More than 5,700 percussionists descended on Indianapolis last week for one of the largest such gatherings in the world.
The musicians convened at the Indianapolis Convention Center for the Percussive Arts Society's 48 th annual meeting.
The Percussive Arts Society International Convention has been held in Indianapolis since 2016.
Joshua Simonds, the Executive Director of the Percussive Arts Society said they're the largest member-based percussion association in the world, which makes these gatherings very important.
“These four days are the most important four days of for our community in terms of research, performance education, but also, we're a large family," he said.
The schedule was filled with different genres of performers, speakers, and percussion competitions for student groups.
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Om Joshi and Nash Pulley are in the ensemble group that won their high school division. Joshi said the group was excited to qualify to come and then win.
Pulley said they are excited to watch famous musicians perform live.
“And now it's just like fun," Pulley said. "I say it's like an NBA All Star game, like everybody that's anybody in percussion is here."
One of those musicians, Valerie Naranjo, brought her students from New York University. The percussionist for Saturday Night Live, she said this is probably her twentieth Society event.
“The networking, not only personal networking, or social networking, but just the education and passing of information, and of course, the enjoyment of great music. That's very special.”
It’s not an accident the event happens in Indianapolis, according to Simonds. It’s a concerted effort on the city’s part to bring events and tourism in through conventions. Before 2016, the Society rotated cities.
The Travel Team lists Indianapolis as one of the top ten cities in the US for conventions, along with Atlanta and Miami.
