Sleishman Beijing Workshop '09

A total first for us. David Sleishman, company MD, held a Sleishman Drum Co workshop to an enthusiastic crowd of Beijing drummers on behalf of The Chinese Percussion Society.

It was a great honor to present the workshop. The event was held At The National Chinese Military Band Auditorium. And we must say that the acoustics of the venue were superb.

On hand were three of the latest Omega Series Maple Kits. A tobacco burst rock pack, a deep ocean fade fusion set up and a cherry 18" bass drum kit.

Not being a known drum brand in this part of the world, the 200 + curious drummers in the room were given a total acoustic experience as we specifically did not mic one of the kits. All three kits were tuned to provide the audience with distinct tonal differences.

David started the afternoon with a 15 minute solo. Kicking off on the jazz set up and with mallets, brushes and then onto sticks, his improvised solo moved from one kit to the next as each se was played with as many dynamics as possible, to highlight the true spectrum of tonal colors achievable from our free floating drum kits.

Then came the not so easy part... Talking drums to a completely non English speaking audience... Another first : ) Thankfully David had a very patient interpreter!Running through the finer points of the Sleishman system did throw up a few curve balls, as terminology such as 'bearing edge' and 'total resonance system', may not have come out the other side of David's trusty interpreter just as he intended... but the general message seemed to be received well enough... we think : )

The best way to get the message across is always through the drums themselves. So David jumped back on the Fusion kit and just went for it for a while. He was then joined by local drumming whiz Sara Duan.

Sara jumped on the rock set up and the two immediately locked into a funky as groove and began to trade fours.

Sara is an outstanding drummer... with more than a few chops up her sleeve. Sara and David managed to really get the crowd going as the fours escalated into one massive roar.

Numerous high profile local players were invited up on stage first to check out the kits first hand.

Then, the rest of the audience were treated to the same. All three kits... armed with Sleishman Twin Pedals as well... were all given a thorough work out. We were really impressed with the playing abilities and enthusiasm of the drummers in attendance... especially the kids. There was more than one John Blackwell Jr impersonator!

We really enjoyed the opportunity to present Sleishman to some of the most respected drummers in China. We're delighted to announce that we now have a sales office based in Beijing and are already kitting up quite a few local players and drum schools with our gear.