International Masters Gather in LA as Drum Festival Unites Art and Philanthropy

Written by Audrey Grant

In September 2025, as Nine Beats Drummer Academy integrated the lessons learned from its August stage experience into the new semester's curriculum, campus discussions shifted from technique and pedagogy to exploring how a single performance can be translated into reproducible instruction and sustained community practice. That curricular shift originated from the LA First International Drummers’ Festival, held on August 31 at the Bowers Museum in Southern California. This event combined world-class performance intensity with specially designed classes for children with special needs, as well as the establishment of long-term philanthropic mechanisms.

The festival was jointly organized by the Global Percussion Alliance and the Sunshine Heart Foundation, with co-sponsorship from Nine Beats Drummer Academy, RAYA Art & Education, the Franklin Foundation, and numerous other educational and nonprofit partners. It attracted leading figures from the international percussion community and numerous local educational organizations. The event functioned not simply as an artistic showcase but also as a vehicle for philanthropy: proceeds were earmarked to create a “Percussion Learning Award Fund for Children and Youth with Special Needs,” transforming a one-time concert into a sustainable investment in education and community support. The presence of distinguished guests — including Cultural Counselor Fenghua Chen from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles and Irvine City Councilmember Lingchun Liu — further attests to the event’s significance for international cultural exchange and community development.

The opening performance featured an ensemble of 26 children with special needs from RAYA Art & Education, who performed alongside students from Nine Beats Drummer Academy. This was followed by virtuoso performances from three international masters — Bobby Rock, Kaz Rodriguez, and Ray Audette — whose appearances reinforced the festival’s dual impact at both the professional and community levels. In addition, a large-scale synchronized presentation by students from Nine Beats Drummer Academy demonstrated the academy’s capacity to scale educational outcomes.

Within this high-profile platform, Jinyang Pu appeared in three interlocking roles: music production and playback coordination, onstage demonstration, and solo pedagogy. He functioned both as a performer and as an organizer behind the scenes. Minute choices of timing, repertoire transitions, and timbral control collectively determined the moments of climactic release; it was Pu’s meticulous calibration of rhythmic phrasing and his sensitivity to pedagogical timing that enabled the sonic contributions of the 26 children and the massed ensemble of 55 students to cohere on a single temporal axis. This balance preserved the children’s authentic emotional expression while ensuring the performance retained its artistic edge.

Crucially, Pu did not confine his work to backend logistics. He relocated the instruction to the center of the stage. As an onstage demonstrator and soloist, he provided brief, precise pedagogical segments between pieces in which he explicated rhythmic layering, dynamic control, and phrase-level breathing. These succinct demonstrations allowed students — including children with special needs — to receive immediate points of reference and modeling within an authentic performance context. This “stage-as-classroom” approach not only enhanced students’ capacity to perform under pressure but also redirected audience attention from passive appreciation toward recognition of the instructional process, thereby converting artistic presentation into reproducible pedagogical outcomes.

The festival’s impact extended beyond the evening's applause. Organizers announced that fundraising proceeds would establish the aforementioned award fund to support the ongoing percussion education of children and youth with special needs. The conversion of a single event into a sustained programmatic intervention is precisely what distinguishes this festival from typical music festivals.

The organizing committee formally acknowledged Jinyang Pu’s multifaceted contributions and presented him with a certificate of achievement, praising his ability to “elevate the event into a celebration of rhythm and creativity through artistry, passion, and dedication.” That official endorsement both validated his central role in coordinating the performance and documented his practical achievements in pedagogy and philanthropic implementation. With this combination of performance, pedagogy, and organizational expertise, Pu has emerged as a key agent in transforming large-scale performances into enduring educational resources.

With the successful conclusion of this year’s Drummers’ Festival, Nine Beats Drummer Academy has clarified its future direction: not only to build an international platform for artistic exchange, but also to cultivate its own dedicated team of drummers, creating a complete pathway of growth that extends from students to the stage, and from the classroom to broader society. Within this strategy, Jinyang Pu will play an indispensable role. He has officially confirmed his entry into Nine Beats. He will continue to participate in the Los Angeles International Drummers’ Festival in the coming years, thereby securing a long-term international stage for the academy. Through his professional expertise and cross-disciplinary experience, Nine Beats is poised not only to deepen its achievements in education and performance but also to establish a distinctive brand identity in international cultural exchange and philanthropic practice.

In sum, the inaugural Los Angeles International Drummers’ Festival brought together artistic authority, social mission, and communicative reach. World-class performances established professional credibility; philanthropic and educational mechanisms ensured social return; and short-form media dissemination amplified topical resonance. Pu’s value lies not only in his compelling solos and demonstrations, but also in his ability to weave production design, instructional strategy, and cross-cultural collaboration into a replicable model—one that transforms the festival from merely moving an audience in the moment into generating sustainable social impact, while simultaneously infusing Nine Beats’ future development with enduring momentum.

Photo Credit: Jinyang Pu