Hit Strike Beat
BY NANCY STETSON Florida Weekly correspondent
Mention percussion and most people automatically think of drums.

But percussion encompasses much more. In addition to a wide variety of drums, it also includes marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, cymbals, tambourines, triangles, chimes - any instrument that can be struck, hit or beat with sticks, mallets, hands, palms or fingertips. Even the piano is a percussion instrument, because pressing the keys makes tiny hammers hit strings inside.

"Percussion embraces life. It's energy. It's something everybody can connect to...It's so primal," says drummer Chet Doboe. "I believe people feel the groove on different levels."

Doboe's New York drum group, Hip Pickles (named after an obscure Blood Sweat & Tears tune) will be a featured artist at this year's Percussion Summit Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples. He describes the group's sound as incorporating corps percussion, world percussion and Latin percussion, along with street entertainment.

"We also have a pop band approach -- we do sing," Doboe says. "There's a lot of movement in what we do. We connect with the audience, we're interactive. The audience feels involved."

COURTESY PHOTO She-e Wu, Associate Professor of Music at Rutgers University, will perform at the Summit.

The 22-year-old group, which gives over 200 performances a year, developed their dynamic appeal the hard way; for six seasons they were street performers at New York City's South Street Seaport.

"We had to be catchy enough that people stopped and watched," Doboe says.

New York audiences are notoriously tough - they've heard it all and seen it all and they're accustomed to the best. Hip Pickles had to appeal to kids, parents, college students, professionals, grandparents and tourists.

The group is doing something right; for the past three years straight they've been voted the No. 1 percussion group in a Readers' Poll in "Drum" magazine, beating Stomp and Blue Man Group.

The other featured artist at Percussion Summit 2007 is She-e Wu, a concert marimba soloist. Wu is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of Performance and Jazz Faculties at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She also directs the Rutgers Percussion Ensemble (who won the 2004 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition) and coordinates the Percussion Program.

COURTESY PHOTO John Evans came up with the idea of a percussion summit. After an enthusiastically received first concert, it became an annual event. This is the seventh year for the summit.

Doboe calls her "amazing."

"There are a few people really considered at the top of their field, and she's one of the handful," says John Evans, principal timpanist of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and originator of the annual Percussion Summit. "She'll be performing a piece she wrote --she'll be the soloist-- with four other musicians playing percussion."

The Summit also includes, as always, the percussion musicians from the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, and the Jacksonville Symphony, along with the principal percussionist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, who also participated last year.

Percussionists are eager to participate, as concerts focusing solely on percussion are a rarity.

"There really is nothing like it in the United States," says Evans. "Several university programs will give percussion ensemble concerts, but as far as the professional level, there is nothing to this extent."

Evans came up with the idea of a percussion summit and presented it to Philharmonic CEO and founder Myra Daniels. She liked the idea. After an enthusiastically received first concert, it became an annual event. This is the seventh year for the summit, but only the sixth concert. (Due to the threat of Hurricane Ivan, the 2004 Percussion Summit was cancelled.) The programs, though highly professional, are informal, appealing to both kids and adults.

The material they perform is varied. In addition to performances by She-e Wu and Hip Pickles, this year's program also includes Bach played on 13 marimbas; "Honk," in which four musicians each play a marimba, tom-tom and bass drum; "Hoo'daiko," a Japanese kodo drum piece performed on 13 bass drums; a cover of "King of Pain" by the Police and "Minuano" by jazz greats Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. That last piece will be performed on nine marimbas, two vibraphones, one xylophone and "bells, drum set, a lot of toys, a piano and electric bass," Evans says.

"Percussion is the magic of music," Doboe declares, "the life-beat of music. It's the pulse that everyone can connect to...It's just euphoric." ¦

If you go >> What: Percussion Summit 2007 >> When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8 >> Where: Philharmonic Center for the Arts, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples >> Cost: $25 for adults, $10 for students >> Information: For more information or tickets, call (239) 597-1900 or (800) 597-1900 or go to www.thephil.org. A special percussion clinic will be held from 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8. Call for more information and tickets.