It’s not uncommon for drum retailers to balance playing and teaching commitments with the myriad responsibilities of owning and operating a shop. But you’d be hard pressed to find a multitasker like Columbus Pro Percussion owner Jim Rupp, who’s managed to maintain a consistent teaching practice (Ohio State University and Indiana University) and gigging schedule (Diane Schuur, Maynard Ferguson, Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the Woody Herman Big Band, among others) since opening the shop in 1981. As if being a shop owner-performer-educator wasn’t enough, Rupp is also a clinician for Noble and Cooley, Zildjian, and Promark, and he started a farm with his wife eight years ago featuring fruit trees, cattle, and hogs—not to mention Amish neighbors who hand-craft leather cymbal and stick bags that he sells in the shop. Rupp took time out of his busy schedule to fill in MD on his nearly forty years in the retail game.

November 2018 Issue