RNCM Day of Percussion

Paul Patrick had an early start into the world of percussion when he joined the Cheltenham Sea Cadets. Having  quickly realised he  suffered from  extreme sea sickness he joined the Corps Band instead! Eventually  he moved on and  carried on his percussion studies at the Royal Academy of Music with the renowned James Blades.

After graduating and joining the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet (not as a dancer !) he joined the BBC  Philharmonic and became Principal Percussionist – a position which he has held for 41 years. In this time Paul has worked with some of  the great British  composers such as Peter Maxwell Davies and James McMillan and performed many unusual  pieces using some of the weird and wonderful instruments you will hear today.

In addition to his very busy schedule with the orchestra Paul is  Percussion lead at Chetham’s School of Music, tutors at the RNCM and the University of Manchester and operates his own hire business called Patrick Percussion. In 1987 Paul was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his services to British Music. He is also an instrumental consultant for the BBC Young Musician  of the Year.

Paul has shared his enthusiasm for percussion with his family and his son Oliver is also a percussionist. Paul  has recently become a proud grandpa to Max and Ava who he is now introducing to the delights of noisy percussion instruments!

Jim Kilpatrick MBE started playing drums at the age of 9. His progress was so rapid that within two years he was competing at the highest level in Grade 1 competition.

Jim has received many awards and honours throughout his prestigious and successful career as a drummer/percussionist.  These include MBE for his services to Music & Drumming, awarded by Her Majesty The Queen.  Percussion Arts Society, Life Time Achievement award.  Scottish Music, Hall of Fame.

At the age of 15, Jim joined Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia pipe band, where in 1973 he won his first World Drum Corps and World Pipe Band Championships – the first of Jim’s record nineteen World Drum Corps Championships. Fifteen of these titles have been won as a leading drummer. This also includes winning the World Drum Corps Championship for a record breaking eleven years in a row between 1988 and 1998.

Jim has also led his Drum Corps in winning the Champion of Champions Drum Corps nineteen times.  Jim’s move into the solo drumming arena proved to be equally successful. He has smashed every record in the books by winning the World Solo Drumming Championships no less than sixteen times. He has also won the Champion of Champions solo drumming title three times.

Another record Jim holds is that of being the only leading drummer ever to win the ‘Grand Slam’, which consists of winning all five major drum corps championships in one season in 1991. This run coincided with him actually winning 10 major drumming championships in a row over three seasons between 1990 and 1992.

The highlight of Jim’s pipe band drumming career was when he helped to reform the Spirit of Scotland pipe band in 2016.  It was the dream band and in Jim’s words, he had his “Dream Team” Drum Corps at his side.  A Drum Corps full of multiple band and solo world champions.  Jim and his corps again made history by winning the UK drumming championships in the new bands first year in competition.

It is on record that Jim is the most successful Pipe band percussionist in history.

In 2018, Rachel became the 18 and Under World Solo Drumming Champion. Rachel has carried out some prestigious events with the National Youth Pie Band of Scotland –  Playing for and meeting HRH Prince Charles (now King Charles), performing on stage with The Script at the Hydro in Glasgow, and performing at Buckingham palace. In 2019, Rachel was announced as one of British Drum Companies youngest endorsees. In the same year, she also became an endorsee for Jim Kilpatrick Percussion.

In 1995, after receiving the First National Marimba Prize of Asbury Park (NJ, USA) , Eric Sammut undertook a recital tour and gave masterclasses in the United States, Europe and Asia. He began teaching marimba in Toulouse in 1995, as well as at the NRC in Paris and the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, in addition to being Principal Percussionist with the Orchestre de Paris. Since 1994, he has composed a number of pieces for marimba solo and ensembles published in France, the United States, Norway and Japan.

After participating in numerous CD and video productions with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de l’Opera de Lyon and Orchestre de Paris, he produced the CD Four-Mallet Ballet — an album for solo marimba in 2005. A CD, Mirages, was realised in 2008 with musicians Philippe Berrod, Eric Echampard , David Patrois and the String Quintet of the Orchestre de Paris.
In October 2015, he played as soloist the Sonate for 2 percussions and 2 pianos by Béla Bartók accompanied by the Orchestre de Paris and conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen.

Eric Sammut is a Malletech artist. His newest CD, Sailing in Seoul, includes his own concerto for marimba and concerto for vibes. His last composition Rialto for Marimba, Strings and Clarinet was premiered in April 2021 in Berlin.

Dave Hassell is a professional musician with over 52 years’ experience as a studio session player, live performer, band leader, author and adjunct faculty of the leading music institutions in the UK. He has performed with many of the UK’s leading jazz musicians as well as American greats, such as Dr John, Charles McPherson, Barney Kessell, Tal Farlow, Al Grey, Clarke Terry, Joe Newman, Art Farmer, Mundel Lowe, Ron Jackson, E T Mensa, to name a few.

In 2002, Dave was appointed an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and in 2007, he was awarded the position of Visiting Fellow at Salford University. In addition to formal music education, he has been on the faculty of many summer schools, including South Wales Jazz Course, Wavendon, and is currently teaching and performing on the Original Jazz Summer School at Cardiff Conservatoire. He also presents workshops and master classes throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America.

Dave has a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost authorities on Latin American music and leads his own Latin American band, Apitos, featuring world class international players.

He is currently an endorsee for Sabian Cymbals and PJ Percussion.

Andy Scott has performed all over the world, with the award winning Apollo Saxophone Quartet (est.1985 RNCM) and his group SaxAssault. He performs with Caliente, a trio with flautist Clare Southworth and harpist Lauren Scott, and in a duo with RNCM Tutor of percussion, Dave Hassell. For many years Andy has freelanced with the Halle Orchestra, Psappha & Apitos. He is co-Artistic Director with Rob Buckland of the annual RNCM Saxophone Day, founded the World Tenor Saxophone Consortium in 2003 and launched the Tenor Saxophone Index, a new online repertoire resource, in 2012 (with an RNCM Small Research Grant).

Andy Scott received a British Composer Award in 2006 for his double saxophone concerto Dark Rain, and has written many works for the saxophone that are performed and recorded worldwide. His work Spirit of Mingus was shortlisted for a Basca award in 2012, commissioned by Foden’s Brass Band. His tenor saxophone concerto was premiered by Branford Marsalis at the World Saxophone Congress in 2012, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell. Andy has been commissioned, respectively by RNCM Tutor of Guitar Craig Ogden and by RNCM Visiting International Tutor of Trumpet Rex Richardson to write Concerti in 2016.

An endorsee of Selmer Paris Saxophones and Vandoren, Andy is published by Astute Music.

Vibraphonist, producer, composer, and educator Victor Mendoza of Mexican origin is considered by international critics as one of the finest artists in the Latin Jazz and Contemporary Jazz world, in addition to his reputation as an educator. As a soloist, Mendoza’s performances include appearances with the World Festival Orchestra, NYC under the direction of Paquito de Rivera, Milan Svoboda Orchestra, Prague, Sinfonica Carlos Chávez in Mexico, Symphony Orchestra of the City of Granada, Spain, Kaunas Big Band in Lithuania and the prestigious Jazz Knights Big Band of West Point. Recent concerts include performances in Japan, Korea and Taiwan National Concert Hall and the International Jazz Festival in Taichung for an audience of more than 100 thousand spectators.

His recordings and concerts include collaborations with Paquito D’ Rivera, Claudio Roditi, George Garzone, Gary Burton, Dave Samuels,
Giovanni Hidalgo, Horacio Hernández, Antonio Sánchez and Lee Konitz. The recordings If Only You Knew and This is Why were praised by international critics and, partly because of this, the prestigious magazine Latin Beat named him among the most outstanding artists in the genre of Latin jazz. Black Bean Blues was named one of the best recordings of the year by Modern Drummer Magazine, and Jazziz Magazine mentioned Mendoza as ‘the leader of the vibraphone in this genre, and one of its most imaginative composers.’

As a former Professor at the Berklee College of Music and Artist/Clinician for Yamaha and Vic Firth, Mendoza achieved international recognition for his work as a vibraphone teacher, Latin Jazz improvisation and Contemporary Composition course work, as well as leading his prestigious Latin Jazz ensembles. Mendoza frequently conducts master classes in major universities and conservatories around the world including the Superior Conservatory of Paris, Reina Sofia Conservatory of Madrid, Royal College in London, RNCM and National Universities in Taiwan, Korea, and throughout South America. His clinics include lectures and performances at the International Association of Jazz Educators, and the Percussive Arts Society International Conference.

Currently, Mendoza maintains an active schedule presenting Masterclasses at universities and conservatories around the world. Mendoza Vibe is the most recent project of the renowned vibraphonist, with which he presents a new original repertoire together with his
quintet. His art of combining Contemporary Jazz wih the rhythms of the Latin America and Spain creates a great diversity of musical expression, which has enriched in a very special way his wide and brilliant execution of this genre.

Ash Soan’s live experience includes performing at Woodstock ‘94, supporting The Rolling Stones, REM, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Oasis and Bryan Adams at Wembley with his first band Del Amitri throughout 1994-97, followed by touring and playing with Marianne Faithfull, Sinead O’Connor, Sheryl Crow, Robbie Williams, James Morrison, Will Young, Squeeze, Lewis Taylor, Hamish Stuart, The Waterboys, Jeff Lorber, Trevor Horn and Seal, Rumer, Terry Reid, Ronnie Wood, Dionne Warwick and many more.

Other experiences Ash has had include playing the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony with Mike Oldfield, being the house drummer on the BBC/ITV TV show The Voice for seven years and playing on the Terminator Genisys and Mission Impossible Fall Out (Bongos) soundtracks for composer Lorne Balfe also Kung Fu Panda 3 (Balfe and Zimmer), The Lion King 2019 ( Hans Zimmer) and Boss Baby 2 ( Hans Zimmer, Steve Mazzaro).

The main part of Ash’s career has been within the recording industry, and over the past 20 years or so he has recorded (*at last count) 60 Top 10 albums for artists including Cher, Seal, Robbie Williams, Billy Idol, Adele, Enrique Iglesias, Dionne Warwick, Rumer, James Morrison, Cee Lo, Celine Dion and Ronan Keating. My discography also includes 19 Top 10 singles and to date, he’s recorded 32 No. 1 albums and 10 No. 1 singles which have featured on various pop and rock charts around the world.