the official blog of the Percussive Arts Society

Often, the saying referenced in the title of this letter suggests a sense of disappointment, the idea that efforts to change and improve are met with results that are lamentably the same. In this letter, I hope to reframe that perception with a confidence that as things change with the R!S Blog, the excellence that has accompanied it, and its predecessor, Rhythm! Scene, will continue to be a distinguishing characteristic of this digital publication for PAS!

The first issue of Rhythm! Scene hit the Percussive Arts Society website on February 1, 2014, under the supervision of Percussive Notes Senior Editor Rick Mattingly. By the third issue, Megan Arns was appointed editor of this publication and helped establish it as a quality digital resource. About three years later, in January 2017, I had the pleasure of following in Megan’s footsteps, taking over the reigns as Rhythm! Scene editor, still of course in partnership with Rick. In late 2019, after six years as a bimonthly digital magazine, PAS leadership recommended that the publication transition to a blog format, releasing new content several times each week instead of a single digital magazine every other month. A handful of people worked diligently behind the scenes to bring some of the published R!S magazine content to the blog in anticipation of the formal debut on January 1, 2020. Today marks the three-year anniversary of that transition and the nine-year anniversary of Rhythm! Scene as a free, digital publication of the Percussive Arts Society. It also marks my sign-off as editor.

Yet, with change, as we have seen over decades of progress from PAS, comes growth, expansion, new ideas, new opportunities, and as I expect will be the case with the R!S Blog, much of the same excellent digital content available to PAS members and the greater percussion community!

The Composition Committee will continue to created new solos every other month. The Education Committee will continue to provide Tuesday Tips. The Drum Set Committee is committed to providing a Groove of the Month and PAS Playlists. The Health and Wellness committee will continue to create Wellness Wednesday content. You will still see your monthly Throwback Thursday and From the Museum columns, along with so much other great content created by individuals within our percussion community.

So, as I said in my R!S Blog welcome article three years ago, please subscribe, check-in regularly, tell others about this resource, and if you are so inclined, contribute articles, interviews, or news of your own. As a reader myself, I continue to expect that you, our percussion community, will be creating and submitting content that holds to and raises the standard of this digital resource.

PASIC PREVIEW
PASIC 2022 starts in 35 days! Even given the tremendously successful 2021 conference and an innovative virtual event in 2020, there are many who are just now able to eagerly anticipate a return to PASIC for the first time since 2019 or before. The refrains of gratefulness to be back together again and the community we share as a family that is our percussion society will once again permeate the halls of the Indianapolis Convention Center and Rhythm! Discovery Center for four days of the premiere percussion event.

As if you need more motivation to get excited about PASIC 2022, the Percussive Notes PASIC Preview Edition is now available to everyone online [https://indd.adobe.com/view/1c1db523-8731-4c64-9e2f-d9f0bfdf329b], filled with artist spotlights and session descriptions for events that will soon take center stage and provide us all with yet another hour-after-hour and day-after-day of professional development and enrichment experience to propel us into the new year.

For those who can’t attend in person, PAS is excited to again offer a number of exceptional virtual sessions available to PAS members that will launch during the PASIC convention. These sessions will also be featured in the PASIC Preview Edition of Percussive Notes, and may serve as a perfect introduction to individuals who decide to make 2023 their first in-person PASIC experience.

As always, the PASIC Preview Edition is digitally available to anyone, not just PAS members, so please share this issue with others who may be considering taking advantage of all that PAS and PASIC have to offer.

For those attending PASIC, we’ll see you shortly!

Happy New Year!

As the R!S Blog enters its third year, I thought it might be worth a quick note to briefly highlight a few of the extensive resources and services that are provided by the Percussive Arts Society, particularly for those who may not have explored a membership in the society.

I will have the pleasure this upcoming spring to pass the 30-year benchmark as a PAS member. I first joined PAS as a high school senior, attended my first PASIC in 1995 in Phoenix, Arizona, and have served as a chapter officer, a committee member and committee chair, a new literature reviewer for Percussive Notes, and now work as the editor of Rhythm! Scene. I have benefited greatly from local percussion events sponsored by my state chapter, contributed articles to PAS publications, and enjoyed articles submitted by others to enhance my professional development as well as share with students in my private studio. PAS has allowed me to connect with colleagues and industry professionals around the world and continues to enhance and add to its website and social media outlets.

In addition to the R!S blog, which is free to any interested readers, PAS publishes six issues of Percussive Notes each year, posts regularly to its YouTube channel, facilitates chapter Facebook groups, provides reviews of new literature and recordings, manages a world-class museum — the list goes on and on! Starting this year, regional Days of Percussion will bring the PASIC experience in a two-day package closer to home for many who haven’t made it out the annual convention. State chapters are still hosting local events as well in all areas of percussion performance and percussion education.

Despite the hurdles of the past couple years, the Percussive Arts Society remains active, healthy, and committed to providing a wealth of services to its members and the percussion community at large. I hope you will further explore these resources and, if you aren’t a PAS member already, consider joining the society and becoming a part of this incredible family of percussionists!