UASteel News Archive

The 2007 Spring Festival of the Arizona Percussive Arts Society (AZ PAS) was held at the University of Arizona in Tucson on March 30 - April 1, 2007. This was the 34th annual AZ PAS statewide celebration of percussion and featured the internationally acclaimed, Canadian based percussion group Scrap Arts Music as featured guest artists, clinicians, and adjudicators.

Percussion students and enthusiasts of all ages came together to perform for their peers and visiting guest artists, learn from professionals and listen to concerts of music presented by world-class guest artists and local percussionists. The AZPAS partnered with UApresents, the U of A School of Music and College of Fine Arts on funding. The Vancouver-based music ensemble, Scrap Arts Music, is a contemporary percussion ensemble comprised of five uniquely talented and extraordinarily athletic and innovative drummer musicians who create an unforgettable percussion music experience using kinetic instruments skillfully crafted from industrial scrap.

Scrap Arts Music was the featured concert with Phonk! on Saturday, March 31 in Centennial Hall and members of the ensemble adjudicated the AZ PAS Solo & Ensemble Festival Saturday morning, gave workshops and clinics to percussionists and enthusiasts of all ages Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning.

The kick-off concert for the AZ PAS Festival was the AZ PAS Mass Steel Drum Band performance on stage of Centennial Hall of Friday, March 30th at 8pm. This bi-annual tradition of the AZ PAS Festival featured steel drum bands ranging in age from elementary school through college and professionals from around the Southwest. Both the March 30 and 31 concerts were advertised in the 2006-2007 UApresents brochure with the Arizona PAS highlighted as a sponsor. These were mailed to thousands of potential audience members around the Southwest in May 2006.

The AZ PAS Festival brought together school and community percussionists and drummers who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn together and from world-class percussionists, and to provide a diverse menu of offerings to percussionists from around the state. All AZ PAS clinics and workshops are free and open to the public with discounts available to Festival participants for the Friday and Saturday night showcase concerts.

Tickets and more information available at UAPresents.org.

Guest artists for the event included Ray Holman, Chris Wabich, and Darren Dyke. The program included new music from various publishers such as Pan in Education, LTD., Pan Press, Pan Ramajay, Smarty Pans Music, Honeyrock, and House Panther Press.

This session at PASIC was one of many clinics, concerts, and master-classes, featuring musicians from around the world which was held from Wednesday, Nov. 8 through Saturday, November 12.