Roland Instruments center stage at 53rd Grammy Broadcast
(ShackMan | Posted 2011-03-17)
The Grammy's and other award shows are up there with high-profile sporting events for commercial time, and yet Roland got some quality advertisement in to an estimated 26.66 million people without buying a single commercial slot. In fact, to get its product name out to the largest audience since 2000, all Roland had to do was make a few quality products and get them into the hands of performers. The Roland logo was front and center on several instruments at the Staples Center in Los Angeles this year.
This year’s ceremony featured exciting performances by Janelle Monae, B.o.B. and Bruno Mars. Mars, seated stage front, played the Roland’s V-Piano® during his performance of “Nothing On You,” then used the Roland LX-10F Digital Upright Grand Piano while performing “Grenade.”
Other highlights of this year’s show included performances by the The Avett Brothers and Roland artists Mumford & Sons. The Avett Brothers performed “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” with the Roland RD-700GXF as the central instrument for this song. Later, both groups and many other musicians joined Bob Dylan for his performance of “Bringing It All Back Home.” Ben Lovett played his Roland FR-7x V-Accordion as part of the jam.
According to Dan Krisher, Artist Relations Manager for Roland Corporation U.S., “Pianos such as the V-Piano, with its advanced modeling technology, and the LX-10F and RD-700GXF, both with their SuperNATURAL® sound engines, offer an expressiveness and nuance not found in most stage pianos, making them ideal for telecasts like the GRAMMY’s where the performance is everything. And with the FR-7x V-Accordion, players like Ben Lovett, can take center stage with the rest of the band without being hampered by power cables or even audio cables if he chooses to go wireless.”
James Rushin is a bassist, keyboardist, writer, and composer living and working in the Greater Pittsburgh area. He has performed with Selmer artist Tim Price, Curtis Johnson, guitarists Ken Karsh and Joe Negri. His compositions have been featured at West Virginia University and Valley Forge Christian College. He has worked with legendary playwright Frank Gagliano's, is currently composing for the new original musical “Off with Her Maidenhead!” and recently became the youngest Soupbone.
Got questions? Comments? James can be reached as ShackMan in the Music Gear Review forums, or you may e-mail him at James.Rushin@MusicGearReview.com.
