Carter (Nov 2012).

Sue’s smooth blend of pop/salsa rhythms has since become her trademark. Known for her versatility, inspired percussion arrangements and strong vocal harmonies, she has since worked with such diverse artists as: Joe Jackson, Simple Minds, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Clarence Clemons, Tom Waits, Southside Johnny and the La Bamba Big Band, The B-52s, Basia, Barry Manilow, Kenny Loggins, Toni Braxton, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Toshi Reagon, Bernice Johnson Reagon, They Might Be Giants, Rickie Lee Jones, Davy Jones (Monkees), Mic Jones (Foreigner), Jane Siberry, Vicki Sue Robinson, Teena Marie and renowned singer songwriter Laura Nyro.

Sue’s percussion can be heard on numerous TV commercials and movie soundtracks. She has appeared in many music videos and has performed on major network TV shows all over the world including: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, The Dave Letterman Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Johnny Carson , Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Saturday Night Live, and The American Music Awards.

Sue’s composing credits include co-writing, arranging, producing and performing the song “Breaking Up” for the movie, BAR GIRLS, an Orion Pictures release. Other collaborations include her song, “Regresando A La Diosa”, which appears on the compilation CD, IN CONCERT…2010 produced by Local 802/AFM in support of the Musician’s Emergency Relief Fund. Theatrical collaborations include co-writing the music/libretto and creating the sound design for THE ROSE SLIPPERS, a Latin-tinged musical (inspired by the Jose Marti poem “Los Zapaticos de Rosa”) and produced in NYC which garnered a rave review from the NYTimes and won third prize in the 2004 Jackie White National Memorial Children’s theater competition.

She has been interviewed in Modern Drummer, Drum! Magazine, Classic (Vintage) Drummer, Modern Percussionist, Musico Pro, InTune Monthly Magazine, Rhythm Magazine (UK) and Slagwerkkrant Magazine (Holland). She has also written feature articles for RockrGrl Magazine, Drummergirl.com, Modern Drummer and Drum! Magazine.

Sue is currently working on a variety of theater, film, songwriting projects and original bands.

You Gotta Do More Than Pray

Grover endorser and motivational artist Mark Shelton is a contributor to the latest edition of “Worship Musician Magazine”.

CLICK HERE TO READ “TRIANGLE & SUSPENDED CYMBAL BASICS”

Mark Shelton

Steve Fitch Joins Artist Roster

Steve Fitch, born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, plays percussion, associate principal timpani and drum set with The Phoenix Symphony. He has performed in the Drum Corps International Championship finals, and attained sixth place in DCI’s “Snare Drum Individuals.”

Steve earned his bachelor’s of music degree in percussion performance with Michael Rosen at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and his master’s of music as a graduate teaching assistant to John Beck at the Eastman School of Music. While at Oberlin, Steve soloed with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, the Oberlin Wind Ensemble, and the Oberlin Percussion Group, and he won the school’s concerto competition performing Robert Kurka’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. He was also inducted into the honorary music fraternity Pi Kappa Lambda.

In the German press, Steve has been hailed as a “drum wonder,” “master drummer,” and “extraterrestrial” following performances of his piece “F/X” for solo snare drum.

His compositions for solo marimba: “Sweet East,” “Arctic,” “That Good Night,” “A Love Most True,” “Miles to Go Before I Sleep,” and “The Winds of Saturn,” and his pieces “Streams” for percussion trio, and “Fantastic Night” for multiple percussion solo, have been published by Whole>Sum Productions (distributed solely by C. Alan Publications). His piece for solo timpani with multiple percussion, “Lament and Recitative,” has been published by Zimmerman Music Publishers in Frankfurt, Germany.

Since 1993, Steve has played as a founding member of the Kalamazoo Percussion Trio in Hannover, Germany. Kalamazoo has been on the faculty of the “Festival junger Kuenstler” in Bayreuth since 1999. The group’s second CD is in the planning stages and will feature Steve’s composition “Streams – In Memoriam Thomas Mann.” Kalamazoo’s self-titled first CD on the CordAria label contains his work “Over the Edge.”

Steve has been a regular guest with the Radio Philharmonie Hannover des NDR, and the Hannover Pops Orchestra, with which he has performed and/or toured with such stars as Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Randy Crawford, and Patricia Kaas. Steve has also performed numerous times at the World’s Fair (Expo 2000) in Hannover, Germany.

He has written two books for drum: Fantastic Feet–Stepping Outside the Box and Fantastic Feet 2–The Footnotes, the first of which is with Mel Bay Publications (2010). In addition to joining the Grover roster, Steve is a Vic Firth drum stick artist and a member of the Vic Firth educational team and has been a Zildjian artist since 1995.

Factory Visit

Our good friend, Bill Manley, stopped by the Grover factory yesterday to select a pair of our new Pro Concert Castanets. Bill, a very busy Boston based percussionist, is heading south next week to play the season with the Sarasota Opera, where he holds Principal Percussion chair (or rather stool).

A little know fact is that Bill, who secretly know as the “Grosse Glocken Meister”, is our resident Naugahyde historian and expert.

Keep them naugas grazing Bill!

Matt Darling Joins Artist Roster

Matthew Darling is a Professor of Music at California State University, Fresno, where he has taught percussion since 1991. In addition to teaching, Matt is the principal timpanist/percussionist with Music in the Mountains (Nevada City, CA), a position he has held since 1987. Matt is the principal timpanist with the Sacramento Choral Society Orchestra, principal percussion in the Fresno based Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, a section percussionist with the Arizona MusicFest in Scottsdale, and performs regularly with both the Fresno Philharmonic and Sacramento Philharmonic. He holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Arizona, a Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Sacramento State University. Matthew currently serves as President of the California Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society.

We welcome Matt, to our expanding artist roster!

Factory Visit

Marcus Hunter, Dave Share & Carl Small

These two dynamic musicians have years of experience recording and backing top artists like Whitney Houston, Dr. Dre, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Chris Brown and Michael Jackson just to name a few!

While here they picked up triangles, SilverFox sticks and a new G2 Custom Snare Drum.

National Symphony Principal Percussionist Joins Roster

Eric Shin, the new Principal Percussionist of the National Symphony in Washington D.C. has just joined the impressive roster of Grover Pro endorsing artists!

Previously, Erik was acting principal percussionist of the Detroit Symphony and principal percussionist of the Honolulu Symphony. He has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ojai Music Festival, amongst many others.

A recipient of The Cloyd Duff Scholarship, Mr. Shin received a bachelors degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Richard Weiner and Paul Yancich. Upon graduation, Mr. Shin was awarded the Bruce Collie Award for percussion excellence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He went on to pursue graduate studies at The Juilliard School with Greg Zuber. As a student, Mr. Shin participated in the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and National Orchestral Institute.

Eric Shin is a faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Music.