A festival date to circle and a Dallas drum builder worth knowing
The PAS North Texas Percussion Festival now has firm 2027 dates at Forney High School, with registration opening in December. Also in this edition: a custom drum shop inside Dallas that does repairs and rentals, plus the Denton programs that put free percussion concerts on the calendar all year.
North Texas Percussion Festival set for Feb 26-27, 2027 in Forney
The Percussive Arts Society festival returns to Forney High School, hosted by Mario Luna, over two days in late February 2027. It combines ensemble competition rounds with clinics, so it is one of the few places within a half hour of Garland where you can hear a dozen serious percussion ensembles back to back. Registration for groups opens at noon Eastern on Monday, December 7, and competition slots fill; spectators just show up.
Festivals and competitions · learn now
February 26, 2027 to February 27, 2027 · Forney High School, 1800 College Ave, Forney, TX
Dallas Drum, a custom builder doing repairs, restorations and rentals in town
Dallas Drum has been handcrafting snares and kits in Dallas since 2011 and also takes in repair, restoration and re-wrap work, plus backline rentals for sessions. If you liked having Dallas Percussion on Plano Road as a local option, this is the build-and-fix side of the same ecosystem rather than a retail wall of cymbals. Worth a call before you ship a cracked shell or a bearing-edge job out of state.
Gear and shops · learn now
UNT Percussion's calendar is the steadiest source of free concerts in the metroplex
The UNT percussion program in Denton runs ensemble concerts, faculty and guest recitals and studio showcases through the fall and spring, most of them free or cheap. The playing level is closer to professional than collegiate, and the repertoire leans harder than what most orchestras program. Bookmark the calendar page and check it monthly; dates get posted in batches rather than announced far out.
Concerts and ensembles · know the name
American Percussion Seminar at UNT, and its public recitals
UNT's summer seminar brings in guest artists alongside the resident faculty for a week of intensive work in Denton. The teaching sessions are for enrolled students, but the associated recitals are the reason to pay attention as a listener. Keep it on the radar now so you catch the schedule when it posts in spring rather than after it happens.
Workshops and education · just aware
PAS chapter listings, the upstream feed for Texas day-of-percussion events
Most one-day percussion events in Texas are announced through the state PAS chapter rather than through venues or ticketing sites. The chapter directory is where clinic and day-of-percussion dates surface first, usually a few weeks before anything hits a public calendar. Low effort to check quarterly, and it is how the Forney festival news broke.
Scenes and organizations · just aware
