Nearly 2,000 percussion enthusiasts filled the Columbus Convention Center’s main ballroom this past Saturday to see Paul Rennick lead the Phantom Regiment percussion section in a 45-minute featured clinic performance, the corps’ 4th such PASIC appearance.
“This clinic was a chance to demonstrate how today’s drum corps percussionists are more complete musicians than anytime in our activity’s history” stated Rennick, Phantom Regiment’s percussion arranger and caption head. “It was also a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the members of the Regiment drumline, who’ve all worked hard to create an outstanding ensemble.”
Paul began the clinic by thanking the corps’ endorser-partners who helped make the event possible, including the Pearl Corporation, Adams Percussion, Remo, Inc., Innovative Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals and TreeWorks Chimes. After being sure to also thank the members of the line, who all made many sacrifices to clear their schedule in what is a very busy time of the year, Paul warmly acknowledged his staff team and also thanked the many Regiment supporters in the audience.
With the entire drum section on hand, the clinic quickly moved into showcasing the 2005 Phantom Regiment production “Rhapsody”. Pointing out that he had never before worked a show with such complex tempos and tough listening demands, Paul highlighted several unique ways in which the line applied their musicianship skills to overcome those challenges and create one of the corps’ best percussion shows in it’s history.
The session wrapped up with Paul sharing an anecdote on how he came to add actual tap-dance shoes to the drum feature and then closed with the line giving a performance of the final selection from the 2005 show, including the exciting percussion feature and the fan-favorite swing section.
In addition to this year’s appearance, Phantom Regiment was also featured at PASIC in 1981, 1984 and 1988.
